What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .

1. …today?

2. …over the next week?
…getting rid of this stuffy head. I’m not sick, but not well either.
3. …this year?
* Spend more time w/ my Lord and Savior
* Go on more dates w/ my wife.
* Play more games w/ my daughter
* Play for and win the National Championship on NCAA Football 2004 (XBox) w/o ever restarting a game because I’m about to lose.
* Be very intentional about learning web design.
* Reapportion my body weight around my body to other places.
* Rip Copper Mountain apart in March.
* Expand MST to something more than a message board. (don’t know if that should be here or in the next one.
* Run regularly.

4. …over the next five years?
* Be near completion of some sort of grad degree.
* Get rid of my 88 Honda Accord.
* Go on a kick-butt vacation.
* Learn to snowboard.

5. …for the rest of your life?
* Develop consistant spiritual disciplines.
* Become wise.
* Be a man my wife is honored to share her live with.
* Be a man my kids are proud of.
* Be illuminated by Christ.
* Do some long term missions.
* Never get tired of video games.
* Read a whole, whole lot.
* Go camping.
* Have a ‘home office’.

Well, the sickness is still hanging on to The Kid…but I think she’s about to shake it. She got pretty bad for a bit. And The Wife and I actually left town while she was her sickest. We went on a trip to Branson with the youth group. While we were gone my mom had to go get her some antibiotics and all.

While we were gone, The Wife also got sick herself. Chills, snot, acid reflux, stomache issues, the whole nine yards. But she’s all good now too.

So the holidays are nearly beyond us. Only one more day. And then things will be back to normal, huh? I’m going to do a retro Friday Five I think later today. But I’ve got some catching up to do on other blogging issues as well too. So look forward to that.

…well, the weather outside really isn’t that bad. A touch windy, but not really that cold. It’s the inside that’s a little frightful. Not scary necessarily, but it seems there’s now sickness in our midst. It has been all around us, so it finally hit home.

Yesterday morning at work The Wife called me. She wanted to know how The Kid was acting yesterday morning before went to work. The Wife had gone to the local gym to teach an exercise class, and as she got home I left home to head to work. I told her that The Kid had been fine, why? She told me that The Kid was acting really tired and spacy with a stuffy nose like she could be sick or something. The Kid was in the bath at the time, but The Wife was going to call me back with a temperature reading on her.

She called back with a reading of 102.5 degrees. Time to get a Dr. appointment. Flu has been rocking and rolling around many Christmas Trees in our town lately. And we were hoping it hadn’t hit our little one. I came home after lunch and she was acting fine. Runny nose, but in great spirits w/ just a touch of fever. But we went to the Dr. anyways to make sure.

Having a family connection at the clinic makes for a short wait in the waiting room. Actually, only I went in. I left The Wife and Kid in the car. No need in them sitting in a waiting room full of flu. But the flu test came back negatory. But we got some meds anyway (not flu meds, but other stuff I’ve never heard of). But as evening crept along, The Kid felt worse. Fever got higher. Sleep was deprived from all last night.

So here we are, Christmas Eve, she feels like doo doo and I’m not going to my grandmothers on Christmas Eve for the first time in my entire life. Feels kinda weird. Even my wife of 4.5 years says it feels really weird not to be going over there tonight. But the kid is half awake/asleep in my lap against my chest right now as I type. She’s trying to “feel good” but just not making it. We’ll have a few gifts tonight, read some books, and try to have a good dinner (just the three of us). But if anyone happens to read this in the next day or so, please offer up a prayer of health for The Kid.

Merry Christmas!

Well, this was an issue even before today. This just really hasn’t felt a lot like Christmas lately. Lately meaning the last few years. And this one even less. Not sure why that is. But when you have a kid it’s supposed to be new and fresh all over again, right? And don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing her joy with the tree, and the lights around town, and her presents. And like I said, she’s getting into getting gifts for other people too. But the old “Christmas feeling” has passed.

Maybe it started with not being in school anymore. So not really gearing up for semester tests/exams and then the big holiday break. Or maybe it was getting older and not getting “playful” gifts anymore but “useful” gifts. Gifts like chairs or microwaves or cookware. And the decorations around town don’t seem as plentiful. People don’t seem as excited about it. Heck, it’s December 22 and it’s 64 degrees outside!

But when I really think about it…what it all boils down to…is that I seem to be looking for a “Christmas feeling” from things that have nothing to do with Christmas. Sad, huh? I seem to be harkening back to the old “holiday feelings” that I remember from childhood. But I’m a big boy now. I should be able to look beyond all that and settle and meditate on the heart of it all.

So I ask your prayers during the next few days/weeks. That I am able to looke beyond the worldly expressions of Christmas to the heart of God and his fleshly encouter with our world.

Yes! I think I got it working. Now you can subscribe to comments thanks to Chad’s really cool plugin. I may have to tweak something or another down the road. But for now it seems to work fairly well.

What this means is that when leaving a comment, you can click “Subscribe To These Comments” or something like that and you’ll get a notification anytime someone replies with another comment to that same entry.

Maybe not really a big deal, but I think it’s pretty cool.

Last year this was my most un-favorite weekend of the year. Why you ask? Because it was too full. Way too full. It seemed like the whole holiday season was too full last year. Working at a church, there’s always something going on. And it seems that you have to be at everything whether it’s even remotely close to being on your job description or not (“Yes, I’d love to drive the bus for the senior adult trip so they can go look at a miniture Christmas Village and sit in the freezing cold.”) Turns out I didn’t have to do the afore mentioned task, but I was almost “on call” for it.

But last year this was the weekend where it seemed like there were 3 different church things going on and two family get together things. And The Wife wanted some “us” time too. There were some disagreements regarding my stewardship of my time related to inside/outside demands on it. And I felt like I had about 37 hours worth of demands each day. And it really frustrated me. I mean, it’s the holidays. Supposed to be fun. Relaxing. Enjoyable.

This year isnt’ so bad. Still busy. Still hectic, but only semi. There looks like it’s going to be much more enjoyable. I think that it’s going to be funner too. My daughter is really getting into the “getting a present for Mom, Grannie, etc.” I think she’s going to be into the getting of presents too. All she’s said she wanted was a hat. “A hat? What kind of hat?” She said she wants a Cat In The Hat hat. I’ll have to look around for that one.

I know I don’t really have fans, but it makes me feel good to at least say it.

1. List your five favorite beverages.
Chocolate Milkshakes
Quik Milk
Water (making a strong comeback for me)
Dr. Pepper
Vanilla Coke

2. List your five favorite websites.
Favorite as in most visited or just the ones I enjoy the most? Anyway, here’s a stab.
Mississippi Sports Talk
Site Point Forums
Invision Board
Bulldog Blitz
Youth Specialties Forums

3. List your five favorite snack foods.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (raw, baby!)
Sunflower Seeds
Pistachios

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.
Bull Spit (*ahem*)
Monopoly
Cranium
Hearts
Spades
Spoons

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.
NCAA Football (EA Sports)
Civilization
Sim City
Medal of Honor
Metal Gear

Seems everyone around here is sick. Maybe not everyone, but too many people. Then I hear of people dying in other states from the flu. Kids. Five of them died in Colorado so far. It’s crazy. And now everyone’s cramming into malls and WalMarts across the land.

I’ve never gotten a flu shot, but someone suggested that I get one for my daughter. But I think the health clinics and all may be out by now. Not sure. She actually was a little sick a week or so ago. We wondered if she had Fifth’s Disease or something. Her cheeks looked like tomatoes they were so red and puffy/swollen. But they went away and she never complained really. But it looked a little scary. But it didn’t slow her down any when we put up the Christmas tree! She was so excited! That’s what she kept telling me, “Daddy, I’m So Excited!!” It was funny. She got up the next morning and would go and stand at the base of the tree, looking up, and say, “Wow….”

But she’s not into Santa Clause (she calls him Ho Ho). She’s scared of him. People will ask her, “Is Santa Clause going to bring you some presents?” She’ll respond with a matter of fact, “Nope.” “He’s not?” people will ask. She’ll just say, “No, Daddy will bring me presents.” She’s seen a Santa Clause in malls and stores…wants nothing to do with him.

No doubt that the world of college football needs to have a playoff system.

Tell me how in the world a team gets beat in it’s conference championship game by four touchdowns and still gets to play in the National Championship game ranked number one by the BCS rankings (Oklahmoa).

Tell me how a team wins their last game pretty handily, moves from #2 in the country to #1 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, but they fall from #2 to #3 in the BCS rankings, and don’t get to play for the national title game? (Southern Cal)

It’s all a crock of you know what. I’m happy that LSU looks like they get to play for the title. But Oklahoma should be playing in the Rose (or lower) this year. Time for a playoff system. Take the top 8 teams and do a small tourney. Yes, teams #9 and below will still whine. But so what. Even if it isn’t perfect, it’s better than what we’re looking at now.

Here are some various quotes from ESPN.com articles:

Chad Lavalais, LSU DT: I can’t speak for the rest of the team. I can’t speak for anybody else. But if we don’t play in the Sugar Bowl — heck yeah, I’ll be p*ssed… There’s no way a team that doesn’t win its conference should play for the title. Nebraska did that a few years ago — and how did that turn out?

We’d line up and I’d tell them [Georgia]– ‘Man, you guys are getting way too predictable I’ll bet this is gonna be a screen.’ And you’d see it on their faces — ‘Uh-Oh.’ Then they started throwing fade routes and that’s when we knew we had them. They were just looking for a prayer

Sean Jones, Georgia player: Do I think they’re worthy of playing for the national championship? Absolutely — we aren’t exactly a bunch of slouches. And they stuck it to us.

Will Poole, USC CB: Whatever happens, happens. I feel like we deserve to be there (New Orleans). Personally, I would be disappointed. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a computer. It’s not people.”

Coach Carroll, USC: We lost a darn game [On Sept. 27, USC lost at California, 34-31, in triple overtime] If we hadn’t lost a game, we’d be already in. We left the door open for some issue. That’s why I’ve been able to handle this. I’ve felt like that the whole way through. I’m still p*ssed we lost a game.

Carroll: We have everything you want for a national championship game. You have a big, exciting offense and a tough defense. I’m not taking anything away from LSU. If we go, we are going to go and let it rip.

Another ESPN Article trying to explain it all.

You never realize how dependent you are on something til you lose it.

I lost my cell phone a couple of weekends ago. No clue where it is. I got service reinstated on an older phone, but it’s a dinosaur. But the service agreement was up so now I’m in the market for a new phone. I visited LetsTalk.com and saw some great deals on cell phones with service agreements. I’m thinking I’ll just get a new phone, new plan, and just be out a few dollars for a connection fee. But they have some really good deals. I visited the local Cingular store and the phones there are lots more. At LetsTalk.com you can get them for free…or even get $$ back after rebates on some phones.

I want a “cool” one, you know. But not trendy. Any suggestions?