• BRIDES ARE SAVING MONEY: by buying cakes that only have a real top layer. The rest is just frosting covered styrofoam and guests are served look-a-like cheap cake. HA! That’s great!

• MY TURN ON FAITH: Newsweek has this article every week called “myturn”. This months article is from a gay man and is titled, “let me worship as I am”. It’s a search for faith and meaning in the Christian church while feeling designed by God to be gay. He ends up finding it in the Episcopal tradition. The quote that made me think was this one, “I wish I could be spiritual but not religious thereby bypassing early Sunday rising and the challenges of community”. I wonder if escaping community is really a helpful step in affirming ones spirituality. I don’t think it is.

• WIKI BIBLE: Wikipedia meets the Bible. Ever wanted to write your own translation of a book of the Bible? Well, now’s your chance. They are assembling a user generated translation of the Bible. My old boss used to call brainstorming, “pooling our ignorance”. I used to hate that phrase. But here it seems oddly appropriate.

These are from reading a few of the latest TIME magazines:

• This guy named Dave is challenging people to get their material possessions down to 100. He says it’s to kick consumerism in the head. Mother Teresa had it down to two. I’m a far cry from both. I want to say I believe in simplicity and I’m trying to fight my own consumerism blood that runs too deep, but maybe I’m just lying to myself…, but this would mean I would have to eat with my hammer and wear nothing but an extension cord. I’m so getting rid of the forks and pants before my tools go.

• It is evidently illegal to use your neighbors unsecured wireless network. I recently rode all the way to LA and back with my kid for a Disneyland trek and sat next to a dad who works for the DMV to catch identity thieves. He says you’re an idiot if your wireless network is not password encoded and if someone uses it consistently for illegal stuff, well the feds just might kick down your door and confiscate all your belongings as evidence. So, word to the wise… put a security code on your wireless router.

• China is spending 20 billion on Olympic training through 3000 state run boarding schools that have some 400,000 hand picked students based from cities and remote villages. Why? One reason: to beat the US in the Olympics for the most number of Gold medals. How’s that for the spirit of competition?

• Obama got so annoyed by the rumors about his faith and family and patriotism and stuff that he started his own website to compete against them. www.fightthesmears.com

• If you love almonds. You’re supposed to eat 23 at a time. That’s evidently the same amount that fits in a shot glass (if you love vodka too) or the amount that covers a classic square yellow sticky note (if you love all things sticky noteish too). This is a website devoted to all things almonds if you want help. Um.. I so just eat them by the handful. Maybe that explains a few things.

I like to read the “comic strips” that this guy makes. Sometimes they make me think, smile, or even wince. I have them in my daily bloglines, though recently, they feed got all jacked up or something so I have to go directly there to get the latest.

But anyway, I have posted some before, but these ones I had tucked away for a future post and decided today was the day.

• I resonate with this when church goes long occasionally . Sometimes I think I can be this guy. The subtitle really makes me fear that people might actually feel that way after I get done teaching. That’s reason enough to stay on my toes and work hard.

• I feel this way every time my church sings this one song with the chorus of “fire fall down” repeated a million times. I keep thinking, um… no thanks. Fire stay there. I just can’t get the visual to work for me.

• I will forever work to keep this wall from not running my life. I don’t think it will ever go away, I just have to daily say “no” to it. Some days I do less climbing than others.

The last 3 days were filled with fun times, good food, relaxation, and good conversations.

I had made a list of questions that I wanted to ask Shannon about- I never pulled it out, it was just stuck there in my head. Periodically, while driving or walking or eating, we’d chat about them. I also brought a small moleskin that I wrote down our thoughts in.

The result of those questions were some lists:

PLACES WE’VE BEEN TO FOR OUR ANNIVERSARY (at least the ones we could remember)

• Disneyland
• Sonoma
• Foxes Bed and Breakfast in Sutter Creek
• San Diego – before we lived here.
• Pelican Bay near Watsonville- several times.
• Applefarm Bed and Breakfast in St. Luis Obispo
• Palm Springs
• Dana Pt – twice now. Once we stayed at Cardiff by the Sea one night too.
• Napa
• Halfmoon Bay

OUR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY HISTORY BY THE NUMBERS:

• 1= years our children have all three been in full time school together, number of marriages we’ve been a part of, number of horses we have owned
• 2= years Shannon worked full time as a teacher, number of churches I’ve worked at full time, number of trucks I’ve owned, number of times we’ve been to Disneyland as a family with the kids
• 3= number of children we have, houses we’ve lived in, dogs we have owned, cars shannon has driven as her daily driver, number of seminaries I’ve been to in the process of getting my MDiv.
• 4= number of college degrees between us either completed or in progress, number of MAJOR home remodel projects I’ve done
• 5= Jakes Age
• 8= Tyler’s Age, Number of years we dated (also we noted number of years we waited for sex), and the number of Mac computers we’ve owned
• 10= TJ’s Age
• 11= Number of times we’ve been to Mexico to do missions as a couple/family
• 12= Number of years we’ve been camping at Richardson’s Grove state park for a week during the summer as a married couple. 16 if you count dating.
• 14= years we’ve been married
• 36= our age (uh… my wife says it’s my age- she is a youthful 35)
• 38507, 37413, 11734= street address numbers of our homes

DREAM LIST OF STUFF WE WISH WE COULD AFFORD TO DO. SOME WE MAY DO, SOME MAY JUST BE A DREAM…

• new kitchen
• new master bed/bathroom remodel
• upstairs bath remodel
• huge family camping road trip for like a month one summer
• pool
• cruise the Eastern Caribbean
• go camping with a local family/friend
• buy a Vespa
• get the wife a laptop
• get the wife a new cell phone
• new sectional for the front room
• new patio furniture
• wall unit in the boys room
• house painted
• new doors and windows
• new flooring
• trip to Israel
• trip to New York
• trip to Washington DC
• revamp Shannon’s wedding ring

3 QUESTIONS WE ASKED THIS WEEKEND AND ARE COMMITTED TO ASKING ALL YEAR.

• How are you?
• How are we?
• How is our family?

This is going to be a post I’ll do every once in a while. I’m not going to give a prediction on how often, because then I’d feel guilty when I dropped the ball and did not do it.

But, for what it’s worth, I read/skim Newsweek and Time just to hear what the media is saying about stuff I sometimes care about … here’s what I found by reading the latest issue of Newsweek:

• Friday, June 20 is take your dog to work day. I’m bringing Zeus. Question is will Stina have the guts to bring Darby?
• Craig Venter is making bugs. But not just any bugs. He is making a bacteria that will eat carbon dioxide and poop engine fuel. No joke. He’s my hero. If he can get one to eat salt water and poop fresh water, we could change the world. I think I’m going to try and figure out how I can poop something worth money. So far…. I it’s just poop though.
• Wanna green up your wedding? Here’s an article with links to donate your dress to a charity that will turn it into a prom dress, get a ring made from post consumer gold, and give potted plants to guests instead of cut flowers on tables.
• What would you do with 293,000 dollars? If you’re brad pitt, you’d buy a marble table for your wife. No worry, your kids pictures will bring a cool 15 mil. I’m selling my kids pics on e-bay soon then I’m gonna buy a silver spoon too.