Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back and drain your mind of all thought. And there you are watching the bubbles in the primeval ooze. You don't have to concentrate. You don't have to react.You don't have to remember. You don't miss your brain because you don't need it. Your heart and liver and lungs continue to function normally. Apart from that, all is peace and quiet. You are in the man'...

Yesterday I took about 50 youth from our church to Six Flags. I'm the intern this summer so I do all the paperwork type stuff and still get to be a sponsor! Our youth ministers are brother and sister. And they come from a family of practical jokers. As John & Susan would walk past people, Susan would fake the most realist sneeze you can ever imagine. John would spray a fine mist from a water bottle at the same time and then say something about how gross she is sneezing on that person. The...

Yesterday I took about 50 youth from our church to Six Flags. I'm the intern this summer so I do all the paperwork type stuff and still get to be a sponsor! Our youth ministers are brother and sister. And they come from a family of practical jokers. As John & Susan would walk past people, Susan would fake the most realist sneeze you can ever imagine. John would spray a fine mist from a water bottle at the same time and then say something about how gross she is sneezing on that person. The...

I just read a really great article and I recalled my days as a payphone operator. Link I operated phones across America, some in Mexico and the Carribean, some in Ireland, the Virgin Islands, and a few other places. Basically, we were hired by private payphone owners to operate their phones. As a sixteen year-old from Texas (with no accent training yet) my East Texan was thick. I couldn't hide it nor did I know how to do such a thing. "Oh, wow, are you in Texas, then?" New Englander...

In summation, nature behaves a certain way and this is what we refer to as “the laws of nature.” These are not anything real, nothing more than actual facts we observe. Right and Wrong – Moral Law – is above actual fact. Besides fact, we have something else. We have a law we didn’t invent but know we should obey. What does this tell us about the universe in which we live? We know the two schools of thought. * There’s what Lewis calls “materialist” and there’s the religious. In the former...

So far, I’ve paraphrased the first three chapters of CS Lewis’s book Mere Christianity in hopes to make it more accessible – a kind of cliffs notes. Admittedly, I can spend quite a while digesting this book, extracting the meat out of every sentence. Lewis has brought us thus far to the acknowledgement of the Moral Law. This is the last page in chapter three. We can say a person ought to be unselfish. If we try to say why, we invariably come up with the reason: “because it is good for soc...

Did you hear that teens aren't getting enough sleep? The average teenager needs 9 hours of sleep according to Betsy Flagler, United Feature Syndicate. Teens get about seven and a half hours on average. I remember from psychology that lack of sleep can build up and by the weekend you can be zonked. Thats why teens will sleep till 2pm on Saturdays. I also remember that as a teenager, you're a polyphasic, meaning you sleep more than one time a day. (Late teens through college years.)...

These amazing books by CS Lewis are the tales of another world and a country called Narnia. Kings, Queens, dwarfs, Satyrs, tree gods and goddesses, and a magnificent Lion who is High King over all. My daughter and I have been reading this a chapter a night since Christmas and are halfway through the books. The amazing lessons in this book are so unforgettable. As a Christian parent, they hit me hard sometimes. The Lion, Aslan, represents Christ throughtout the book. We've read how Edw...

I was listening to a speaker recently who made a statement that forced me to think about who I am in relation to the world. Here's my question: Am I a microcosm of the world or a change agent in the world? I don't think I can do with the "so I don't have to think too deeply about this answer" that says, "I'm a little of both." Certainly, I do resemble the world in many ways -- my own world around me (environment) -- but which am I more likely to be classified as and why? What about you...

I was listening to the radio the other day and a woman was talking about a strategy she uses with her children. I so stole the idea and it is working beautifully. I wish I remembered her name because I'd give her credit... but just so you know, this isn't my idea. It's a Saturday Box. On Sunday, I give my daughter a little money. She's five so a dollar bill is a beautiful thing to her. She keeps it all week long and it is hers. She can even call it squishy... Everynight after she ...

I built my daughter a HUGE wooden dollhouse two Christmases ago. This Christmas she got lots of furnature and some dolls for it. She set it it up quite well on her own, to my surprise. I was pleased that she saw the utility of each room. We're trying to set aside one night a week after our daily chores to work on the dollhouse. Last night we painted a few of the rooms. For those of you who don't know, dollhouses are VERY expensive to make nice. One can purchase portraits for the walls, wa...

I almost categorized this subject as "history" as I sighed heavily, approaching the topic -- ironically, with my fingers on the wireless keyboard. No one writes hand-written letters anymore. I say no one, and that's simply not true. I do, and that's at least one person. I have two friends who do and that's two more. But practically no one handwrites letters anymore. This is one of the single most distressing characteristics of our culture to me. I'll explain why. I spent all four...

I've noticed in IMing friends and on Joe here, several people try the rhetorical device of "sarcasm" for their arguments. I know I cannot possibly be the only person who has noticed this. Sarcasm doesn't work in writing. We write like we speak and just assume others will read what we write the same way we'd speak it. Not so. In fact, rarely so. Sometimes, we use sarcasm and the other person thinks we're serious. Or thinks we're sarcastic but doesn't want to suffer embarrasment in case ...

This is one of the few books I'm reading right now and I highly recommend you to read it with highlighter in hand! It's a non-fiction book about how to get your household managed. I have learned countless amazing tips and it has completely inspired my spring cleaning. I'm decluttering my entire home right now. I'm using Kathy's tips in every area of my home and WOW is my home getting efficient. I'm seeing more time carved out for myself too. I'd never put all my sheets for one set into on...

This is one of my favorite fiction books I've read since I got out of college. I enjoyed this book deeply. I read half of it in one day. I was entralled with the way the author told the story through the child involved. Moreover, I was kept in suspense throughout the book wondering what "really" happened. I didn't want to believe the child deserved to be where he is. The story is of a child who took what adults told him very seriously who meets another child who also takes adults lite...