The Logo

I heard on ESPN Radio this morning that Jerry West - a.k.a., "The Logo" - has come out and said that the NBA logo should be redone using the silhouette of Michael Jordan instead of himself. Pretty humble, if you ask me. This started a discussion on the radio, "Who should be the logo for the various major sports?" This is in a similar vein to the sports Mount Rushmore. Not that anyone cares, here would be my major sports logo suggestions:

• NBA: Michael Jordan - He is arguably the best who has ever played the game and would be recognizable as a silhouette. The problem would be that his silhouette is already being used by his Air Jordan line.
• MLB: Willie Mays - I never really saw him play, but many consider him to be the best who ever played. Babe Ruth would just be too fat for a logo.
• NFL: Jim Brown - They were tossing around the name Roger Staubach on the radio. Really?! Jim Brown clearly was the best running back who has ever played, and arguable the best player period. If he had played longer - only nine seasons in his career - he would have put the rushing record so out of reach it would be laughable, even though they played fewer games per season than they do now.
• NHL: Wayne Gretzky - Is there seriously anyone else in contention?

Your thoughts?

The Truth About You by Marcus Buckingham

Wouldn't it be great if the majority of the time we spend at work was spent doing things that energize us, and not sap us, to the point of truly looking forward to going to work? In Marcus Buckingham's book, The Truth About You, he addresses this very question. In this interactive work (there is a DVD and a Strengths / Weaknesses journal), Buckingham addresses many of the same arguments that he has in his other works: it's a myth that you should try to develop your weaknesses, strengths are not what you are good at but what you draw energy from, and you employer did not hire you for who you are, but what you can do for them, to name a few. Also, he gives practical ways to help discover your strengths without taking the test, as well as practical tips to help design your job around your strengths.

This is a great book! I love everything I've read of his. What made this stand out was, 1) how interactive it is, 2) how quick/easy of a read it is, and 3) how practical it is. The thing I have missed from his other books is how to take your strengths and actually apply them in your present job. That is not missing from this one. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has a job since, if what he writes is put into practice, your job will become a more fulfilling place.

More Gratuitous Children Video

Not only can Hanna now walk - she can also dance! Colin's not so bad, either...

Three Funny Colin Stories

I'll have a venti Buckeye leaf, please...
During the football season, I successfully indoctrinated Colin to root for The Ohio State University Buckeyes. I trained him to say, "Go Bucks!" and "Go Buckeyes!" (which sometimes comes out Buxeyes) However, he is not really good at discriminating between teams, so if he sees any team playing football, he proclaims, "Go Bucks!" That's OK with me. Then the other day, we were at the mall checking out the kiosk that had the calendars on super-sale. We paused by the sports calendars, and he saw a football calendar and shouted, "Go Starbucks!" I cracked up, as did the kiosk employee. At least he confused it with something else I am very fond of. Now, when he wants to write something, he goes to the drawer to get his Starbucks (really, Buckeyes) pen.

Naked Boy
The other night, as I always do, I finished up getting ready for bed in the bathroom and ventured into the kids' room to cover them up and kiss them good-night. When I got to Colin's bed, I noticed something on the floor. Without my glasses on and with the lights off, it took me a moment to realize that it was Colin's pajamas and pull-up. I looked up and, although he was covered up, I could tell he was naked under the covers. I went into our bedroom, where Marcy was smiling since she had already witnessed this, and said, "Man, is he going to be cold!" Marcy insisted that we get him dressed, so she did. She came to bed and we talked for a while. She then got up to go check on him, came back to our room and informed me that he was naked again, under the covers, and smiling at her. I was told that I had to deal with this. I went into his room and, trying desperately not to smile or laugh, got him dressed and told him that if took off his jammies again, he would have to go to time-out. I came back to bed. A short while later, Marcy went to check on him again and again, he was naked. She got him up and took him to the cold, dark dining room to sit in time-out...naked. I'm sure if social services had walked in right then we would have some 'splainin to do. It continues to be a constant struggle, including bare-bottom spankings, but it also continues to be hilarious. On Friday, during his naptime, I met him at his bedroom door - when he was supposed to be sleeping - and told him that he was getting a spanking. He ran to his bed, curled up in a ball on his face, and grabbed his butt-cheeks with his hands. What a sight!

You're Not Allowed to Play with Slingshots, Colin...
The other day, we were at our wits end. All of our normal babysitters were unavailable to watch the kids for our leadership retreat on Saturday. At The Porch, Marcy asked one of our pastor's teenage sons if he could babysit (he volunteers in the nursery on the weekend, so it wasn't as out of left field as it might seem), and he said he could. So on Saturday morning, Marcy told Colin that he was going to the church to play with David. Colin's eyes got real big as he got excited and asked, "And Goliath, too?" I guess he's been listening when we've read to him out of his Bible storybook after all.

Hanna's Walking

Isn't It Ironic, Don't Ya' Think?

Being the rabid Cleveland Browns fan that I am, this football season has been a major disappointment. I never bought into the preseason hype that the Browns were Super Bowl contenders after a 10-6 season last year, but I never thought they would be this bad. I picked them to hover around the .500 mark. Not likely now. Over at Cleveland.com, there are an interesting couple of articles that attempt to assess blame and come up with solutions. There are too many problems to narrow it down to just one thing. The incredible drop-off of Pro Bowl players from a year ago. The remarkable inability of the defense to tackle. The horrible clock-management and lack of creativity on the part of Romeo Crennel and staff (with the exception of the win against the Giants on Monday Night Football earlier this year). Derek Anderson going from stud to dud in the same amount of time he traveled the other direction. I agree with Terry Pluto that I don't think Savage is the problem. He writes: "Despite this dismal 4-8 season, the Browns do have better players than when Savage took over four years ago." But one thing is for sure: Braylon Edwards' inability to catch the ball - what wide receivers are paid to do - hasn't helped. He has, what, 17 drops on the season? Ridiculous! It made me remember this ad for fantasy football that aired a couple of years ago. Isn't it ironic?



Maybe he needs to play blindfolded...

What's Been Going On?

That's a fine question. There has been a lot going on lately. Novembers are usually pretty full in my world. They usually include a youth fall retreat, the National Youth Workers Convention, and often a trip home to Ohio for Thanksgiving. Some of those things still happened this year, but my November looked much different than I expected.

A couple of weekends ago, we did have our youth fall retreat at Logan Valley Christian Retreat in Ellington, MO. It was a great weekend! We had over 60 students attend and they all seemed to have a good time and take something away from the weekend. The highlight for me was to observe as the students went through the prayer labyrinth that we set up. It seemed that each student connected with a different part of the labyrinth and God met them each in a different way. We could have just done the labyrinth and it would have been a great weekend. But we did a lot of other stuff, too. Overall, a really good weekend.

The following weekend I was supposed to attend the NYWC with some of my volunteers in the youth ministry. However, the night before we were supposed to leave (Thursday night), Hanna got sick and we had to take her to the ER. It took a couple of days for the test results to come back, but it turns out that she had a urinary tract infection. In the meantime, I woke up on Friday morning at 3:00am with a horrible headache. No medicine helped the pain to go away. I was hoping to feel better and meet my volunteers in Nashville for the convention, but it never went away. Because of the pain, I couldn't eat or sleep and started vomiting that evening. Finally, after 25 hours of misery, at 4:00am on Saturday morning, I took myself to the ER. They performed a CAT scan on me and did a spinal tap and admitted me to the hospital. They figured that I had meningitis of some sort, either bacterial (the bad one, which can result in brain damage or death) or viral (mostly just annoying and painful), but they needed me to stay until the tests came back. The finally came back and confirmed that I did have viral meningitis. I was discharged on Monday with a regimen of pain meds (yeah, I missed the whole convention), which I have been taking ever since. Most of Thanksgiving week was spent in pain or a drug-induced fog. Fortunately, Marcy's mom and stepdad came into town for Thanksgiving. hey provided a lot of help with the kids so I didn't have to worry about Marcy having to do too much with me being laid up. They were already planning on coming for the holiday, so it worked out pretty well in the long run. I started back to work some this week, so I think it is soon to be behind me. Viral meningitis is always one of those things you hear about, but you never know anyone that had had it. I guess I can't say that anymore.

So, November was a little different for me. And now, I just got a call from Marcy who told me that Hanna has to go to the hospital on Monday to get checked out after her urinary tract infection. That's great, because we haven't spent enough time there lately. Pray for her, please.