Well, it appears my PDL experiment has not started well. Between work, schoolwork, and Halo 2, I have not made it past day 2 of the book.

Halo 2 might as well be titled “Crack”–it’s that addictive. I find myself ready to go to bed at 10 or 11 each night, but end up playing Halo online until 1 or 2 am. Which of course leaves me screwed at 6 when I have to wake up and go to work, but there I am again the next night.

The folks at Mature Gaming World have not helped–they are an online community of 30+ year olds who play together online to avoid getting matched up with a bunch of cursing teenaged racists. They are a blast to play with, which is the problem. “Just when I get out, they pull me back in…”

I don’t have a problem; I can quit anytime I want…

By the way, my gamertag is yankeestom. Look me up if you’re in the mood for a good teabagging.

If you’re sitting around and have 4 or 5 hours to kill, check out this article from CommentaryMagazine.com, as linked by the evangelical outpost. Its thesis is that Americanism is the direct descendant from Puritanism. It is a very interesting read, even though the author is not into the whole “brevity” thing.

Point to Ponder: “I am not an accident.”

Verse to remember:
“I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born.”
–Isaiah 44:2 (CEV)

This day’s reading is much more meaningful to me than it would have been before Anna. The thought that I am as meaningful to God as Anna is to me is astounding.

Another thought–much of this chapter is dedicated to “you are the way you are for a reason”… it would be easy for the reader to fall into the trap of using that as an excuse to accept their weaknesses and not strive to improve. I’m sure that is not Warren’s intent, but it did seem to be a bit heavy on the warm & fuzzy side.

I started reading Rick Warren’s A Purpose-Driven Life tonight. My thinking is that a good way to stick with the book and with this blog is to tie them together; after reading a chapter, I’ll come here and log a few brief thoughts about it. We’ll see if this works any better than what I have been doing (nothing).

Day 1’s Point to Ponder is “It’s not about me.” I imagine much of the book will be like this; an overly simple idea, but when you actually think about it it can have a lot of significance. How much of my time to I spend devoted to things other than myself? Not enough–some days, not any.

Verse to remember:
“Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.”
–Colossians 1:16b (Msg)

This is Yo-Yo Guy, the halftime entertainment for last night’s Grizzlies-Cavs game. I’m sure being able to “walk the dog” and go “around the world” is very exciting, but is it really worth being a dork? Also, I don’t know what kind of scratch he made for performing, but he owes me a portion of it for stealing 5 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Oh yeah, and the Grizz lost. At least I got to see Elvis dunk

Wednesday night I was lucky enough to go to be invited to the FedEx Forum VIP party; they have really done a nice job with the place. Also in attendace was my good friend Jerry West. He begged me to post a picture of us partying on this site, but I didn’t want to exploit our close personal friendship that way. Here are pictures of the exterior and interior of the Forum, and one of me shooting a free throw on the court–it was nothing but net, of course… (click on pictures to enlarge)

Ran across a great quote the other day from John Stuart Mill:

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made so and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

I’ve never been one have my email set up to add an automatic quote after the signature, but this one might cause me to change that. It’s amazing how something said a couple of hundred years ago can be so appropriate for current events.

Anna Kate has finally arrived! She is beautiful and tiring. The password to view the site is “annakate”, and don’t forget to sign the guestbook.