A Major Announcement for 2011!

Okay, patrons.

We've been at this a while.

Years of blogs about the news, pop culture, football, family, church, books, music, etc. And part of the reason I slowed down as I felt I'd pretty much I'd touched base on almost every topic to the point that each entry felt repetitive and ground I'd already covered.

But I've missed the discipline of writing.

And I thought of something I haven't done yet:

Read through the entire Bible and add an entry per day based on whatever thoughts and ideas pop into my brain based on what I read...

Yes.

It's a big task.

But one that I'm looking forward to...

...and one I hope you'll come along for the ride with me with comments and such.

I'll be using a reading plan I discovered in a commentary I have--and it "hops" around the Bible. Tomorrow's read will be Genesis 1 & 2.

So, pour some coffee and prepare to think and chat a bit, okay?

2010 Housekeeping

Books I read this year:

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures, by Malcolm Gladwell
Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, by Francis Chan (with Dale Yankoski)
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever, by Justin Taylor
Who Stole My Church? What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century, by Gordon MacDonald
The War of Art, by Stephen Pressfield
God in the Dock, by C.S. Lewis
The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn't Exist, by Craig Groeschel
After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters, by N.T. Wright
Brother West, Living and Loving Out Loud: A Memoir, by Cornel West with David Ritz
The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, by Scot McKnight
Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern
My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up, by Russell Brand
The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, by Howard Bryant
Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, by Kenda Creasy Dean
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, by Daniel Platt
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut, by Rob Sheffield
Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace, by Anne Jackson
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows, by James Bryan Smith
The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ, by James Bryan Smith
The Slow Fade: Why You Matter in the Story of Twentysomethings, by Reggie Joiner, Chuck Bomar & Abbie Smith
Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace, by David Lipshy
The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church, by Andrew Farley
I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays, by Sloane Crosley
I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas, by Lewis Black

Music I purchased in 2010:
Cold War Kids: Behave Yourself (EP)
The Old 97's: Hit By A Train (Best Of)
Spoon: iTunes Essentials
The Smiths: The Sounds of the Smiths
Hole: Nobody's Daughter
The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
Concrete Blonde: Recollection-The Best Of Concrete Blonde
Beck: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Soundtrack (4 songs)
Frank Turner: Poetry of the Deed
Frank Turner: Sleep is for the Week
Frank Turner: Love Ire & Song

Movies I saw in 2010:
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Youth in Revolt
Leap Year
It's Complicated (2009)
The Book of Eli
The Hurt Locker (2009)
The Edge of Darkness
When In Rome
Crazy Heart
From Paris With Love
Valentine's Day
Cop Out
Shutter Island
She's Out of My League
Bounty Hunter
Green Zone
Alice in Wonderland (3D)
How to Train Your Dragon (3D)
Clash of the Titans
Date Night
Death at a Funeral
Kick Ass
The Losers
City Island
Iron Man 2
Nightmare on Elm Street
Robin Hood
MacGruber
Shrek 4: Forever After
Get Him to the Greek
The A-Team
Knight and Day
Grown Ups
Toy Story 3
Greenberg
Despicable Me! (3D)
Sorcerer's Apprentice
Cyrus
Adam (2009)
Inception
Salt
The Kids Are All Right
The Other Guys
Eat Pray Love
The Expendables
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Babies
The Switch
Going the Distance
The American
Devil
Easy A
The Town
The Social Network
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Red
Due Date
Hereafter
Tangled (3D)
Love and Other Drugs
Faster
127 Hours
Unstoppable
Megamind (3D)
The Tourist
The Fighter
The Black Swan
How Do You Know?
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Reality Check

Here's what I learned last night from our family's excursion to the local shopping mall's new Hibachi steak place (you know, where the guy cooks the food right in front of you and makes a lot of racket with his utensils):

If a trained chef with an Asian accent makes a corny joke...say he throws a pat of butter in the air into the pile of rice he's frying and says "butter fly" as he's doing it...your teenage daughters and wife will belly laugh.

If a dad makes the same joke, say in the family kitchen...those same people will roll their eyes and condescendingly tell you how NOT funny you are.

Maybe if I could juggle a spinning egg on a spatula.

I guess context is everything.