Couldn't ask for better weather outside. Enjoying this while it lasts!
Alrighty, fellow Bucketeers, here's the deal.
Darci, over at Page Traveler Tales, rented out her blog space to me for the day... for free!
Wasn't that nice of her?
So hop on over there to check out a special guest post I wrote for her and to see all of the other stuff she's written as well! Don't leave me hanging!
9.07.2011
9.06.2011
K.I.S.S, Part Dos
I saw The Dark Knight for about the 100th time yesterday, and I still love that movie.
Ah, it's one of those days. A Monday that's disguised as a Tuesday. Tricky, tricky stuff.
On account of this, I want to keep today's post short, simple, and sweet.
First of all, I'd love it if you checked out yesterday's post because I forgot it was Labor Day and didn't just post something that said, "Happy Labor Day - I'm too lazy to blog!"
Secondly, since we all know that today is really Monday, I want to present you with our second edition of...
Keep it Simple, Stupid.
(No worries - "Stupid" here refers to me, mostly.)
So, just like last time, this post is easy. Easy for you. Easy for me.
Just one question for you to consider today:
What worries you most in life and why?
That's it. Simple as that.
Think, reflect, answer.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
On account of this, I want to keep today's post short, simple, and sweet.
First of all, I'd love it if you checked out yesterday's post because I forgot it was Labor Day and didn't just post something that said, "Happy Labor Day - I'm too lazy to blog!"
Secondly, since we all know that today is really Monday, I want to present you with our second edition of...
Keep it Simple, Stupid.(No worries - "Stupid" here refers to me, mostly.)
So, just like last time, this post is easy. Easy for you. Easy for me.
Just one question for you to consider today:
What worries you most in life and why?
That's it. Simple as that.
Think, reflect, answer.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
9.05.2011
On Being Fair
I was just thinking about Daylight Savings Time yesterday and how much I loathe it...
A few days ago, my wonderful wife went to the laundromat. She's a brave soul, to say the least. I guess she doesn't want us smelling like skunks at school, though, so it makes sense. And because she was busy making sure nobody stole our clothes, I was left alone to run some errands.
The first thing you need to know in this situation is that the idea of me "running errands" (a.k.a. going to the store) is a terrible idea. I don't know my right from my left at the store. My wife does all of the shopping and does a mighty fine job at it. Why mess with a good thing?
In this case, though, desperate times called for desperate measures. You see, I ran out of coffee Friday morning. And although my wonderful wife brought me a cup from the Kwikshop down the street, that wasn't going to cut it past that morning. I can't help it - I tend to be a coffee snob most days.
So I braved the journey to Dillon's, where I proceeded to walk to the wrong end of the store for the coffee. After finding my way back to the aisle of liquid gold, I started searching high and low. For what? you might be asking. Well, you see, coffee buying is an art. It takes time, precision, a good eye, and patience. Okay, so maybe it's not that difficult - I just make it that hard.
Seriously, though, I did have to look pretty hard for some coffee that I could purchase. You see, Goal #62 on my 111 in 2011 demands that I look high and low: I'm only supposed to buy Fair Trade coffee this year.
So what's the big deal with Fair Trade? Well, think of it this way...
I have something I want to sell that I've hand-crafted. Let's say I built a time machine and I'm trying to sell it (YES!). I search high and low for people to buy my time machine, and since I'm ignorant of the market for such things, I latch on to the first buyer I can find. The company offers me what seems like a pretty fair price, so I take it, happy to have made a few dollars so I can feed my family.
In the process, I think this whole time machine business might actually be viable, so I decide to build another. Except it seems like, oddly enough, that I have even less money than I did before after I finish building my second time machine. Something isn't quite adding up here...
But I sell the second one to the first buyer because, once again, I need to feed my family. And again, I go to build another time machine with even less money.
So maybe the time machine example is a bit outrageous. But you get the point. If I build time machines, but have no way to know how much they're selling for, I have no leverage. And frankly, putting food on the table for my family is much more important to me than anything else, so I'll take any offer I can get for those things. People can take advantage of my family and me without me ever knowing.
This is where Fair Trade comes into the mix. If I decided to begin participating in Fair Trade time machine building, I would be given a reasonable, sustainable offer on the work that I do. There's a global standard set so that people can't rip me off. This allows my business to become more sustainable while allowing me to feed my family. Heck, this might even let me send one of my kids to school this year instead of staying home to help out with those wretched machines!
Per the Fair Trade USA website:
Now I realize that counter-arguments exist. And I don't have answers for all of them. But here's what I do know:
Now I'm not really one to beg, but I'd ask you to at least consider what I'm talking about here. Consider what you're voting for with every dollar you spend. Consider the impact of your spending habits. Consider the fact that you could effect positive change in the lives of others simply by being more aware of the products you choose to buy.
Here are a couple of resources to help you in this:
Better World Shopper
Fair Trade USA
Question(s): What do you think about the idea that every dollar you spend is a vote? Have you ever considered responsibility in your spending habits? What's something tangible that you can do this month to spend your money more responsibly?
A few days ago, my wonderful wife went to the laundromat. She's a brave soul, to say the least. I guess she doesn't want us smelling like skunks at school, though, so it makes sense. And because she was busy making sure nobody stole our clothes, I was left alone to run some errands.
The first thing you need to know in this situation is that the idea of me "running errands" (a.k.a. going to the store) is a terrible idea. I don't know my right from my left at the store. My wife does all of the shopping and does a mighty fine job at it. Why mess with a good thing?
In this case, though, desperate times called for desperate measures. You see, I ran out of coffee Friday morning. And although my wonderful wife brought me a cup from the Kwikshop down the street, that wasn't going to cut it past that morning. I can't help it - I tend to be a coffee snob most days.
So I braved the journey to Dillon's, where I proceeded to walk to the wrong end of the store for the coffee. After finding my way back to the aisle of liquid gold, I started searching high and low. For what? you might be asking. Well, you see, coffee buying is an art. It takes time, precision, a good eye, and patience. Okay, so maybe it's not that difficult - I just make it that hard.
Seriously, though, I did have to look pretty hard for some coffee that I could purchase. You see, Goal #62 on my 111 in 2011 demands that I look high and low: I'm only supposed to buy Fair Trade coffee this year.
So what's the big deal with Fair Trade? Well, think of it this way...
I have something I want to sell that I've hand-crafted. Let's say I built a time machine and I'm trying to sell it (YES!). I search high and low for people to buy my time machine, and since I'm ignorant of the market for such things, I latch on to the first buyer I can find. The company offers me what seems like a pretty fair price, so I take it, happy to have made a few dollars so I can feed my family.
In the process, I think this whole time machine business might actually be viable, so I decide to build another. Except it seems like, oddly enough, that I have even less money than I did before after I finish building my second time machine. Something isn't quite adding up here...
But I sell the second one to the first buyer because, once again, I need to feed my family. And again, I go to build another time machine with even less money.
So maybe the time machine example is a bit outrageous. But you get the point. If I build time machines, but have no way to know how much they're selling for, I have no leverage. And frankly, putting food on the table for my family is much more important to me than anything else, so I'll take any offer I can get for those things. People can take advantage of my family and me without me ever knowing.
This is where Fair Trade comes into the mix. If I decided to begin participating in Fair Trade time machine building, I would be given a reasonable, sustainable offer on the work that I do. There's a global standard set so that people can't rip me off. This allows my business to become more sustainable while allowing me to feed my family. Heck, this might even let me send one of my kids to school this year instead of staying home to help out with those wretched machines!
Per the Fair Trade USA website:
Most small-scale coffee farmers live in remote locations and typically have no access to the world market, nor knowledge of trends in their industry. Farmers often sell their coffee at a fraction of its worth, which leaves them unable to invest in sustainable farming methods and forces them to lean heavily on their own children of help. When children are required to work, instead of going to school, the cycle of poverty perpetuates.
Now I realize that counter-arguments exist. And I don't have answers for all of them. But here's what I do know:
- I'm one the richest people in the world.
- With great power, comes great responsibility.
- Thus, I must consciously choose to be responsible with every dollar I spend, because every dollar is a vote for something. If I am lax in my responsibility as someone with such great power in this world, somebody will be impacted, and most likely not for the positive.
Now I'm not really one to beg, but I'd ask you to at least consider what I'm talking about here. Consider what you're voting for with every dollar you spend. Consider the impact of your spending habits. Consider the fact that you could effect positive change in the lives of others simply by being more aware of the products you choose to buy.
Here are a couple of resources to help you in this:
Better World Shopper
Fair Trade USA
Question(s): What do you think about the idea that every dollar you spend is a vote? Have you ever considered responsibility in your spending habits? What's something tangible that you can do this month to spend your money more responsibly?
9.02.2011
Rest
I completely forgot to buy more coffee for the morning, so my wonderful wife is grabbing me a cup during her run. Gotta love her!
These past two weeks have been some of the most tiresome of my life. Whether because of illness or simply not being used to school, I've needed to rest every day.
It's so interesting to me how we often associate rest with sleep. I think we really miss something when we do this. If the only resting we achieve happens while we're mostly unconscious, then no true rest actually occurs.
No, resting is much more than sleeping. Resting requires intentionality and purposefulness. If we do not choose to rest, we never will. And as a result, we will often be much less than what we could be.
It's no surprise to me that God commands rest throughout Scripture. He himself rested after all of creation was set into motion. And though I don't fully understand what God's rest means, I know that if he rested in his own personal way after doing work, I need to do the same.
It's so difficult to slow down, though. To stop doing and simply be. And yet that's our school's theme for the year. To be, not do. We need to be at rest from time to time if we ever hope to do anything worthwhile.
And so, because I need to rest, I write for five minutes. No more, no less. Because I need to be deliberate about resting, about enjoying, about being. Being closer to God and becoming closer to the well-rested man that God desires me to be.
--- --- ---
And that, my friends, is my Five Minute Friday, courtesy of The Gypsy Mama.
Question: How do you plan on truly resting this weekend?
These past two weeks have been some of the most tiresome of my life. Whether because of illness or simply not being used to school, I've needed to rest every day.
It's so interesting to me how we often associate rest with sleep. I think we really miss something when we do this. If the only resting we achieve happens while we're mostly unconscious, then no true rest actually occurs.
No, resting is much more than sleeping. Resting requires intentionality and purposefulness. If we do not choose to rest, we never will. And as a result, we will often be much less than what we could be.
It's no surprise to me that God commands rest throughout Scripture. He himself rested after all of creation was set into motion. And though I don't fully understand what God's rest means, I know that if he rested in his own personal way after doing work, I need to do the same.
It's so difficult to slow down, though. To stop doing and simply be. And yet that's our school's theme for the year. To be, not do. We need to be at rest from time to time if we ever hope to do anything worthwhile.
And so, because I need to rest, I write for five minutes. No more, no less. Because I need to be deliberate about resting, about enjoying, about being. Being closer to God and becoming closer to the well-rested man that God desires me to be.
--- --- ---
And that, my friends, is my Five Minute Friday, courtesy of The Gypsy Mama.
Question: How do you plan on truly resting this weekend?
9.01.2011
I'm Getting Old
Alright, I'm not usually one to go on about the weather, but this heat is getting a bit out of control. I thought hurricanes were supposed to cool down the country, not cause a heat stroke!
I've come to a sad realization over the last couple of weeks as school has started:
I'm getting old, people.
Yeah, yeah. I know. You're probably scrambling, trying to figure out my age so you can decide if I'm crazy. And I'll just help you out here. I'm all of 21 years old. 21 and a half, if we want to get technical.
And sadly, I'm starting to feel old. Why? Well there's a ridiculous number of possibilities.
Possibility #1: I start my day before the sun comes up, which can mean rising from anytime between 4 AM to 6 AM. Around a college town, those are the "forbidden hours." You're only awake because some demented teacher actually wants to push you to learn and grow and actually get something from your $60,000 education. Or because you took a No-Doz a little too late.
Possibility #2: My ridiculously early day doesn't start without coffee. Even today, when my apartment feels like a furnace. If I don't get my coffee (or some ample substitute, for instance, chocolate milk), then please understand why there's a permanent scowl on my face throughout the day.
Possibility #3: If we're going to be obvious here, my lungs are old and decrepit. I do believe my last lung function test described my "Lung Age" as ">84 years old." Ouch.
None of these, though, really make me feel old. I like to think these things make me "unique."
No, it's not until I went to write this blog post that I started to feel old. And then Blogger had to go and say, "Hey, do you want to try out our new interface?" And of course I was curious, so I checked it out.
My first thought?
Why the crap does all this new-fangled stuff keep coming out and all my beloved old stuff keep changing?!
The first indicator of my early-onset old age would probably have to be my unnecessary use of the word "new-fangled." But beyond that...
Seriously, I just can't keep up with everything new!
First off, it's a new school year. New classes. New teachers. To boot, we have a new system to manage our online classes, which is much more painful as a work-study than as a student. This is followed by other new programs, like Spotify or Google Plus. Or old, reliable programs, like Facebook or Blogger, changing themselves around to look new.
And it's only the second week of school!
So, sadly, I feel myself aging. My initial reaction is frustration, because my heart longs for things to remain where they are. My mind is simply searching for a constant, something, anything that won't change in this world. And frankly, nothing can be found.
So I guess I'm already getting old. In ten or twenty years, I can't even imagine what things are going to be like. I suppose I should probably learn to let go and keep learning. But it's stinking hard.
And gosh darn it, isn't life hard enough without Facebook changing every 2 weeks?!
Question: Have you noticed this trend in your own life? Do you sometimes miss "the way things were?" How have you learned to move on?
I've come to a sad realization over the last couple of weeks as school has started:
I'm getting old, people.
Yeah, yeah. I know. You're probably scrambling, trying to figure out my age so you can decide if I'm crazy. And I'll just help you out here. I'm all of 21 years old. 21 and a half, if we want to get technical.
And sadly, I'm starting to feel old. Why? Well there's a ridiculous number of possibilities.Possibility #1: I start my day before the sun comes up, which can mean rising from anytime between 4 AM to 6 AM. Around a college town, those are the "forbidden hours." You're only awake because some demented teacher actually wants to push you to learn and grow and actually get something from your $60,000 education. Or because you took a No-Doz a little too late.
Possibility #2: My ridiculously early day doesn't start without coffee. Even today, when my apartment feels like a furnace. If I don't get my coffee (or some ample substitute, for instance, chocolate milk), then please understand why there's a permanent scowl on my face throughout the day.
Possibility #3: If we're going to be obvious here, my lungs are old and decrepit. I do believe my last lung function test described my "Lung Age" as ">84 years old." Ouch.
None of these, though, really make me feel old. I like to think these things make me "unique."
No, it's not until I went to write this blog post that I started to feel old. And then Blogger had to go and say, "Hey, do you want to try out our new interface?" And of course I was curious, so I checked it out.
My first thought?
Why the crap does all this new-fangled stuff keep coming out and all my beloved old stuff keep changing?!
The first indicator of my early-onset old age would probably have to be my unnecessary use of the word "new-fangled." But beyond that...
Seriously, I just can't keep up with everything new!
First off, it's a new school year. New classes. New teachers. To boot, we have a new system to manage our online classes, which is much more painful as a work-study than as a student. This is followed by other new programs, like Spotify or Google Plus. Or old, reliable programs, like Facebook or Blogger, changing themselves around to look new.
And it's only the second week of school!
So, sadly, I feel myself aging. My initial reaction is frustration, because my heart longs for things to remain where they are. My mind is simply searching for a constant, something, anything that won't change in this world. And frankly, nothing can be found.
So I guess I'm already getting old. In ten or twenty years, I can't even imagine what things are going to be like. I suppose I should probably learn to let go and keep learning. But it's stinking hard.
And gosh darn it, isn't life hard enough without Facebook changing every 2 weeks?!
Question: Have you noticed this trend in your own life? Do you sometimes miss "the way things were?" How have you learned to move on?
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