If you’re a stats junkie like me, here’s an informative site: Worldometers. The site has a whole bunch of stat counters, from the typical (current world population) to the eye-raising (spam sent in a day) to the sad (deaths from hunger).

It’s been almost a week since my last post…where’s the time gone?!? Thought I’d throw up a quick post of odds and end thoughts.

Work absolutely kicked my butt last week. It’s been a while since I’ve been that busy and that challenged. Wish I could say it made the weekend that much more enjoyable, but I ended up being stressed and worried about things all weekend, even when I was out and about. Then today came and my worries were relieved. Wasted a whole weekend over nothing. Usually turns out that way, huh? “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life…Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” Matthew 6

Talking about being challenged…the Flying Pig is now only a few days away. It’s going to be a huge challenge for me to reach my goals, but I’m looking forward to the experience.

A friend of mine pointed me to some trail runs. This might be my next running “project.”

Woohoo, one class is over! Had my economics exam tonight and actually felt pretty good about how I did. Good to have that out of the way, and my Monday’s are free again! My Thursday night class still has two meetings, but that’s okay – I’m just glad both exams weren’t in the same week like they’ve been for the past three tests.

File under “Of course it would happen like this” – my favorite band, Needtobreathe, finally has a tour stop in this area! They’ll be at the Mad Hatter on May 8th… Know what else is May 8th? My final exam in Accounting. Grrr… I’m going to have to study hard so I can fly through the exam and get done in time to make the show.

Any Lost fans out there? Did not last week’s episode leave your mouth hanging open in astonishment?

That’s all for now, folks. Have yourself a great week.

And they keep on coming! Congratulations to Karen and Greg on the birth of Brayden Michael! He popped out this evening at 8lbs, 6ozs, 20inches. Mom, dad and baby are all doing well. Congratulations!!!

I woke up early this morning and was shaking. My first thought was “What’s wrong with me?!?” Then I realized the whole bed was shaking and the house started creaking. It took me a while to shake off the stupor, but I thought “Earthquake?” Surely not. I soon drifted back off to sleep, but when I woke up the next morning, I dismissed it as a dream.

Then I read the news: Enquirer.com and AP.

Sure enough, it was an earthquake.

A 5.4 magnitude earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people up to 450 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor.

The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Des Moines, Iowa, 450 miles northwest of the epicenter, but there were no early reports of injuries or significant damage.

This is the first time I remember experiencing one. It was definitely a weird feeling, especially since it lasted for what felt like a while (only 10-20 seconds in “real” world time, though). Anyone else wake up and feel it?

Uh, oh, the Flying Pig is only 18 days away – and I am NO WHERE NEAR ready for the 10k. I’m not even back up to where I left off last year! In June 2007, I ran the entire Redlegs’ 5k distance, finishing in just over 30 minutes, both personal bests (distance and time). So far this year, I’ve run 12 minutes before taking a walk break, with a total session run time of 22 minutes – a long way from where I was. If the weather holds up (gets and stays at least in the 60s, especially later in the evening), I should be able to get back to where I was, but then there’s the second 5k to get through…

Up until now, I hadn’t set a goal for the 10k, other than to sign up for it and show up on race day. Maybe I would have been better at training if I had set a goal. Or maybe not. There are tons of excuses I could use, but that won’t get me any closer to where I want to be. I just gotta keep my eye on the prize and do better from here on out.

That being said, it’s time I set myself a goal so I have something to strive for – and kick my butt over when I don’t reach it. So, here goes: run 5k distance without stopping for a walk and to finish in under 1hr 15 minutes. Given that this is my first 10k, I don’t have much to set a time goal on other than doubling my 5k time and adding some additional minutes. Hmm, good thing about these goals is they can feed off each other – if I stop for a walk in the first 5k, then I’ll have to run more and faster in the second half to reach the time goal. Yeah, I like it, this should work.

There is one positive from the runs I have done – I’ve been working on changing my stride and pace. I realized that soon into my run, my stride was getting really short, almost like a walk. The first four minutes of my recent runs, I’ve gone all out, really focusing on lengthening my stride while keeping my previous pace. When I start to get tired, I’m working on keeping the longer stride while slowing my pace. I don’t know if this is good running technique or not, but this should do more to improve my stamina and muscles than shuffling along.

18 days and counting…

Via FullyDevoted

How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

Charismatics: Only 1; hands are already in the air.

Pentecostals: 10; One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.

Presbyterians: None; Lights will go on and off at predestined times.

Roman Catholics: None; candles only

Baptists: At least 15. One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken

Episcopalians: 10; One to change the bulb, and nine to talk about how much better the old one was.

Methodists: Uncertain. A committee must be appointed to study the question.

Lutherans: None. Lutherans don’t believe in change.

Unitarians: We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, you are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your light bulb for the next Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

TV evangelists: One, but for the message of light to continue, send in your donation today.

Free Methodists: Somewhere between 1 and 20 depending on which leadership modality is currently cascading your way this year.

April is regarded as Financial Literacy Month. How financially literate are you? Test your financial IQ with the Federal Reserve’s Personal Financial Literacy Quiz.

My classes, reading and listening to podcasts must be sinking in – I only missed two, #13 and #24. How did you do?

This test was given to high schoolers and the mean score was 47.5% (see results). I didn’t expect high schoolers to necessarily score high, given they still have a lot to learn and many personal experiences to have, but 47.5% is still awfully low. The lessons they are learning now will shape how they act in college and their life after. Apparently many are not paying attention to or are missing these lessons. Or maybe they’re not having any lessons at all from parents, teachers or others – who would probably score the same.

A couple weeks ago, in my Sunday morning Bible fellowship, we had an interesting discussion on the first miracle performed by Jesus, the Wedding at Cana when He turned water into wine. Read about it in John 2:1-11 (ESV).

During the course of the discussion, the question was asked “When and where was the water turned into wine?” “Duh,” I thought, “the water was turned into wine in the stone jars.” It had never really occurred to me that there could be other opinions. Such is a problem with growing up in the church – I heard these stories all my life, drew a lot of assumptions that were never questions, and never critically thought about it myself. But I digress…

Before I go on, when/where do you think the water was turned into wine?

Here are some of the verses in question:

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” (John 2:6-8)

John does not explicitly say where the water was turned into wine, whether in the jars or elsewhere, thus leaving these verses open for debate and differing point of views. A couple opinions were brought up in class and I’ve done some brief research on the web since. These seem to be the main points of view – the water turned to wine:

• as soon as it was in the jars
• in the jars when Jesus says “Now draw some out”
• in the well when Jesus commanded “Fill the jars with water”
• when the servants were carrying it to the master
• when the water touched the master’s lips

I didn’t initially realize there were so many “theories” on this! This is some food for thought, though, so I dug a little deeper. Most of the debate stems from verse 8, when Jesus says “Now draw some out.” Out of where? The well? The jars?

Picture, if you will, yourself at this wedding celebration in Biblical times. You’re a servant, running back and forth from the well to the jars at Christ’s command, filling these six 20 to 30 gallon containers with water. It had to have taken quite some time to accomplish the task. Once the jars were full, Jesus approaches you and says “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” What do you do – do you draw some out of the jars you just filled or take a trip back to the well?

Here is verse 8 in Greek:

kai legei autois antlhsate nun kai ferete tw arcitriklinw oi de hnegkan

Those that think the water was drawn from the well point to the Greek word “antlhsate” which translates to “draw out.” As with translating most languages, something is lost in the translation. According to one website (I’m too lazy to cite inline, but all resources are listed at the end of the post) the word “antlhsate” is the Greek term used for drawing water from a well, and is used only 4 times in the New Testament, all in John. Some scholars, however, say that the word is used in the context of bailing a boat which would fit the normal interpretation of this verse – drawing water from the stone jars.

Others site verse 9 – “the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)” – to state the water was still water when it came out of the jars, but was changed to wine before reaching the guests. This verse could also lead one to conclude the water came from the well, since many guests could have seen the servants draw water from the jars, but it’s doubtful anyone would have seen the servants draw it from the well.

So what do you think – when and where was the water turned to wine?

I thoroughly enjoy picking apart and researching the Bible like this, but in the end, does this really matter? I would say no, it does not matter where or when the water was turned into wine. What matters is that the water *was* turned into wine, and more importantly, this set into motion the events that led to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection – and saving my life.

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Congratulations to Nick and Ashlee on the new addition to their family!!! Noah was born at 3:07pm today, 9 lbs 5 ozs and 21 inches long. Yay Pendleys! Congrats!

BattleBots Return

I used to love watching Robot Wars on TechTV back in the day (back when TechTV was good, before G4 took it over). Now BattleBots, Robot Wars’ spin-off, is moving to the big time – ESPN2. I like the direction they plan to take it in – less flashy and showy and more technical and human.

Glenn Beck: Too bad, Michigan and Florida

“Personal responsibility has all but vanished in America, and our government is leading the way.” This pretty much echoes my thoughts on the cause of many of the problems in this country. People made stupid and ill-advised decisions, financial or otherwise, seeking instant gratification over long term happiness, then expect others to bail them out or otherwise try to avoid the consequences for their actions, rather than taking responsibility, when things don’t quite go the way they thought they would. (OK, that may have been a bit of a run-on, but I could rant for a while on this.)

How to Turn $500 into $7 the Hard Way

Here’s a story of how to turn $500 into $7, a story many of us can relate to. How many seemingly smart decisions have we made only to have them turn out very foolish later?