Future Me

I foresee me acting like this when I become a dad someday.

In My D-fence

Concerning my recent social media posts on the topics of Tebow, Scripture, and Alabama I think it might be time for me to explain myself, although I hate it that I should have to.

As a Christian some of the things I am called to do are:

• Love my enemies. (Matthew 5:44)
• Spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24)
• Not to tear down but to build up. (Ephesians 4:29)

Also, let's establish a few things:

• I don't hate The University of Alabama. I highly respect Nick Saban as a coach. I think Mark Ingram is an incredibly humble class act.
• What I hate is fans of football, who profess to be Christians, that allow football to create hatred, bitterness, and anxiety. This goes beyond just fans of Alabama but, since I live in the state, I am immersed in an area that is predominantly Alabama fans. 
• I know there have been times when my own love for UNC basketball has created hatred, bitterness and anxiety during the basketball season and especially during the UNC/Duke games, so I too am not above the reason for this post.
• A lot of my beef with this football season pretty much revolves around how people react to the word "Tebow". When it comes to football, I am a University of Georgia fan and the largest rivalry UGA has is with Florida. Ipso facto, I should hate Florida. Ipso facto, I should hate Tebow.

Recently I have grown tired of hearing about how I am an idiot for not hating Tim Tebow and hearing fellow Christians berate and curse a fellow brother in Christ. I don't claim to be above this kind of behavior. In fact, over this past year I have had to do a gut check on my own reaction to those who I would consider opponents of my favorite sports team. Unfortunately for my pride, I kept recalling the scripture that is paraphrased at the beginning of this post. I don't like recalling scripture that immediately makes me realize I should repent. That's not a fun feeling but it also means that I am doing something wrong.  

What simply blows me away is people's rationale for hating him. People supposedly hate Tim Tebow because the press is in love with him. That's like hating a deer that is mounted on someone's wall.  The deer didn't ask to be killed and then shown off as a trophy. People also claim that they would never want Tebow to play for their team. I have to laugh at that one. Let's take a step back and look at this one objectively. There is an NCAA football player that loves what he does, outwardly professes to be a Christian, gives back to society, does well academically, breaks records on the field, and seems to be a nice guy. Every fan would love to have a guy like that play for their team. If you disagree then you probably hate Christians and/or you don't like to win. I am not sure if there is another reason. Lastly, the thing that has confused me is hearing fellow Christians criticize him for posting scripture verses under his eyes during games. It is probably safe to assume that over his 4yr career he has had more people reaching for their Bible out of simple curiosity than I could ever hope for in my lifetime. 

Now I know that football does not revolve around Jesus and Christianity but Christians should also not revolve around football. Our attitude and actions should come from what the Word of God says and not how we will be perceived by fellow fans that may not comprehend our actions. Who knows, maybe they will become curious and our own actions will inspire many to open God's word. 

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I Love The Muppets

It's Christmas themed and it has Waldorf and Statler.

When I have kids, they will watch The Muppets.

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I’m Back

So it looks as though I have been MIA lately. Sorry for that. I did a lot of traveling for work during September and October but other than that I have no excuse. So to all my faithful readers (Hi mom and Katie), I’m back! We will see for how long.

I would say that a lot has happened since my last post.

On October 6th several of us went to see U2 in Atlanta and we were 5ft, if not closer, to the band at times.

It’s okay to be jealous.

On October 19th I decided that I really did not like a particular Infiniti G37x and so I decided to crash my car into the back of one.

Yeah, that’s a dealer tag on the back the Infiniti. It hadn’t even been sold yet.

In November we went car shopping which I quickly realized I hated and that my wife is quite the haggler. Got a new car.

SIKE! As if!

Just haven’t taken a picture of the new one.

Had a fun and unusual Thanksgiving where I learned that you can’t control everything but God is sovereign and has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11). It just might not be how we envisioned it (Isaiah 55:8).

All in all, things have been crazy and good. Great family. Great friends. Awesome God.

You stay classy.

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I’m Confused By This

What is supposed to happen in this designated area? Am I supposed to be washing my hands or flushing my hands?

Jeremy Dixon

Sent From My Wireless Handheld

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This is normal, right?

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Trip Through Your Wires

I would have to say that I am thoroughly impressed by the numbers revealed in this video.  It makes me think that the embracing of, and figuring out, the influence of social media on consumers might be the ticket out of this recession.  Take a look:

For the record, I am still on Twitter and loving it.  You will no longer see my feed on this blog because I have made it private.  No one needs to know if I am going to be out of town that I don’t approve of. Even though we do have an alarm system, several pit bulls, and an arsenal that even the NRA would envy.

Some Days Are Better Than Others

My wife and I have gotten into this habit every Saturday morning of watching Property Ladder on TLC where people attempt to flip houses.  We thoroughly enjoy watching people’s stubbornness and complete disregard for professional advice to see if they succeed or not.  My how times have changed.  Walk with me for a second down memory lane.

There have been numerous occasions I have checked out the programming for the major networks on a Saturday morning only to wonder, “What are kids watching these days?”  Just check out their Saturday morning programming:

What is there for them on Saturday mornings?  Now I know a lot of people think TV will “rot your brain” but I beg to differ.  I turned out fine.

Regardless of your outlook on TV, you have to admit that the selection of cartoons, or child friendly programming, was exponentially better in the 80’s and early 90’s.  Check out what the options were in 87:

You might have to squint.

Since it may be hard to read let me point out some highlights: Smurfs, Muppet Babies, Berenstain Bears, Gummy Bears, Pound Puppies, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mighty Mouse, Real Ghostbusters, Bugs Bunny and Tweety, Alf, Punky Brewster,…I could keep going.  And I didn’t even mention Transformers, He-Man, She-Ra, or G.I. Joe!

Check out 1990:

Saved By The Bell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, New Kids On The Block, Garfield, etc!

How was one to choose?!?!

Just think about what would happen if the major networks brought back most of these shows for Saturday morning.  Their viewership would definitely increase!  I would also predict that they would even have the kids of those times sitting down with their kids to watch these shows with them because they would enjoy reminiscing.

Below are just a few of my favorites that were unmentioned from back in the day.

M.A.S.K.

These guys basically combined Transformers and G.I. Joe

Voltron

Airwolf

This didn’t air on Saturday mornings but it was so good I had to give it a mention.

Beautiful Day

It is a beautiful day indeed.  My dad has a blog.  He has had it for a few months now and he does a lot better job keeping up with his than I do mine.  You should def check it out.  His writing is pretty witty. I mean, just check out his bio on his blog.  Here is a screen capture of the bio.

Def check out his blog. Click HERE.

His first post is the toast he gave at my rehearsal dinner and a lot of people have been wanting to read it so scroll all the way down on his blog to the first post.

Walk On

After traveling to Chicago where people seem to walk everywhere and my times in the airports during my travels, I figured I would post some helpful hints on walking etiquette.  Trust me, this is needed.

1. When walking in crowded areas you should adhere to similar guidelines as when you do driving.  Always walk on the right side. This keeps if from looking like an old war scene where the battle lines charged each other.  We are not at war.  We just want to get to our destination with the least amount of obstacles.
2. If you find yourself the faster walker then you should pass those slower than you on the left hand side of everyone walking the same direction.  This could be tricky because you might come to a wall of people walking slower than yourself which means you might have to venture over into oncoming traffic.  If this should happen, then you should view this as passing a car on a road with the intermittent yellow lines.  You have to time this perfectly as to not hit someone coming the opposite way because they have the right of way.  Which leads me to my next piece of advice.
3. Establish a line and commit to it! If you want people to respect your walk then you need to seem like an unwavering train.  Don’t worry, people will see commitment in your eyes and get out of your way.  Do you see people asking trains to get out of the way?  I didn’t think so.  There is nothing more frustrating than being behind someone walking a lot slower than yourself and swerving back in forth in front of you like a drunk driver.  It is almost impossible to pass that person in crowded areas.  Perhaps you are not sure where you are going and if that is the case then please see #4.
4. Pull over to regain your bearings or if you need to come to a complete stop. You don’t stop in the middle of the highway or freeway so why stop in the middle of a busy sidewalk or airport concourse.  There are very few legitimate reasons for this and the most common would have to be if you dropped something.  At which point, one of your fellow walkers should assist you in your recovery to get you back on your way.
5. Lastly, if you have to exit from your committed line to go to the bathroom, stop at a store, or if you are simply at your destination then plan your exit carefully.  Make sure you look behind you as to not cut someone off.

These are not hard facts but I promise it will make walking a lot easier on you.