Immigration vs. Outsourcing

Everyone with a pulse in the US is probably aware of the whole immigration debate going on here right now. (If not, the link is the Googled “immigration debate”. There’s only about 60 million sites that can fill you in.)

And for years we’ve been hearing complaints about jobs going overseas due to outsourcing. Dilbert is dealing with that in his usual humorous way today. Apparently even some Christian prayer lines have been outsourced to India.

So what’s your opinion? Are the two issues related in any way?

Speak up and leave a comment.

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Tags: Immigration Debate, Outsourcing, Dilbert, CREEations, Chris Cree

You're Just Passing Through

Last night we had a going away party for some friends of ours who are moving up to Boston. There was a ton of good food. We had a lot of laughs and bunches of great conversation. And now we have a really good reason to visit that wonderful city.

The whole evening was a solid reminder of the reality that life is a very transient thing. For an increasing number of us here in America it is becoming normal to move around quite a bit. Gorgeous and I have been married a little over 8 years and we are on our fifth home and third state.

Yet some folks live in the same place their entire lives. Do you suppose folks who do ever lose site of how short life is? I know it would be tempting for me to believe that this life was a more permanent thing if I stayed in one place for a long time.

But the reality life is fleeting. The Bible says

Your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone.

Not one of us knows how long we have here. I don’t see anywhere that it’s written we are promised to be on this world tomorrow. Keeping that in mind can help us make the most of today.

The other life lesson that was reinforced by our friends leaving was that we shouldn’t hold our possessions too dearly. They had to lighten the load considerably to make their move due to the tremendous disparity in housing costs between Savannah and Boston. They de-ballasted by giving away a ton of stuff. The chair I’m sitting in while I type this was one of their gifts.

We have the capacity to put way too much importance on our stuff. Voice in the Wilderness says you can learn a lot about folks and their stuff just by looking in the church parking lot. When you move around you have an incentive to lighten the load that isn’t there when you stay put for a long time.

Right before He told a story to illustrate how short life is Jesus pointed out that

Real life is not measured by how much we own.

It goes back to what I said about life a while back. The meat (the real substance) of life is the sum of our relationships. Everything else is just flavoring.

Enjoy!

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Tags: Life, Life is Short, Stuff, CREEations, Chris Cree

A Day to Remember

Today is Memorial Day here in the States. The holiday’s roots go back over 130 years to shortly after the Civil War when the federal government set aside a day to honor the fallen from that war.

And then after World War I the significance of the day was officially expanded to honor the dead from all our nation’s wars.

This holiday is personal for me, and not only because I am a Navy veteran. It is a day for me to remember some of the incredible people who have given their lives in support of the liberty we so easily take for granted.

Today is a day to remember Sonny Bubeck who was engaged to the best friend of a girl I was dating at the time. I watched Sonny die when his F/A-18 Hornet did a lateral hard-over right off the catapult on the USS Saratoga and crashed into the Adriatic Sea. His plane was loaded with war shots because we were flying over Bosnia at the time trying to keep the various factions on the ground there from massacring each other.

Today is also a day to remember one of my flight school roommates, Rich Calderone.

Rich was a monster on the ping-pong table. He was the inventor of our constantly changing ruled “room-ball” where the ball could hit on any surface in the room after it hit your paddle as long as it hit once on your opponent’s side of the table. His specialties were the ceiling fan rocket shot and two-walling it off the wall behind his opponent so that it hit their side heading in the wrong direction and was impossible to play.

Rich died when his helicopter crashed one night off the USS America.

If you would, in honor of Sonny, Rich, and the thousands of others who have given their lives defending the liberty that we all enjoy today, please take a moment to watch this video clip, We Support U. And remember their sacrifice.

There is another reason why this particular holiday has special meaning to me. Because Memorial Day is a time set aside to remember the fallen, it is a day when Taps is traditionally played.

And it’s not just that the music is particularly gripping for anyone who’s been in uniform. (Here you can listen to Taps and hear for yourself.) But there is a family connection, as well.

I am actually related to General Daniel Butterfield, the one usually credited with helping create the song and bringing it popularity. My grandmother’s maiden name is Butterfield.

Last year, my cousin, Hannah Sollecito was invited to participate in the Echo Taps project. Echo Taps was done to highlight the shortage of buglers to perform Taps at military funerals. 866 musicians spaced along 41 miles of rural New York between Elmira and Bath echoed the funeral dirge for nearly three hours, one to the next along the entire distance.

As a descendent of General Butterfield, Hannah was asked to be the first to play and started the chain. Here’s the Washington Post article from last year.

Take a moment today to remember our fallen heroes.

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Tags: Memorial Day, Remember, Fallen Heroes, Taps, General Butterfield, We Support U, Echo Taps, CREEations, Chris Cree

Famous Privacy

What do you do when you see someone famous?

Gorgeous and I are up in Charleston this weekend staying with some friends. We all went out to a pizza place to grab some dinner because, well, eating is fun.

Now the pizza place happens to be located right down the road from our church. And it just so happened that I looked over and noticed our senior pastor, Greg Surratt, sitting a couple tables away having dinner with another couple.

Now I’m pretty sure Greg would dispute that he is actually famous. But he does lead a church of 10,000+ people. And something tells me that probably a lot of them stop him to say, “Hi” when they see him out and about.

We ended up having a little discussion at our table about the whole thing. Do we go up and say hello, being part of the church he leads, and from an out of state campus” The friends we were eating with happen to go to one of the Seacoast campuses up here too.

Or do we skip the introduction because he deserves his privacy and may not get much of that when he’s trying to have an evening of his own out with friends?

In the end we decided that going over to them would really be about us, not him. So we didn’t disturb them.

Was that the right answer?

Have you ever encountered anyone famous? What did you do?

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Privacy, Famous People, Seacoast Church, CREEations, Chris Cree

Who Wants to Be Rich and Happy?

Gorgeous and I are having a bit of a rough week. I guess you could say we’re on a passion search.

Don’t get me wrong. We got no problem with our passion, if you know what I mean. But that’s not what I’m talking about. (Besides, this is not that kind of blog. Sheesh!)

We’ve been asking ourselves lots of questions.

• If money were no object what do you want to do?
• If you could set aside all the things you have to do and had all the time in the world, what would you want to do?
• What do you find yourself thinking about when your mind wanders?

Asking those sorts of questions helps refine what your passion really is.

Liz Strauss over at Successful-Blog some advice for folks who are searching to figure out what their passion really is

If you’re after an answer to that question, here’s how to spot something that’s your passion.

You have a passion, if what you are thinking about is

1. a pastime or idea you’ve been interested in from the minute you encountered it.
2. a pastime or idea you talk about, read about, and write about even when you don’t have to.
3. a pastime or idea other people know that you know a lot about.
4. a pastime or idea you would miss sorely if you had to give it up.
   
5. a pastime or idea that energizes you when you get to share it with others.

What does it matter what your passion is? Why bother answering these tough questions?

Well it turns out you are likely to be more successful throughout life if you allow yourself to work at something you are passionate about. Curt Rosengren says passion will fuel your success and he tells us why.

Passion is a renewable resource. Doing work that comes from the heart of who you are and what you're drawn to energizes you. And that is energy you can put into doing the hard work of success.

Success in your career doesn't come with a snap of the fingers. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes commitment. Above all, it takes the energy and inspiration to make it all happen.

Curt feels so strongly about the subject that he calls himself a Passion Catalyst and has made his own career out of helping others figure out their passions.

But here’s the best part about finding your passion and letting yourself focus there. Not only are you likely to make more money because passion pays, but you will be happier too.

Again Curt tells us that to Focus on Money, Prestige, Success is a Recipe for Unhappiness.

So there you have it. Finding your passion can make you rich and happy. And now you’ve even got some pointers on how to get started working out what your passion really is.

All and all a good day.

Enjoy!

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Tags: Passion, Success, Happiness, Liz Strauss, Successful-Blog, Curt Rosengren, The Occupational Adventure, Life, CREEations, Chris Cree

Exercise is a Pain

Exercise is such a pain. Why is that?

I mean the best part of working out is finishing, at least in my book. I’ve never been one of those guys who loves spending hours each day at the gym.

My idea of a work out involves not getting a good parking place.

Am I alone in this? Looking around America, I don’t think so. We seem to be getting heftier, don’t we?

We had a friend visit from Australia a while back who said, “I’ve never seen so many obese children as you have here in America.”

And she’s not wrong.

My challenge here is one of priority, I think. I’d rather sit in front of this computer than go down to the YMCA and get on a machine. I know part of that is convenience. If the Y was in my back bedroom I might be more inclined to actually get on a machine.

I stress “might” because I also know the reality is the lack of convenience is just an excuse. And when I’m looking for an excuse, any excuse will do. I could just as easily say I don’t go to the Y much because it is near the airport. Or the TV’s are too loud. Or the A/C is too high (or too low). Or they don’t serve coffee.

The truth is I could pick any excuse because it doesn’t even matter. What I claim, my excuse, is not really why I don’t work out. I don’t work out because I don’t want to work out. I mean I want all the benefits of consistent exercise, health, stamina, looking good, and all that. But I don’t want it enough to actually pay the price, which involves an investment of time and effort. I prioritize it so low that it rarely actually happens.

Our nation is so wealthy that we seem to be able to afford to not do a whole bunch of things these days, exercise included. So many of us are unwilling to put in the work required to excel that we end up living lives of quietly despairing mediocrity.

I remember a quote from Finian’s Rainbow when Sharon asks Finian if there are any poor people in America. He answers something like, “Yes, but they are the richest poor people in the world.”

And how true that is.

I can see a good side to this trend, though. With so few people actually exerting the effort required to excel these days, it means that we really don’t have to do all that much extra to stand out. As the saying goes, it only takes a little extra to change ordinary to extraordinary.

Even so, I still canceled my Y membership yesterday. I just wasn’t getting a good return on my investment.

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Tags: Excercise, Working Out, Excuses, Finian's Rainbow, CREEations, Chris Cree

What is Life?

Yesterday in my talk about heroes I mentioned that Jesus told us we have an enemy whose only purpose is to “steal and kill and destroy.” Did you click on the link to the verse where Jesus told us that? If not, take a look.

The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.

Jesus said everything He did – the teaching, miracles, healing people, his horrific execution, and world changing resurrection – was for one reason only: to give people life.

That statement begs a question.

What is Life?

Only three little one syllable words, yet the question is huge. So big in fact that I’m not going to pretend to give a definitive answer to it. And I want to hear what you have to say about it. Go ahead and leave a comment at the end of this post with your thoughts.

At the same time, if this is really a blog of “practical life philosophy,” then we ought to look at the question of Life, eh?

Is life simply the sum of our biological function? I mean Jesus did heal a whole bunch of physical maladies. Even so, that seems like a pretty small view of the term. I’m sure the theologians would holler, “Wait! Wait! There’s more to life than that.”

The thing is we humans seem to somehow be “aware”. We know we exist, and yet we question that existence. What other living thing on this planet does that? Why are we different that way, then?

Why is it all of us deep down have a similar craving to be healthy, happy and rich? Is that what it means to be fully alive?

I recently had a conversation where I said that I believe communication is one of the fundamental keys to life. Because without communication there are no relationships. Without relationships life is pretty pointless.

But is Life simply the sum of our relationships? That may not be the whole enchilada, but I really think we are on to something now.

It makes sense in terms of what Jesus said about His motivations. Did he come to help us with our relationships? Was He kind of like a cosmic, all knowing version of Dr. Phil?

While that question is a bit simplistic, and may even be seen as blasphemous by some, I don’t think it is all that wide of the mark.

Read through the things that Jesus has to say. He is consistently beating the same drum. He talks almost exclusively about our relationships, both with God and with each other.

Jesus summed up what was most important to us this way:

Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

Jesus said the Life He came to give was all about relationships.

That’s my take. Share yours. Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts.

Enjoy!

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Tags: Life, Jesus, Meaning, Significance, CREEations, Chris Cree

We Need More Heroes

A friend of mine just got out of the military this week after serving our country {i.e. you and me} for something over 11 years. When I asked him how long he’d been active duty, he rattled off the exact years, months, weeks, days and hours.

Do you think wearing the uniform was a big deal to him?

I think he’s a hero. But he probably doesn’t look at it that way. He feels he was just doing his job. Of course doing that job meant spending years in Iraq over multiple deployments during both a war and an “insurrection” which is just as deadly dangerous as a war.

Here’s the thing that blows me away, especially when I read all the junk the news media pumps out about Iraq day after day: One of the options he is seriously considering is going back over there as a civilian contractor for a while.

Now I know the money is pretty good. But quite frankly it would have to be pretty stinking outrageous to tempt most folks to go over there. Um, people have a tendency to blow up and stuff. I’m not sure how much money is worth the risk of getting blown up.

So I don’t think it is just the money that would get him back there if that’s what he decides. I think he truly is a hero. And that’s a good thing in my book.

We need more heroes. We need more folks to make the difficult choices, and be willing to actually sacrifice something to help make this world a better place.

Does that mean you have to fight a war? No, not necessarily. But it does mean that you have to stand for something worthwhile, good and supporting of your fellow man. And whenever you actually take a stand for something, it most likely will involve a fight.

Because there is an enemy out there that doesn’t want you or anyone else to stand for anything remotely good. Jesus said that enemy’s sole purpose was to “steal and kill and destroy.” Paul told believers to

Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil.

There’s a real war going on all around us right now as you read this. All that hurt and heartache that you see around you and in the news is simply mass casualties from that war.

What this world needs is a whole bunch of heroes who are armored-up and standing firm against the enemy. We need more warriors who are willing to put it all on the line, pay whatever sacrifice is needed, to take a stand for truth and for justice for those who can’t fight for themselves.

There has been a fun Superhero Quiz going around lately. I’ve had a good time with it.

But my question is this: are we going to be content to just be pretend heroes? Or are we going to actually strap on the armor and get in the fight for real?

Oh, and Aaron – no matter which way you decide to go career-wise at this point, you are already a hero in my eyes.

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Tags: Heroes, Superhero Quiz, Armor, Take a Stand, CREEations, Chris Cree

Sleep Deprivation Experiment #748 Complete

Well we successfully made it through this week’s sleep deprivation experiment. I managed to get through it without driving off the road, making any technical blunders, or getting short with anyone. (Although I did have one minor issue with my camera at 3 AM on Sunday morning…)

This time we added a twist to the experiment. I really didn’t have to work all that many hours this weekend. They just all happened to be at night. And I learned something.

I must be getting older. (Oh, there’s a shocker!)

It used to be my motto was “Anytime – Anywhere.”

Now obviously that motto wasn’t original with me. Google the two words and you get nearly 50 million hits. Some of them I’m sure you don’t want to click, if you know what I mean.

But when I was younger that pretty much summed up where I could sleep if I decided to. Sleep was never a challenge for me. My dad would probably tell you that I acquired that skill at an early age. I remember a little friction many of my teenaged mornings when he insisted I get up before I was awake.

My time in the Navy only reinforced that special ability. Spend 6 months with your bed about 10 feet directly underneath JBD number 4 and you’ll be able to sleep through a hurricane. (Check out How Aircraft Carriers Work if you want to know what a JBD is.) Heck, I even slept strapped in an ejection seat. More than once! (Makes you feel safe, doesn’t it, knowing folks on the pointy end of the spear might be asleep on the job!)

Of course I still remember the noise sequence of a typical launch.

First there is the relatively quite jet engine noise of the plane taxiing into place. Then there’s the whine of the hydraulic motors lifting the JBD behind the plane which ends in two dull thuds followed by four loud clicks of the locking pins being driven home. Next you have a rush of the seawater surging through the cooling pipes. Shortly after that the whole room will start to shake as the plane runs up to full power, but can’t yet go anywhere. Then after a few seconds, the shooter will fire the catapult and the engine noise rushes away forward. The sea water stops. The four pins click and unlock. The hydraulics whine as they lower the JBD. Finally there’s the two dull thuds as the JBD comes back to rest on the deck.

The whole process takes about 2 minutes and then starts again.

I remember all that from 1992!

But my point is that I never had any trouble sleeping through that insane racket. Yet this weekend, in a very quiet house, with the boys not bothering me at all (they were very good), I couldn’t sleep more than a couple hours during the day. And this even though I was totally exhausted!

Why does getting older have to mean having trouble sleeping? I’m not digging this aging process!!

Hope you have a great day and sleep well tonight.

Enjoy!

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Tags: Sleep Deprivation, Sleep, JBD, Jet Blast Deflector, CREEations, Chris Cree

On Planting and Harvesting

I had a conversation with a friend of mine a couple of days back. My friend was getting discouraged about doing some good things that involved being especially nice to folks and not really seeing much back in return.

It prompted me to go on a bit of a rant.

Planting and Harvesting

I'm sure most you have heard of the principle of planting and harvesting (sometimes called sowing and reaping by the old schoolers out there). It seems to be a universal principle that you will always harvest what you plant in time.

The principle obviously works in agriculture. You can’t plant corn seed in a field and harvest wheat after those seeds mature. To get wheat, you have to plat wheat.

The Bible says it this way:

“Don't be misled. Remember that you can't ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow!”

And the principle holds true in other realms too. Down in Jacksonville last night (actually I guess it was this morning) one of the guys in the office had John Tesh on the radio. John was talking about some study or other that showed people who were generally nice and had senses of humor tended to be healthier overall than people who worried and were selfish.

Sure the results of the study may seem obvious. But this is another example of the planting/harvesting principle. If you are friendly, then most people will be friendly back to you. Doing nice things for others lowers your stress levels and helps you stay healthier.

And while it’s true that you will harvest what you plant in time, the challenges of the principle are twofold.

First, people tend to want to leave of the "in time" part of the equation. They forget that the farmer has to wait along time after he plants his crop, time spent working like a dog tending his fields, before he finally gets to the harvest. They think the principle is invalid if they don't harvest as soon as they get the seed covered with dirt. How silly!

Here’s a Bible’s take on that one:

So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

Another thing that is true about the life principle of planting and harvesting, and this is much less obvious, is that you often don't harvest from the same fields that you planted in.

For example, I have helped bunches of my friends move. And, as a result of the planting/harvesting principle, whenever I've moved I have always had plenty of help lifting furniture. But it is rarely the same people helping as I helped, mostly because one of us isn't in the same spot because we've moved!

I shouldn't be frustrated with Jim-Bob because he didn't personally return the favor to me. The help will still come, just from another quarter.

It’ll come because the planting/harvesting principle still holds. What goes around comes around, eventually.

The last thing I want to point out about the planting/harvesting principle is that the size of your harvest is directly related to how much seed you plant.

Once again I go back to what the Bible says on the subject:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

A Recap

What do we know about the principle of planting and harvesting?

• The principle is universal (even if you don’t believe it!)


• The harvest takes time to appear


• The harvest often comes from a different field than the seed was planted in


• The size of the harvest is directly related to the amount of seed planted.

That about sums it up.

Choose your seed well. Plant lots of it. Be patient. And expect the harvest because it is coming!

Enjoy!

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Tags: Planting and Harvesting, Sowing and Reaping, Life, Universal Principles, John Tesh, CREEations, Chris Cree

Superhero Round-up

Well, it seems I'm not the only Superhero out there. A few of the guys have taken the quiz. (And why is it just guys? Hmm...)

Here's what we've got so far:

Kevin Bowman is Green Lantern (and where I first saw the quiz.)

David Turner is Superman

Tadd Grandstaff is The Flash

And as we all know, it appears Spiderman is my alter ego.

So it would appear that folks can rest easy because we have the Superhero spectrum covered.

Enjoy!

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Tags: Superhero Quiz, CREEations, Chris Cree

Highway at Night

It's time for another sleep deprivation experiement.

The time is now slightly after 2300 hours, or slightly before departure for work in Jacksonville, FL (approximatley 2.0 Hours driving time).

I'll check in somtime in the morning. Gotta love being first on call when wierd stuff happens.

If you are going to be on I-95 in the next several hours, don't forget to wave. I'll be the one with the coffee IV drip...

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Tags: sleep deprivation, driving, CREEations, Chris Cree

Who'da Thunk It?

Goof off online during my lunch break and I find out I shoulda been Spiderman. Who'da thunk it?

You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 80% Hulk 75% Green Lantern 70% Superman 65% Iron Man 45% Supergirl 40% The Flash 40% Batman 40% Wonder Woman 35% Robin 30% Catwoman 30%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

With great power comes
great responsibility.

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Tags: Superhero Quiz, Spiderman, Silliness, CREEations, Chris Cree

A Bit of a Discussion

We’re having a bit of a discussion over at the Da Vinci Code post from the other day.

Voice in the Wilderness says that the only winners in the whole hubbub are going to be the publishers and movie studios. (Check out his blog. He’s got a refreshing perspective on church and Christianity in general.)

Tania from Germany and I have been discussing the source of guidance we look to. She’s got a lot to add that stimulates conversation. (I wish she had a blog I could link to for you. I bet it would be a good read!)

Here’s your assignment for today: Go read the comments, then come back here. I can hang out for a minute or two until you get back. (Oh, and you can re-read the post too if you want a refresher on how the conversation started.)

When you come back here, join the conversation by sharing how you figure out when you are on the right course or not by posting a comment below.

Or just share your thoughts on the whole Da Vinci Code Hubbub. Are there winners in the whole thing? If so, then who is loosing?

I’ll go get another cup of coffee and wait here.

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Tags: Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code Discussion, CREEations, Chris Cree

The Wall Street Journal Blows it Big Time

The Wall Street Journal has an article up today The Web’s Worst New Idea that totally misses the mark on the issue of Net Neutrality.

They say that the current fight for Net Neutrality is a bad idea basically because making laws to preserve neutral data flow by the internet providers would open the door to lawsuits. They claim the government shouldn’t “regulate what isn’t broken.”

The one sentence that sums up their apparent complete failure to grasp the reality of this issue is this:

Given the impulse on the left to regulate anything that moves, perhaps the real surprise here is that it's taken this long for someone to seriously suggest the Net will wither in the absence of a federal regulatory apparatus.

They seem to think those supporting Net Neutrality are only on the left side of the political spectrum. Um, read my profile. I’m sure not in the MoveOn.org crowd. Although I pretty much agree with them on this one issue.

But, hey, my own political credentials aren’t all that substantial (which is A-OK with me). Regardless, the WSJ should take a look at the Charter Members on the SaveTheInternet.com site. They’d see that the fourth one on the list is Gun Owners of America.

That’s not exactly the type of organization characterized by the WSJ as supporting this issue. Check out what their Executive Director wrote to Congress about the issue. The question is will us little guys be able to make our voices heard in the future?

The other flaw in the WSJ reasoning is that they seem to think that because every thing’s going well now, there is no problem. The issue is not what has happened to the internet, but what the providers say they intend to do with it.

Here’s what’s at stake in simple language, so that even I can understand it:

The high speed internet providers want to be able to start charging for data flowing over their network regardless of where the content originated in addition to charging for each computer that connects to their network.

As it stands right now everyone pays based on how much data flows to the internet at the connection point. That data volume is called bandwidth. The result of the current system is that Google pays a whole lot more for their internet access than I do because they are shoving way more data through their connection than I am.

The current system is fair to everyone because as a company grows, and needs more bandwidth, it is reasonable to expect them to be able to afford to pay more for their access. Suffice it to say that Google has much deeper pockets than I do.

The change the providers want to make is hard to describe because the double charging concept is so foreign to us. Basically it’s without precedent. But I’m going to try.

It would be like setting up a toll interstate highway system. As it stands now, everyone getting on that highway system would have to pay a toll to each state where you get on the highway. How much you currently pay determines whether you can get into the fast lane, or if you have to stay in the slow lane.

Now imagine a different, additional, toll structure. Say a truck was going from Florida to Wisconsin. Under the new system (what the internet providers want to do), the truck would pay his toll to Florida like he always did and get into which ever lane he paid for. But now he would also have to pay an additional toll to Wisconsin the moment he got on the highway or he wouldn’t be allowed to get off the highway there.

It might almost sound reasonable except where the analogy falls apart when you translate it to the internet. Be cause with the internet, you put your data on in one place, but it doesn’t get off in one place, but many. And under the new system you would have to pay an additional toll everyplace you wanted your data to be able to get off the highway.

It would be like the trucker having to pay a toll to every one of the 50 states the moment he got on the highway or he wouldn’t be able to get off wherever he didn’t pay. If you are a big trucking company, like say Schneider, you could probably swing the extra new fees. But what if you were an independent trucker with only one truck?

You end up only being able to work on back water routes and you no longer can make a living because you can’t compete with the big boys any longer. In the end you go out of business.

The same thing will happen to all of us little internet users if the providers have their way. We’re the ones who will be affected most, not the big guys like Google, even though they have an interest in this too. If the providers get their way, check out how it will affect you personally.

If you’re involved in a non-profit this will affect you big time. Hello! Church crowd! Are you even listening?! How much more can your budget afford to pay? Or are you willing to let the providers keep people from hearing your message?

Net Neutrality is a big deal. The WSJ totally missed what the fight is about. If you do any business on the internet and don’t want to be shut out, get active. Contact Congress now, before it’s too late.


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Tags: Net Neutrality, Wall Street Journal, Net Neutrality Explained, CREEations, Chris Cree

About CREEations

CREEations is a blog of practical life philosophy based on my sleep deprived life juggling a marriage, maritime industry career, volunteer commitments, cat ownership, writing, yard work, and massive coffee consumption.

My goal is to challenge the way you look at your world. Sometimes I’m profound, other times just plain silly, but I’m sure you’ll find I spend most of my time somewhere in between.

Here’s what Liz Strauss over at the Successful Blog has to say about CREEations:

“SOB Chris Cree’s blog is upbeat a nice place to go when the world has been a little too much and you want to have a space to breathe. His posts shed a little light on humanity and how to face the world with a positive outlook. They’re easy to read and rest easy on the mind. I think of Chris’ blog as a great place to unwind.”

If that sounds good to you, go ahead and subscribe to my feed.


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Tags: About, About CREEations, CREEations, Chris Cree

Da Vinci Code Hubbub

The Da Vinci Code Movie is coming out this week. I get the feeling that there are some Christians who are afraid Dan Brown’s story will somehow usher in some kind of evil darkness devoid of Christian thought.

Google “da vinci code Christian” and you find that the Da Vinci Code needs debunking, breaking, deciphering, dismantling, and cracking. You can find out the truth about it, whether it’s fact or fiction, and why it has appeal. And every one of those links is on the opening search page. I didn’t have to hunt for them. Sheesh!

I got an email Jerry Falwell this morning with the subject line “The Da Vinci Code Deception.” My first instinct was to delete it. I do that a lot with his stuff because I’ve grown tired of his combative approach to every issue and what I perceive as his need to be right about everything.

But as I started thinking about writing this, I went back into my deleted items because his stuff is usually pretty well thought out, even if it is belligerent. I was hugely disappointed to find it was just an advertisement hawking a book of his own on the subject!

Our church has even had a few weekend messages devoted to the subject. I think they were a good idea because the approach was to try to give folks an idea of what all the hubbub is about.

Now here’s my thing: Are Christian leaders really afraid that the Scriptures that have withstood assaults for millennia are suddenly going to collapse because some guy writes a novel? Come on!

If I based my world view on something that flimsy, I would want it shaken up a bit!

I want to base my life on capital ‘T’ Truth. If some new mystery/thriller was all it took to shake my belief system then how true could it be?

The author even claims it as fiction. Does he stir the pot and muddy the waters? Of course he does. I bet he thinks the more controversy, the better since it equals free publicity. Publicity sells books and lines his pockets. If you read Dan Brown’s faqs you’ll see what I mean.

So we are in a rather ironic situation where Christians, in their effort to stand for truth and confront evil, are doing all the heavy lifting to make sure that the offending book gets as wide an audience as possible.

I think they’ve missed the point. God is big enough to manage His own reputation. He doesn’t need my help. (Sure I try to do little things to make Him look good. But that’s really more for my benefit than His. It’s not like His reputation is dependant on me!)

The problem is most people have never put any real effort into figuring out what they actually believe so they end up chasing what ever new idea comes along. It’s as futile as chasing the wind.

Sailors know you don’t chase the wind. You certainly can’t control it. The wind is going to blow where it will. All a good sailor can do is set his sails to the best of his ability so he can harness the wind to get where he wants to go.

When folks chase each new idea that comes along they are like a sailor steering all over the compass trying to chase the wind.

If they actually invested some time getting familiar with the source documentation, they might actually come to understand the things they believe and not be so prone to wander off after the next big thing. They could set their sails based on that truth and steer a straight course through life.

It’s high time Christians got a little passionate about the things they are for and stopped worrying so much about all the things they are against!


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Tags: Da Vinci Code, Christian, Dan Brown, Da Vinci Code Movie, Jerry Falwell, Truth, Bible, Scripture, CREEations, Chris Cree

Not So Mr. Fix-it

Tony Morgan wrote about Walking on Water this morning. He had me roaring, nearly got coffee out the nose first thing this morning. What a good way to wake up! You should check it out.

I appreciate his feeling less than proficient at fixing things. Here’s how he describes it:

I never really learned how to fix anything. Instead, I learned how to pay the fix-it people to fix things.

I feel his pain.

Gorgeous will tell you I’m not much of a fixer-upper either. I have a few skills in that arena, but I hid them well. Fixing things, unless it involves electronics, really doesn’t interest me much.

In fact Gorgeous and I have remarkably similar approaches when it comes to repairing broken stuff. I’ll usually go at the broken item with a roll of duct tape, because after all duct tape is a man’s best friend, the universal repair tool. Gorgeous has a tendency to get out her hot glue gun. You’d be amazed what she can stick together with a little dab of hot glue.

Between my duct tape and her hot glue gun I think we could conquer the world.

One advantage I get by not being such a handy guy is that on those rare occasions that I actually do fix something (and it ends up actually working right and looking neat and tidy, those two things are key for some reason) I completely blow Gorgeous away. The look she gives me on those rare occasions is worth all the aggravation of the fixing. It’s kind of a “who are you and what did you do with my husband” look. Well worth the price of admission.

I got one of those looks after working on a ceiling fan last year. (Like I said, it doesn’t happen often.)

Our guest room had a ceiling fan that worked just fine. However the people who built our house had a big four poster bed in that room with a veil covering thingy on it so they left the light kit off the fan. We didn’t have an extra lamp to put in the room and really didn’t have the extra cash to go buy one before we had some company coming.

Fortunately for us the previous owners had left the light kit for the fan in the closet. All it needed was installation. According to the instructions it should have been fairly easy. Take the cover off, connect a wire and screw the light kit in place. Besides, I figured lights use electricity, that makes it almost electronic. Right?

Except the original installers didn’t connect the power to the light wire since they weren’t installing the lights. And that meant I had to basically disassemble the entire ceiling fan to get at the wire connection to make the whole thing actually work.

I could tell by her pacing around outside the guest room and the occasional nervous “how’s it going?” questions that Gorgeous had this impending doom feeling thing going on. Of course in her defense seeing ceiling fan parts strewn about the guest room with a gaping hole where the decorative fan used to be probably didn’t help much.

The steady grumbling coming out of the room wouldn’t have instilled confidence either, I guess. “Razzel, frazzle... Gaaah!... Heeeeehhhsh!... Grrrrrrr… Tchaaaahhh!” But hey, the ten minute job had turned into an ordeal.

Keep in mind we had company coming the next day. And the actual job time was being measured in hours, not the ten minutes I predicted.

Fortunately for us in the end I got everything back together. It all looked good and there weren’t even that many pieces left over. And now I have an idea what I’m doing if I ever have to tear apart another ceiling fan.

But on the whole I’d rather have the money to hire it done.

Enjoy!


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Tags: Home Repair, Ceiling Fan, Tony Morgan, CREEations, Chris Cree

Another Rainy Day

Last night Gorgeous and I went to sleep with the lightning flashing and thunder rumbling. I don’t know if it rained all night, but it is raining as I get up and get moving this morning. And while the thunder isn’t as loud right now I can still hear some rumbling in the distance.

As we were settling in Gorgeous said, “I like it when it rains.” And I do too. I love stormy weather.

There’s something thrilling about seeing the sky darken and the trees start swaying as the wind picks up. And then as the rain picks up, the lightning starts crashing. There’s always a feeling that you could be in danger. I love being out in it if I can find a way to stay dry. I always want to be able to smell the storm as it blows through.

I always feel a little disappointed when we run from a hurricane. I know it is the wise thing to do, get out of the way. But I can’t help feeling a little envious of the silly folks on TV trying to stand and be heard in the wind where the storm comes ashore.

When we lived in the condo in Florida we had a screen porch. I would go out there and sit sometimes for hours and enjoy the thunder storms. I remember a particularly strong storm one night. Gorgeous slid the door back and suggested that it was getting pretty bad and I might want to come back inside. I gave her some manly bluster about there being no danger.

Within five minutes there was a lightning strike that must have been really close because the thunder was shattering and practically preceded the flash. I made an equally manly retreat back inside, giggling some nervous chatter about how I’d seen enough. That adrenalin rush lasted me for quite a while.

I think we found Fat Boy under the bed.

Rainy weather is the best for sleeping. Why is that?

The truth is I would much rather crawl back under the covers this morning than head off to meet with the guys at Starbuck’s. Really there is nothing better than a snooze during a storm. Maybe that’s another reason why I like the rain. It goes hand and glove with my love of sleepy time.

The only time in my life when I didn’t really like the nasty weather was when I was flying with the Navy. Airplanes and thunderstorms don’t mix. Especially when you are trying to land. At the carrier.

I can give myself shivers thinking about it. Some of the most scared I’ve ever been in my life involved night traps with the lightning destroying my vision and the plane bouncing around on final from the turbulence.

Fortunately I was never splattered into the fantail at the back of the ship, what we called the spud locker. I don’t know why we called it that. The Navy’s got some weird traditions.

Anyway I’m off to hang with the guys over coffee, then head into work. It looks to keep the rain up most of the day. Our lawn will appreciate the drink. But here’s to hoping that there is nothing but desk work for us today!

Stay dry.

Enjoy!

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Tags: Rain, Stormy Weather, Thunderstorms, CREEations, Chris Cree

Dinner and a Show

Gorgeous and I went to dinner with some friends last night. The weather was perfect for eating on the porch. Which, here in Savannah, is a special treat. Most of the year it is too hot to even think straight, even as the sun is going down, and you can forget about enjoying an evening outside.

Of course we were on a screen porch to fend off the gnats.

The steaks were grilled to perfection. The conversation was lively and wide ranging. All in all it was a wonderful evening.

Their two cats provided the entertainment.

Actually the entertainment was provided by the ones that were abusing the cats.

Now before you get all upset, let me give you my disclaimer: No cats were harmed in the course of research for this post.

But they were pretty much abused.

And no, it wasn’t by the pair of dogs the hosting family had either.

The cats stayed in the back yard and on the patio beyond the gnat filtering screen the whole evening. They appeared to like the smells coming off the grill. And the whole time they were out there, a pair of mocking birds thought it would be good sport to harass the cats.

I never saw them hassle the dogs. Or the grill chef. Just the cats.

The show started even before the cat’s arrived on the scene. A bowl of dry cat food was set out about 4 feet beyond the screen. One of the birds landed on the patio, hopped up to the dish, grabbed a kibble and flew off with it.

I thought that was a pretty brave maneuver on his part. And you could tell by the way that he would stop to look around as he was hopping up to the bowl that he was probably thinking, “This is stupid. Where’re the cats? Oh man, is this dumb.” But he did it anyway.

When the cats came on the scene I figured we’d seen the last of the birds. But I was so wrong. For the rest of the time we were out there, until after it got too dark to see, the birds made continual slashing attacks on the cats.

It was pretty amusing. You could tell the cats were a bit peeved by the whole thing. They had their ears back and the tails would go flick, flick, flick. But for some strange reason they never stuck a paw up or pounced when the birds would hit them.

It got so bad that I almost began to whish they would. I started to picture a bird making a low pass over a cat and disappearing in a cloud of feathers, forever cured of feline harassment syndrome.

I’m guessing that the birds didn’t start out so rashly annoying. I bet they were much more careful when they started harassing the cats. But over time, with no reaction from the cats, they just got bolder and more troublesome.

The cats would have been better off if they had been a little aggressive at the beginning to get the birds to back off. In the long run, the birds would be better off too, I think. As it stands now, the only way the birds are going to stop aggravating the cats probably will be by dying.

How much does that carry over into our lives? How often do we let bullies badger us until we explode because we didn’t deal with them early on? How many people do we hurt far more by being “nice” than if we dealt with the conflict in a healthy way early on?

The Bible has a bunch to say on the subject. Here’s one from Proverbs:

Physical punishment cleanses away evil; such discipline purifies the heart.

Edmund Burke said it this way:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

How often do I look the other way when bullies are hurting others?

I need to think about that for a bit.


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Tags: Cats, Bullies, Life, CREEations, Chris Cree

I Love My Stuff

There are some mornings like today, when I’m heading down to Jacksonville for work, that I wake up and have Steppenwolf’s song Born to Be Wild bouncing around in my head. I guess it’s my brain’s way of waking up and getting ready to hit the highway.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror first thing after I woke up, which is a pretty scary thing, actually, hair going every which way and all. Gorgeous reminds me that any day I still have hair is one I should consider a good hair day.

But I also saw the old ratty t-shirt that I slept in. I’ve had it for over 20 years now. Gorgeous has tried to get rid of it, more than once I think. But I won’t let her even though it all stretched out, has more than a few holes, and the places where there are no holes are threadbare.

My grandmother gave it to me and it has this Far Side cartoon on it. Grandma was into Far Side when Gary Larson was drawing the cartoon. She gave me the coffee mug too. I still have it along with a few others. Good stuff.

Grandma’s a cool lady.

But it got me to thinking. Why are we often so attached to stuff?

I mean I won’t let my wife throw out a very worn out old t-shirt. I say its because my grandmother gave it to me. But I haven’t seen her in years. Why is it I haven’t prioritized her enough to make the trek to New York to see her more often?

Why do we have a tendency to value stuff more than people?

Talk about having messed up priorities! We have this natural bent to treasure our things and treat people around us like trash. Do I really love my t-shirt more than my Grandma?

Sheesh!

The Bible has a bunch to say to folks like me who may fixate on stuff. Paul said this:

I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don't complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple--in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things--your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.

Peter also points out that our stuff is temporary:

But when the Day of God's Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.

Don’t get too attached to your stuff. Life is too short and you’ll enjoy it more if you hold your stuff in an open hand.

Gotta hit the road.

Enjoy!

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Tags: Stuff, Life, Born to Be Wild, CREEations, Chris Cree

What Everyone Else is Doing

What Everyone Else is Doing

I’ve been reading a bit about Google Trends this morning. It is an interesting tool that charts out for you how often things have been searched for in Google. It kind of gives you a read on what everyone on the internet is interested in.

Since I consider my blog here to be mostly about practical life philosophy, I thought I’d look run “blog, life, philosophy” through and see what came out. The results actually surprised me with life having a much higher consistent search than blog and philosophy in the gutter. It is also interesting to note that blog seems to be on a steady upward trend. Of course there is no scale shown on the graph so all we get is relative comparisons.

But the most interesting part of it to me is when I clicked on the “Regions” tab of the lower graph. There we see that Peru is far more interested in blog than life. Singapore is looking for life just about as often as for a blog. And the US & Canada both appear to be desperately searching for life while hardly caring about the blog.

I have no idea what the take-away from that is.

After I poked around with Google Trends, I went looking at my propaganda sites like Drudge and Fox News and it appears that folks are all up in arms over the government data basing masses of phone records. Although by the time you read this they may have moved on.

It does make me think when I see that many of the same companies that are involved with shady goings-on regarding phone records are among the same companies that are spending millions to lobby Congress for changes to the laws that would pretty much give them control over what you can and cannot access over the internet.

If that gives you pause, check out my post that explains why Your Internet is in Danger. Then go spend some time looking at SaveTheInternet.com.

You can make a difference in the future of communication by contacting Congress.

But all this talk about trends and headlines got me thinking. Does it really matter what everyone else is doing or worried about? I suppose to some degree it does. We are all part of the same human race so there is a certain level of interconnectedness and other people will probably always influence us to some degree.

But if we try to plot our life’s course based strictly on the opinions and actions of others, we will never really be fulfilled. Leaders who have the biggest impact follow a specific vision, even when it is unpopular. For example Lincoln comes to mind as a leader who was lambasted by public opinion while he led, but whom history and hindsight has shown to be perhaps our nation’s greatest leader.

In the Bible, Paul said it this way:

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13-14)

Each of us has our own path to walk. Those who make the most of it, march to their own unique drummer. Don’t be so concerned about what everyone else is doing. Life is too short.

Enjoy!

Tags: Google Trends, Life, Save the Internet, Your own Path, CREEations, Chris Cree

Conference Lessons

Well I’m home from the Multi-Site Conference and I thought I’d share a few things I learned along the way. But I’m not going to get into what the speakers had to say even though it was really good stuff. Since I knew I was going to be up there for the conference, I offered to help out with some of the behind the scenes stuff. I figured that as long as I’m part of the host church, why not offer to help?

I was glad I did. Usually at these conferences I can get a little bored. Not while the speakers are talking, mind you. I mean at a conference this size the speakers usually are good enough to keep my attention. But rather in the between times. I like having something to do. And there was plenty that needed doing.

So here’s just a few of the things I learned from all that this weekend:

Just dive in and help where you can. Coming from a small campus of 150-ish staffed almost entirely with volunteers into a huge campus with 5,000+ attending every week and gobs of paid staff running things, I wasn’t sure what I could possibly be able to contribute to their team. But I had offered to help and I ended up helping coordinate what was going on in the main auditorium, making sure that the details were covered so that things ran smoothly for the speakers, worship teams, and most importantly, the conference attendees.

The staff member for Seacoast who does that up there only wears about 12 hats, not to mention that he was speaking at a number of the break out sessions. And I’ve been doing the same sort of thing for our campus in Savannah since we launched a couple years back. It’s a little like cat herding trying to get everyone heading in the same direction sometimes, and I seem to have some cat herding skills. They needed them up there just like we need them down here. And it was pretty cool when Greg asked during the final tech meeting a few minutes before we got started and we saw that there were folks from at least 4 different campuses helping out with the tech stuff (not to mention the 100 or so other volunteers involved with other parts of the conference).

Bigger does not have to mean different. Sure their big campus has their tech team connected by headsets and they have a separate video room. We’ve got a folding table at the back of the theater. And we whisper a lot. They have a planning meeting days ahead of time and produce a cue sheet on a computer. We spend about 30 seconds during our set up time telling the key people what to expect and have a handwritten order of service.

But the bottom line is we pretty much have the same processes and have to be sure the same functions are covered. And that made fairly it easy to integrate into their team. It was a real eye opener to me to see how similar we really are to each other. Especially since so many of the conference speakers kept saying how important it was to be sure that new multi-site campuses keep the starting church’s “DNA”.

Feed your volunteers. Oh, my gosh! This is HUGE. I was starting to stress a little the first day trying to figure out how I was going to break away for a few minutes to go down the road and grab a bite to eat and still get back in time after trying to find a new place to park. I told one of the guys on the team that I might be a schootch late getting back. His reply was, “You know we’ve got food back there.”

He said it like, “Duh! Blondie wake up! You don’t need to go anywhere because of course we’ll feed you. It’s the least we can do for everyone who helps out.”

My first thought was that it must be expensive to feed everyone. But as I thought about it, I realized it is probably a really inexpensive way to dramatically increase productivity. When folks are trying to be sure that thousands of details are taken care of, even right up to the last minute, the last thing you want is for everyone to disappear for an hour or more while they go off site and wait in line somewhere for something to eat. Most people will only take 10-15 minutes to eat and then they get back to it. Besides, it is one less thing to have to think about so folks can stay focused better on what needs doing. Not to mention it is a time when folks can chat with each other, building team cohesion, rather going out separate directions on their own.

You never know who you’re going to meet. I stayed late after the weekend worship service Saturday night and went to the Newcomers meeting, not because I was new, but because I was giving the speaker a ride home. Since I was staying at his house, it was the least I could do.

There was a guy there that looked very familiar. The whole time the meeting was going on, I was trying to figure out where I knew him from. Afterwards I went up and chatted with him for a few minutes and we figured out that we both used to work for the same company a while back, but in different departments. We’d seen each other’s faces often enough, but didn’t really ever have any dealings. He’s got a friend in Savannah that he’s been meaning to tell about Seacoast down here. And now he’s got a connection. How cool is that?

Tags: Multi-site, Lessons, CREEations, Chris Cree

Good to be Home

I got back from the Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference last night. I had a great time helping out and met some really interesting folks.

But man is it good to be home!

Today will be a catch up day for me so I won’t post much.

We’ll be back to our regular schedule tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Tags: Multi-Site Conference, CREEations, Chris Cree

Great News!

This is so cool. I was just able to finalize a way to keep the blog rolling along while I’m gone, just in case I can’t get on a computer over the next couple of days.

So please don’t be too hard on our guest blogger in my absence.

Enjoy!

P.S. I’m not responsible for any retina burns that may have occurred from clicking on the above link. Just take a deep breath, close your eyes and say three times, “Chris will be back soon.” ;)

Enjoy!

Tags: Guest Blogger, CREEations, Chris Cree

Road Trip!

I’m heading out of town for a couple of days. The bummer is I’ll miss Gorgeous by a few hours since she won’t be home until tonight. {Sigh…}

Anyway, I’m heading out to Charleston for the Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference. The conference is Monday and Tuesday but I’m going up early for a couple of reasons.

The first is that I’ll get a little extra time to hang out with some of our friends. Gorgeous and I lived up there for a while. If I just drove up Monday it would be all conference and very little hang out time. And I just find it hard to actually consume mass quantities of coffee when I don’t get a little hang out time!

The second reason for going up early is that I’ve offered to help out with the tech team supporting the conference. I’ll be doing basically the same thing up there that I do most weeks down here at our Seacoast campus in Savannah.

But the Long Point campus generally has about 5,000 folks or so on a weekend. We run 175-ish in Savannah. The gear they use up there is just a little different. (Ya think?) And I’d rather not try to work out those differences on the fly during the conference on Monday.

Since I’ll be away for a while and don’t know what kind of computer access I’ll have to post new entries, I thought you might appreciate checking out some folks that I try to keep up with.

Interested in business, blogging, writing, networking, or the internet? Check out Successful Blog. I was a fan of Liz even before she called me an SOB.

Or maybe you’d like a little humor from a stay at home mom with way too much on her plate. If so, be sure to check out HolyMoma! I don’t have kids, but Kelsey’s descriptions of the various ways her kids manage to get messy usually generates a chuckle.

If you are into sci-fi or writing, check out the Writer’s Blog. I just discovered this one, but Jim brings an interesting perspective to the table. And his blog design is killer.

And finally, be sure to check out my buddy David Turner at TURNED OUT. Speaking of great blog design, and I don’t usually go for the black backgrounds! David’s a deep thinker and his words are worth mulling over for a bit before you move on. Be sure to check out his Jump Start posts on Mondays.

That should keep you going until I get back. And who knows, I might even be able to get something out from up there.

Enjoy!

Tags: Road Trip, Successful Blog, HolyMoma!, Writer's Blog, Turned Out, Link Leak, CREEations, Chris Cree

Stuff On My Cat

Didn’t know it but I needed a good laugh.

I went poking around the Technorati top 100 blogs and I stumbled on a real prize.

Now before you get to the good stuff, we need to make sure you’ve all met Fat Boy & Low Rider. And they seem to be aiming better these days, by the way. Gorgeous (a.k.a. the Cat Whisperer) was right about that one. Thanks for the prayers.

Early on I also made a Case for Cats as more manly pets than dogs. Now I realize the whole thing is debatable, and I might even be a touch insecure about the stereotypical image often associated with male cat owners. But I’m secure enough to write about it here, which says something, doesn’t it?

Anyway I like our cats mostly because they chronically make me laugh. Which brings me back to tonight’s treat.

Stuff On My Cat is a hoot. Mario Garza created this blog in a flash of true brilliance. Cat lovers and cat haters should both love the humiliations these cats endure.

And if these cat’s don’t put a smile on your face, you’ve been dipped in pickle juice!

Now back to work! (At least for me…)

Enjoy!

Tags: Cats, Silliness, Stuff, Stuff On My Cat, CREEations, Chris Cree

Did Ya See the Swicki?

You may have noticed some of the different features around the blog here. Today let’s highlight a few.

If you are looking for a particular post or wondering if I’ve ever written about a topic, the best place thing to do is use the Google search box under my profile in the right column. Just click the CREEations button before you hit search and you will find everything written here on that.

I posted a while back about how to subscribe to the feed. Or you can enter your email address into the box below the feed count chicklett and get CREEations sent to your email box every day.

Did you notice the customized CREEations swicki near the bottom of the right column? The swicki is customized search engine designed to give more focused searches about things you find written about here at the blog. The best part about the swicki is that it will learn and give more relevant search results over time the more it is used.

You may also be wondering what’s the deal with the Google Ads. I am seriously contemplating upgrading the blog considerably. That means moving from blogspot.com to my own domain name. (Unfortunately ChrisCree.com is already taken. How weird is that to have another guy out there sharing your name?) But moving the blog also means paying for things like hosting (blogspot.com is free).

Since Gorgeous helps keep my spending on track, I put up a few ads to help offset these costs. Google will pay me a few cents anytime someone clicks on an ad on CREEations. Of course that someone can’t be me or Gorgeous or Google would shut us out of their ad program. Permanently. I’ve tried to keep the ads as un-obnoxious as possible so you can ignore them if you want.

But if you ever see anything in the ads that is remotely interesting, click on it and check it out. You will learn about something new. Google will pay me a few cents for the click. And if you find that what you clicked on isn’t really as interesting as you thought, just hit the back button and forget about it. No harm. No foul.

That about covers it. Thanks for reading.

Enjoy!

Tags: Swicki, Feed, Google Ads, Google Search, CREEations Swicki, CREEations, Chris Cree

Time is Relentless

Why did God set up the day with only 24 hours in it?

As if that would be anywhere near enough time to get done all the things I want to do on top of all the things I have to do.

No matter what we do, the clock keeps ticking. Time is one of the places where everyone is equal. And while we may each be allotted a different number of days on this planet, every one of us is given the same 24 hours each day.

Right now my schedule has gotten a bit nuts. This past weekend I did nearly a month’s worth of work in three days. I am still digging out from under the paper work. I have a meeting in less than an hour with a guy and I am not completely prepared for it. Gorgeous is heading out of town this morning and won’t be back until after I leave on Saturday for a few days.

I want to keep my blog here up to date. The neighbors would appreciate it if I cut the grass before I leave. My car needs washing and Gorgeous’ needs some maintenance. I want to do some computer work to support a couple of projects Gorgeous has going.

And somewhere along the way I should actually go to the Y. (Apparently I can’t get into shape just by cutting them my membership check each month. I have to physically go there and exercise. I don’t remember reading that in the fine print!)

Oh, yes. And my body still won’t let me skip the whole sleep thing.

And we don’t even have kids! I truly can’t imagine what life would be like if that dynamic was added in.

So we are all restricted to 24 hours in any given day. It doesn’t seem right.

But maybe God knew that we needed limitations. Maybe if he gave us even more hours, we’d keep going until we exploded. Perhaps the whole sleep thing was built in to force us to take some down time to recharge so that we could keep going through an entire life.

All I know is I am late for a meeting (again) and I have to get moving. I am looking forward to the day that I step into eternity and have all the time I need to do the things I want.

Not that I want to get there today, mind you.

Enjoy!

Tags: Time, Life, Sleep Deprivation, CREEations, Chris Cree