Reflections on Christmas - and a couple notes

Putting the notes first so no one who doesn't want to has to read through the below reflections on the holiday.

I've dropped another 1.5 pounds to 306.5 Down from a high of 320-something. If I recall, we're 19.5 pounds down from May. Not going to hit 300 by Christmas, but maybe New Years. Also, I benched more weight yesterday than I have in years...but I'm not saying how much because it's still a sad number.

What else, I'll be in Cincinnati for a solid week so I hope to see everyone who lives out that way.

I might do one more blog, a top 5 of blog posts or something, before Christmas but this is probably the last one before the holiday.
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To my regulars:

The bit below is all religious and such and I don't blame you guys for skipping it if you do. But I do want to give a public shout out to Dungy and Matt for their blogs and their interaction with this one.

I believe every word I write below, but three of my best friends — you guys and Jeff — are atheists and I'm grateful for you guys as much as anything.

A faith improperly formed is a dangerous weapon wielded by a fool, and a faith that cannot withstand assault is no faith at all. I am better formed in mine and I think intellectually a better person because of your challenges. So thank you. And Merry Christmas.

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So Christmas is here and Kelli and I are excited to spend time with our families.

My excitement though is  tempered by the usual holiday stress, but I'm trying to let it go. All our families can be nuts but I'm glad to have them just the same.

Time for a little hyperbole and religion.

I'm trying harder than ever to remember that no matter what is going on in our regular lives this holiday season, no matter how bad things are (or how good), there is cause to rejoice. For on that day so long ago a savior was born.
 It's bigger than us. Eternity, salvation, God. We're but a small part of a grand plan and we know how it ends — with victory over sin and death.

I think as people of faith we Christians sometimes sit in the pews so often we forget that something spectacular has happened. More than 2,000 years ago, the one true and almighty God became man. To use more accurate words, the one true and almighty God became a little fugitive baby born in a backwoods town to a carpenter and a virgin of no particular standing.

For Catholics, every Sunday (every day really) that miracle is echoed in the Eucharist as the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus.

But for all Christians, many of our friends and families don't go to church except on Christmas and Easter only (hence the term CEO Catholic/Christian). They'll be there this coming Sunday. For all the poinsettias, carols and pageantry, remind them if you get the chance, that this isn't just a tradition we celebrate. It's bigger than us.

It's not the gifts, or the snow. It's not the songs, or the food. Yes, it's the time with loved ones and remembering those who've gone on. Yes, it's the peace on earth and charity to the poor.

But it's even more than that. Christmas marks the beginning of the fullness of God's plan of salvation. He humbled himself and became one of us in all ways but sin.

His folks would forget him at church, he didn't go into the career field his step-dad probably wanted him too and his life would bring his mother untold sorrow, and the world, untold grace.

But it all started on a normal night where most of the world went about their business. A star appeared, shepherds were told, wise men came, angels sang.

And alternately sleeping, crying, eating and doing all else that babies do, the savior of the world rested as the weakest of creatures in the arms of his mother and under the watchful gaze of the man the world knew as his father. When he grew up, everything would change.

 So if Uncle Jimbo drinks one eggnog too many or if grandma Sue fees like a martyr over spilt milk, rejoice anyway. We're celebrating the incarnation of God as a man — as a baby — to save us all.

 If that's not a recipe for a Merry Christmas, then nothing is.

Are you there world? It's me God

Blog event topic: God tells you to take over for a minute, do whatever you want but it must effect everyone. So short of following what I think God would want us to do which is bringing about something like peace and faith for all, I'd have some fun with it. I think I would 'immediacize' the consequences of sin, but for a short period, maybe 24 hours. When one sins, they lose grace and damage their relationship with God. As it says, the wages of sin is death, but each sin of course is not a mortal one. So Jimbob slaps his wife. The wages of sin is death, so proportionally, he is immediately punished by God(Us?) with whatever corresponding level of spiritual damage on a physical level. Maybe metaphysically kicked in the nuts. Fr. Mike checks out some internet porn, immediately loses ability to get boner. Little Jimmy hits his sister, little Jimmmy can't taste candy. I dunno something like that. At the end of the 24 hour period, I perform some miracle the whole world can see, (a la The Miracle of the Sun) but I put a message in everyone's head as it happens. Something about hi, I'm God, I'm real. This has been a taste of what happens when you sin. Remember that. That was my real-ish scenario, here's a fun one. I appear as a cosmic game show host in the sky with a big old wheel and host a one hour reality show program (I have cameras everywhere) that has eliminations (death, damnation), immunity (accession to heaven), and special challenges (tests of faith). At the end, I have a giant wheel of religions and I spin it. The world waits with baited breath to see what faith is correct. It lands (of course) on Catholics. 1 billion people are happy, the rest weep. Then God says but as a special bonus to those of you that lost, we're gonna fix the church up to make room in the pews for the rest of you. He then kills in hilarious ways all the pedo-priest and those who covered things up. If this involved the current pope, he appoints a new one, thanks you for watching, and returns us to regularly scheduled life.

John's Attempt to Get Less Fat moves to MyFitnessPal

So I have moved the get less fat blog concept to My Fitness Pal's site.

If you feel like reading about my fatness, follow that link.

My Fitness Pal

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Been using MyFitnessPal for a while now, well not really. I used it to drop five pounds then forgot about it for a few weeks. But I must have learned some lessons about calorie counting.

Calorie counting of course isn't the end all of being healthy (white bread for instance has less calories than wheat) but when you're up over 300 pounds like me, I think anything that gets that number down is more bad than good.

So if that graphic above works, you'll see I've lost 11 pounds. Now that's since I got the app. A quick look through this blog's archive and you'll see back in May I was 325. That means I've lost 17 pounds in eight months. And you might remember I lost a big chunk of that hella fast, and then put it back a little.

Nevertheless, while the drop has been slow, it's been steady and short of one bounce back, I'm keeping it off.

So anyway I know neither of my two regulars are in dire need of diets, I still want to suggest others to get the app or sign up for their service online. It's a nice touch to have other people I know doing it to keep me accountable.

But I guess posting here has the same impact. I'm currently at 308 pounds. I want to lose 8 in the next 12 days....I know that's a lot in a short time, but I've been half assing it lately. I think I can do that.

It I step on a scale at or below 300 pounds, it will be a very merry Christmas present from me to me.

For the record, the last time I was at that weight I think I was living on Matt's couch.

Anywhoo, that's the infomercial for now. Now let's end with a new set of "fat stats."

Weight at Start of Tracking: 325 (May 2011)
Current Weight: 308
Loss/Gain: -17 pounds
Current Mile Time: 20:27
Most Recent Ping Pong Result: Lost to Todd 4 games to none in best of 7. Beat him in two consolation matches played after. Then I beat some 12 year old 21-2....yeah, I did that.


Tonight's ping pong contest with Todd has been postponed to Thursday.

Hey other Christians....you know you want to comment

So I know that I don't have many (if any) regular Catholic readers, but I know there are a large group of readers that "troll" this page but never comment.

That's fine, but this blog entry is designed with the express intent of getting you to change that.

As a Catholic, I have endure some crap, and I don't really mind. I, and my one billion brethren worldwide, often have to hear these questions/statements.

Why do Catholics worship Mary?

Why do Catholics worship saints?

Why do Catholics believe the pope is incapable of sin?

The Church is anti-science?

And the list goes on. It's really standardized by now. But I have no intention with this entry of answering those poorly informed questions. Rather, I will pose my own.

It seems only fair.

So here is my (only somewhat intentionally) uninformed questions to non-Catholic Christians:

Why do you hate Mary?

Of course I don't really think any believer hates Mary, but there is a disdain, or fear perhaps, of anything associated with her.

Contrary to what many might think, I read various non-Catholic blogs/articles on theology from time to time and outside of Christmas, I very rarely see a reference to Mary.

The Bible tells us a virgin would conceive a son (Isaiah) and we learn that that is what happened with the spirit of the Lord came upon her (Luke). We know she saw his first public preaching of sorts (Luke) was at his first miracle (John) and that she was there til the end (John).

Mary is called by an angel "full of grace" and is chosen to give birth to GOD. There are many holy people in the Bible who said yes to God. Many who saw and did amazing things.

But I submit that no mere mortal was privy to the experience equal of Mary. To be worthy of carrying God in her womb.....just thinking about that should mess with all our minds, to believe a vessel tainted by sin could do that....but I'm getting off topic.

God (Father, Son, and Spirit) are and should always be the source of the Christian belief and devotion.

But we all honor great Christian men and women of the past. Catholics have saints, but we all have memories of those we hold up. Billy Graham will be remembered as such when he passes. Martin Luther is that to some.

But for the honor and praise these men get, I argue that Mary deserves much more.

So I ask again, admittedly tongue in cheek, why do you hate Mary?

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For the record, I really know you don't hate Mary....I'm just baiting you into registering and commenting.....please fall for it.

Stop it

First off, I didn't write this story, just the headline. Click it.

Pissed off French Catholics act like assholes

My fellow Catholics in France, knock it the hell off.

I'm at work and busy so I'll make this bullet points and quick.

* Stop pelting people attending this blasphemous play with eggs or anything else. Just stop that, right now.

* Protest if you like, and pray. But recognize that if you aren't standing outside most movie theaters doing the same thing, you're being pretty inconsistent. I am NOT saying you need to be outside most movie theaters, but if you start that shit, keep it civil.

* You lose this battle of ideology just by showing up. The artists behind this work are probably just trying to provoke a reaction. You're giving it too them. Good work.

* You're intentions are good, but you're still making the rest of us look like idiots, and we have enough bad press without attacking non-believers. How many of them will convert with eggwhite on their face?

* And my last complaint is against the author of this article. If they worst thing the protesters did is throw eggs, then it is probably not fair to call it a sometimes violent campaign. This is France….they have riots in protests like four times a year….this is nothing. I'm not excusing idiot protesters throwing the first egg, but violent is the wrong word.

Reflections on NaNoWriMo

So it occurs to me I never told everyone about my NaNoWriMo 2011 experience.

To the few who might not know, that funky word is an acronym of sorts for National Novel Writing Month, which occurs every November. It's more than a decade old now (I think) and 256,618 people around the globe took part this year.

To "win" NaNoWriMo, one must write 50,000 words in the month. You may start midnight Nov. 1, and you end 11:59 Nov. 30.

Of all the people that did it this year, 36,774 were winners. That's 14 percent of participants. For the record, I am part of that glorious 14 percent. The Lexington participants alone wrote 7,794,287 words in the month.

In total, 3,074,068,446 words were written.

I wrote a shade of 50,000 of them in a novel tentatively called "Faith in the Age of Reason."

The book was intended to be the story of estranged friends/activists in the fields of atheist and Christian thought who during a national tragedy of unseen proportions find their friendship, challenge their beliefs and come to a deeper understanding of each others positions, or something like that.

It does that for while, or tries to. But when you are writing 50,000 words in 30 days, you don't have time to story board properly, and you need to keep going.

I believe it was NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty who said "Whenever you get stuck, just add ninjas."

Well there are no ninjas in my book but there are random side stories, countless deaths, action scenes, cable news punditry, assassinations and even a damn near sex scene.

I didn't set out to write a book with poop jokes and party scenes, I set out to write one about Paschal's Wager or Humanism or something like that....but as I said, you have to keep writing.

And at 4 a.m. on a Saturday when you haven't talked to your wife much in days and you have a couple drinks and the keys are all kinda blurry and you don't know whether the character should make yet another theological reference or not, sometimes, shit breaks down.

But it is a novel by minimum standards. And I wrote it.

I wrote a novel.

It has a name. It has a beginning, middle(ish) and end. It has more than 50,000 words. I failed at Nano once before in earnest though I started it twice. So to finally win after all that effort was great.

It takes self discipline and in my case mass support to get done. My mom and my sister Karyn (also winners this year at NaNo) were major factors in me winning as watching their word counts increase was motivation. Karyn got me into a chat with some friends on AIM Instant Messenger (I know I was surprised it was around still too) and they were all a help. Word battles every night.

Among non-nanoers, my wife Kelli was a huge support not just in congratulating every little milestone I mentioned, but also in tolerating my going into a shell for 30 straight days.

Also, my facebook community of friends was also a help. Bre and others provided support and chat distractions when needed.

Let me wrap it up with my assessment of the month.

NaNoWriMo is great for many things. When you really buy in, it's a motivating tool to help you really write a novel. You are in trouble if you go into this thinking you'll write an epic tale that's ready for publish on Dec. 1, you won't. You really really must turn off the inner editor and keep pushing.

When it's over, if you're like me this year, you won't have the Great American Novel. You might not even have a good novel. But you'll have a novel.

I want to write a great novel one day. Maybe with a LOT of work, this one could be it's foundation, but I'm not holding out hope. But the first step to writing The Great American Novel, is writing a novel.

I can now say with pride that I have done that, if nothing else.

And when it was over I got to see this little ditty.
http://www.viddler.com/NaNoWinner/videos/3/



Final note:
Somehow despite a month of sitting firmly on my arse, I lost 3-4 pounds. Woot.

A note on my old career, and a couple other things

Blogging old skool today....
(I spelled school wrong on purpose to show I'm hip, just to be clear.)

So there is this website.

http://wearejournalists.tumblr.com/ (Copy and past it, I'm feeling lazy)

Some have debated whether this is narcissistic, self indulgence by journalists or a place for journalists to help bridge the disconnect between the notion of them as minor parts of "The Media" and the reality that they are people with faces and lives and whatever.

I read through the site for a bit. Then I read one article for the site, and another against.

I like it. But I like it because I'm a somewhat self-indulged narcissist. That's what made me a mediocre to acceptable journalist. But just because I like it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

There are good, well-adjusted, reasonable people doing journalism, most of them are probably ok at their jobs. Solid copy editing skills, decent form. Nothing impressive.

There are egotistical maniacs out there doing journalism poorly. They write every column about their wife, their faith, their dog. They may be concentrated in southern Ohio....but I digress.

Then there are egotistical maniacs who are at the heart of every big story. They feel like the world would stop turning if they stopped reporting. And because they think that, they're awesome at their job.

What I'm not doing a good job of getting around too is coming up soon, stay with me.

The above website has people saying "I interview people others wouldn't talk too" and "If I don't tell the story of how that kid died, maybe no one will."

And they're right. We....no, not anymore....they are important. Good journalists ask the hard questions. They write the good fight, as it were. And to be among the best of them, you probably need to be a little narcissistic.

You need to think that only

you

can get that story. Only YOU can do it right etc. It's not a bad thing. A little narcissism fused with journalistic integrity = Bob Wooduff/Lois Lane. (Don't think about how that baby would look).

And in this era of dying newspapers and reader venom, I understand the desire to show your readers that you are a person, and not, "The Media." It would certainly make your jobs easier.

But you're job isn't easy. And you knew that going in.

Even the Cincinnati Enquirer is in on the act.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/154893/cincinnati-enquirer-launches-ad-campaign-featuring-reporters-in-their-own-words/

And you also knew that if you did your job right, not until you win a Pulitzer or retire or die, should you be the story. We...you...are all a little narcisitic, I get it. Embrace it. But keep it in check. We might want a website aimed at the public that tries to make us look good, but we don't need it.

Thanks for trying, wearejournalists.tumblr.com, but it's a bit much. Be the byline, not the story.

As I finish this thought, it strike me that maybe this tumblr and the Enquirer things are a good idea, or at least a necessary one. Maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe I'm just liking the idea more because my brain is doing that rationalization thing it does. Really I'm not even sure at this point.

Feel cheated? Welcome to life inside my mind.

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So I read something today about stealing from hotels. Apparently some people think it's ok to take EVERYTHING in their room.

Just to be clear, stealing from hotels is bad. Stealing is bad. Unless you're Aladdin and you're just buying time until the Genie shows up, stealing is bad.

So let me help you draw the line if anyone out there is confused with a handy list of what is ok to take, and what is not ok. This list was compiled with the help of facebookers like you (well like most of you).

Toiletries: Ok to steal.
I mean of course that it's ok to take soap, shampoo, shaving cream, the complimentary razor, lotion and plastic showercaps. This doesn't include towels or reusable items. Specifically, the soap dish with the hotel logo is not for you, even if you have the same initials as the hotel.

Food/Drink: Probably ok to steal, pay attention.
Was it a two-bed room and you were alone? Yes you can eat the extra pillow mint. Did you not make coffee or tea? Ok, take the packets home with you.
If there's a mini-bar though, or a fridge that is stocked, they're probably charging you for whatever you take. So take it all if you want, but you'll pay for it in the final bill.

Anything Not mentioned: Not ok to steal.
Robes, towels, slippers, tv trays, tv remotes, TVs, chairs, sheets, pillows etc. are NOT ok to take. Also, cups, trays, ice buckets, mugs and the coffee maker are NOT ok to take.
The dirty laundry bag is yours if you want it.

My friend Jenny said it best on Facebook:
"If it's an item meant to be taken, no (it's not stealing). However, I think many people cross the line of that which is fair and expected. So if you walk by the maid's cart and take a handful of soaps, I think that's a form of theft. I think this of that show Extreme Couponing.I think it of the people who clear out continental breakfasts. Same with abuse of coupon codes/free gifts with purchase. There's a point where it's like this: yes, it's free/allowed but you KNOW you're bending the rules and taking advantage."

Was any of that a revelation? No, but according to the internet, some people needed to hear it.

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I'm actually about to defend royalty.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/queen-england-faces-pay-freeze-171306178.html

I don't have a real beef with the existence of an allegedly noble class in an otherwise egalitarian society, but I do have a beef with doing it wrong.

The British royalty has been irrelevant for a long, long time. Decades if we're being generous, centuries if we're not.

But it exists, and I bet it bring in big tourism money for the UK.

Before I say this part, don't think I think the royals are going to starve, they're all rich as hell, at least the ones that half-matter to the paparazzi and tourists are rich.

But these rich people aren't paying out of pocket to take care of these estates that bring in tourism. And the Brits are cutting their funding.

I get it, I do, tough times and what not. But as far as I can tell, the English don't have celebrities outside of Patrick Stewart and Ricky Gervais and I bet if you had a GPS on them right now, you'd find them over here in the New World.

(My God today's blog is rambling and incoherent, stop reading now, or if your nostalgic for that sort of thing, finish this and hit the archives.)

But as it stands, the Brits pretend to have a monarchy in name. If that's what it is, then it needs obscene amounts of money for tea. And for repairs. Hell they repair things so rarely anymore that earlier this year they found a body decomposed no terribly far from some royal residence.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be decomposed bodies on the grounds, I'm just saying the crown should have enough funding to know where the bodies are, and to hide them if need be.

Long live the queen.