While You Were Sleeping

1. Amado. Lovely kid, but he's making it almost impossible to do any blogging these days. He has a fascination with the computer--climbing, clawing, his way to the keyboard whenever he sees it on. And if it's not on, he will turn it on. Even his cyber-addicted daddy can't compete with him! (Though I have kept up on my del.icio.us posts, if you're interested.) Ok, just a few highlights today...

2. I love to watch NFL football played in the snow. Snow brings an aspect of inpredicticality (is this even a word?) to a game that has become a little too smooth around the edges. "The weather forecast for Green Bay on Sunday: a high of 11F degrees. For Foxborough: a high of 16F. In other words, baby, it's gonna be cold outside for this weekend's conference championship games. To get you prepared, here are 10 hot ... er, whatever ... topics about frozen football from ESPN."

3. Grief is Good. I just discovered this fascinating and very tragic blog which invites readers to post a message to a deceased loved one. "Dealing with death is an isolating process, and reading other people's diverse messages may help ease feelings of loneliness. Both writing and reading messages can be a starting point to the return of some kind of normality in life."

4. OK, back to sports. Don't you just love a boxer who can write? Wayne McCullough, a boxer with a killer chin who has never been knocked down, writes that taking it on the chin is as much mental as it is physical. "When you get hit with a hard shot -- that makes you consider going down -- you definitely feel a buzz going all the way down your body to your toes. I've felt it and seen the black flashing lights that come along with that feeling. You grit your teeth when you're hit full force. It's almost as though your brain is offering you a deal -- a 50-50 chance, per se -- go down or stay up. I have always chosen to stay up. I believe that not going down has a lot to do with your mental state of mind. Your head and body are telling you one thing, but your heart and determination to go on are telling you another."

5. Speaking of fisticuffs, my Mom may be retired, but she's not taking it on the chin from anybody. This week she was seen in the streets of Santa Cruz doing battle with the trash collectors.

6. "Crisis? Maybe He’s a Narcissistic Jerk" from The New York Times. "With the possible exception of 'the dog ate my homework,' there is no handier excuse for human misbehavior than the midlife crisis.

7. Rev. Shawn made me aware for the first time that Martin Luther King's famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" was written in response to King's fellow clergy who opposed his work. After working for church organizations for going on 20 years, I'm not surprised.

8. Stray Questions for [writer] Buzz Bissinger: Q. How much time - if any - do you spend on the Web? Is it a distraction or a blessing? A. "I spend a great deal of time on the Web, about two hours a day. It obviously is an amazing tool for research. But let’s just cut to the chase, I spend as much time messing around on the Web to avoid the very acts of working and writing. Compulsive e-mail checks. Web sites in foreign languages. My productivity has suffered. I think that is true of every writer with a computer."

9. Jordon Cooper, one of my favourite Canadian bloggers, is doing an comprehensive review of Warren Kinsella's new book, The War Room. If you love politics, are involved in a campaign, or running an organization and want to make it more effective, you will find this really interesting.

10. I writing another article that's overdue for Sojourners. My editor is one patient Ohio lady. :-)

11. Another inspirational sports story here: Last week in the divisional playoff game with Seattle, Green Bay running back Ryan Grant lost two fumbles in the opening minutes, leading to touchdowns for the Seahawks. After these ignoble moments, Grant spent the rest of the day making it up to his team, running for 201 yards and three touchdowns. I love heart like this!

12. Amado is the cutest, smartest baby anywhere!