vanity search

i decided to do a search for bryant johnson on facebook and see what came up. while i first on the search results, i found that there are 59 additional "bryant johnson" profiles on facebook. crazy! i have never met another "bryant johnson", however i did know of one in plant city who went to the same doctor. we got mixed up on paperwork one time but he was in his early 50's with heart disease. definitely not me.

dance trooper

sunrise, san diego, october 23rd, 2007

You know you're a Floridian if...

Socks are only for bowling.

You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes.

A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store, but everything to do with shade.

Your winter coat is made of denim.

You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites.

You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65.

Anything under 70 is chilly.

You pass on the right and honk at the elderly, but p! ull ove r for a funeral.

You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.

You could swim before you could read.

You have to drive north to get to The South.

You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix.

Every other house in your neighborhood had blue roofs in 2004-2005.

You've gotten out of school early on Halloween to trick or treat before it got dark.

You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.

You dread lovebug season.

You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances...but Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

You know what a snowbird is and you don't like them.

You know why flamingos are pink.

You think a! six-foot alligator is actually pretty small.

You were twelve before you ever saw snow, or you still haven't.

"Down South" means Key West

"Panhandling" means going to Pensacola

Flip-flops are everyday wear. Shoes are for business meetings and church.
No, wait, flip flops are good for church too, unless it's Easter or Christmas.

Sweet tea can be served at any meal.

An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.

You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip or cruise to Florida.

You measure distance in minutes.

You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.

You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.

All the local festivals are named after a fruit.

A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.

You think everyone from a bigger city has a northern accent.

You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer, not summer but really hot, and February.

It's not soda, cola, or pop. it's coke, regardless of brand or flavor,
"What kinda coke you want?"

Anything under 95 is just warm.

You've hosted a hurricane party.

You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the best rides. (Space Mountain during the Electric Light Parade!)

You understand the futility of exterminating cockroaches.

You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee, Ichnatucknee and Withlacoochee

You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself.

Bumper stickers on the pickup in front of you include: various fish, N! RA, Nas car, Go Gators, and a confederate flag.

You were 5 before you realized they made houses without pools.

You were 25 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.

You get angry when people say "Florida isn't really part of the SOUTH."

You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas.

You know what the "stingray shuffle" is, and why it's important!

14,000 points

i know this is pretty geeky, but i just reached 14000 point gamerscore playing halo. my xbox was even talking about it. it would have been my largest daily increase in gamerscore, but two achievements were logged in just after midnight. and yes, i could play halo 3 all night long.

cirque du soleil

seeing cirque du soleil in person is simply amazing. la nouba in orlando was simply breathtaking. i would to watch all their shows at some point. in the meantime, we can settle for what's online.



onemansblog has more for your viewing pleasure.

einstein or harry potter

read the story about this optical illusion here.

halo 3 and the church

just read this post by Josh Griffin about Halo 3 and the church. he was referring to an article posted in the new york times regarding halo being used in youth ministry programs. it's an interesting read. after reading through the comments, i felt compelled to share, too. here's what i posted.

"for me. i have halo 3 and love it. i have some youth in our program who play regularly and i will meet up with them online to play. and the co-op is awesome. we sit, we talk, we hang out. and many of the kids are talking about it, their stats, and their achievements. a few want to help me beat legendary. i grew up with games. at 5 years old, my dad came home with an atari 2600 and together we played asteroids for hours.

anyways, i have always thought that if you are ok doing "X" anywhere else, then you should be ok doing it in the church. if that wouldn't be ok, then we should really think about what it is we are doing. maybe we shouldn't be doing it all.

the culture changes and will always change. just as soon as we think we have it figured out, it will change again. we need to be culturally relevant. in but not of the culture. i think games are ok.

for us in our church, i'm not sure it would fit with what we are currently doing. i wouldn't be opposed, but it doesn't fit our events and activities. for some it might be right and others it's not. i think that's ok. what i don't think is ok is that we miss the message of the gospel. jesus has called us to become more like him; full of love, grace, mercy and compassion. not matter what your are doing, if we leave this component out of what we are doing we have failed.

and for outreach, you need to be involved in that culture that you are reaching out to. i don't think we need to do an outreach expecting youth to know the words to the latest chris tomlin song. it may just not be an outreach if it is filled with youth ready to worship.

to sum it all up - go with God, sensing His presence, experiencing His love, and sharing with all that you come in contact with."

josh will be posting his thoughts tomorrow.

6 Things 'Star Wars' Teaches Us About Our Money

i found this on digg. it's great. anything that we can take from star wars or has anything to do with star wars is simply awesome.

read more | digg story

balloon bowl

awesome video of a guy skating in a bowl full of baloons. looks like it was a blast.

free starbucks song of the day

starbucks is giving away a free song of the day from october 2nd through november 2nd. read more about that through the starbucks press release if you please.

here's the reason for the post. i received two cards today for keith urban's song, "i told you so." so, it's first come first serve. copy this code and paste it into the itunes/starbucks song of the day and it's yours.

FRGJWHPCGPTG

book 5 finished

i finished book 5 of the Harry Potter series this morning. The Order of the Phoenix. it is the longest book in the series and it took me the longest to finish. now you may be thinking, "he's quite behind," now that many people have finished book 7. i just started reading the series mid june with book 1 with the encouragement of my wife and a few friends.

i had thought that there was a lot of fluff in this book, things that just made it longer, rather than actually adding to the story. but as i finished it this morning, as with each book so far, most of the fluff came together in the end and made since.

funny thing about this is, that i was late for staff meeting. i go so into finishing the book this morning that i completely forgot i had a meeting at noon. an hour later i made it to the meeting with the confession of my tardiness.

more from dove

the new dove campaign video.

Samurai Sword in Halo 3

Several people down at the High Impact Halo Forums have noticed that there is a player online who has a samurai sword attached to his back as if it were a secondary...

read more | digg story