charlieDEAN’S Blog

- I feel like I’m finally getting my head above water. Aug-Sept is a busy time here at Northwoods. It feels, as we head into October like the old, familiar rhythm. Today I sorted about 3 months work of junk accumulating on my desk. I feel better.
- I haven’t talked a lot of football this year, but the BRONCOS LOOKED GREAT LAST NIGHT! Check out my friend Dan’s post. I’m so jealous. Last year Dan took me to a game…I may have to make a pilgrimage to Mile High part of my spiritual development plan!
- I’m in fifth place out of 8 teams in my fantasy league, but I have more total points than anyone in the league (go figure!) [ hint for other fantasy owners: Drew Bledsoe was a great pickup, although by now I presume he's been picked up in most leagues! ]
- Our neighbors across the street finally moved in this weekend, so now there are officially 8 boys under the age of six in our cul-de-sac and two girls. Cool. Go Chase Lane!
- Went to a cool party Saturday night. Some people in our subdivision hosted the 3rd annual “Frankenfest” (their last name is Franken). They had a live band (Star 69), food, drink, bonfire, open house and about 300 people! It reminded me of THIS post. Jennifer and I had a good discussion as we stood around for awhile not knowing anyone about how people must feel visiting church.

- I feel like I’m finally getting my head above water. Aug-Sept is a busy time here at Northwoods. It feels, as we head into October like the old, familiar rhythm. Today I sorted about 3 months work of junk accumulating on my desk. I feel better.
- I haven’t talked a lot of football this year, but the BRONCOS LOOKED GREAT LAST NIGHT! Check out my friend Dan’s post. I’m so jealous. Last year Dan took me to a game…I may have to make a pilgrimage to Mile High part of my spiritual development plan!
- I’m in fifth place out of 8 teams in my fantasy league, but I have more total points than anyone in the league (go figure!) [ hint for other fantasy owners: Drew Bledsoe was a great pickup, although by now I presume he's been picked up in most leagues! ]
- Our neighbors across the street finally moved in this weekend, so now there are officially 8 boys under the age of six in our cul-de-sac and two girls. Cool. Go Chase Lane!
- Went to a cool party Saturday night. Some people in our subdivision hosted the 3rd annual “Frankenfest” (their last name is Franken). They had a live band (Star 69), food, drink, bonfire, open house and about 300 people! It reminded me of THIS post. Jennifer and I had a good discussion as we stood around for awhile not knowing anyone about how people must feel visiting church.

I’m enough of an idealist that when I hear people like Bono say things like, “This is our generation. Others pulled back the Iron Curtain, other tore down apartheid, other abolished slavery, and others fought for civil rights here in the United States. What are we going to do about this journey of equality? I’m going to spend the rest of my life on this,” I get pumped.

I signed the ONE declaration several months ago, but haven’t done a whole lot since. No more. I’ve tried to contact one of the national directors to see what can be done in the Peoria area to partner with ONE to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS. The church has been silent for too long.

Can I go off for a second? (yes I can! It is, after all, MY blog, and that’s kinda the point.)

In many of the organizations that I’ve been exposed to, it seems to me that the offer of help is often predicated upon a commitment by the person to go to church, or attend a service, or listen to a presentation of the gospel in some form or another.

Aren’t we called to help the poor, just becuase they are poor and we are not? I know…we can argue about who the poor really are and what “helping” looks like…blah, blah, blah. But in the case of an organization like ONE, is there anything to argue about? HIV/AIDS is a problem that needs a solution. Poor nations paying billions of dollars to rich nations is a problem. Starvation is a problem.

I can get fired up easily, but now what do I do?

Confession: In the last 12 days or so, I’ve watched 24 episodes of Lost. Jennifer and I are hooked! We wanted to watch season one before season two and last night we finished. So tomorrow night we will watch the season two opener that was aired last wednesday. There’s nothing I can say about the show that hasn’t been said already, but it’s AWESOME! Last night our friend Ryan joined us for the last 2 episodes. We’ve sucked him in!

I found this book in Books and Culture and it looked interesting. The full title is The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. It’s by Barry Schwartz, who is a professor at Swarthmore College. His central premise is while we may think that more options are good, in reality, for most people more choice leads to less satisfaction. Here’s a long quotation from the prologue:

“This book is about the choices Americans face in almost all areas of life: education, career, friendship, sex, romance, parenting, religious observance. There is no denying that choice improves the quality of our lives. It enables us to control our destinies and to come closes to getting exactly what we want out of any situation. Choice is essential to autonomy, which is absolutely fundamental to well-being. Healthy people want and need to direct their own lives.
On the other hand, the fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better. As I will demonstrate, there is a cost tot having an overload of choice. As a culture, we are enamored of freedom, self-determination, and variety, and we are reluctant to give up any of our options. But clinging tenaciously to all the choices available to us contributes to bad decisions, to anxiety, stress, and dissatisfaction — even to clinical depression.”

Good book. I’ve been reading it slowly in the evenings! It really describes well many people I know who seem to be paralyzed by choices. The key takeaway for my wife and I was this question, which Schwartz says is the key to healthiness in this area: “What is good enough?” For example, I don’t have to have the best coffee cup, but only one that is good enough, so that I can then put an appropriate amount of research and attention that the decision requires. Like I said…good read!

I’m enough of an idealist that when I hear people like Bono say things like, “This is our generation. Others pulled back the Iron Curtain, other tore down apartheid, other abolished slavery, and others fought for civil rights here in the United States. What are we going to do about this journey of equality? I’m going to spend the rest of my life on this,” I get pumped.

I signed the ONE declaration several months ago, but haven’t done a whole lot since. No more. I’ve tried to contact one of the national directors to see what can be done in the Peoria area to partner with ONE to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS. The church has been silent for too long.

Can I go off for a second? (yes I can! It is, after all, MY blog, and that’s kinda the point.)

In many of the organizations that I’ve been exposed to, it seems to me that the offer of help is often predicated upon a commitment by the person to go to church, or attend a service, or listen to a presentation of the gospel in some form or another.

Aren’t we called to help the poor, just becuase they are poor and we are not? I know…we can argue about who the poor really are and what “helping” looks like…blah, blah, blah. But in the case of an organization like ONE, is there anything to argue about? HIV/AIDS is a problem that needs a solution. Poor nations paying billions of dollars to rich nations is a problem. Starvation is a problem.

I can get fired up easily, but now what do I do?

I found this book in Books and Culture and it looked interesting. The full title is The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. It’s by Barry Schwartz, who is a professor at Swarthmore College. His central premise is while we may think that more options are good, in reality, for most people more choice leads to less satisfaction. Here’s a long quotation from the prologue:

“This book is about the choices Americans face in almost all areas of life: education, career, friendship, sex, romance, parenting, religious observance. There is no denying that choice improves the quality of our lives. It enables us to control our destinies and to come closes to getting exactly what we want out of any situation. Choice is essential to autonomy, which is absolutely fundamental to well-being. Healthy people want and need to direct their own lives.
On the other hand, the fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better. As I will demonstrate, there is a cost tot having an overload of choice. As a culture, we are enamored of freedom, self-determination, and variety, and we are reluctant to give up any of our options. But clinging tenaciously to all the choices available to us contributes to bad decisions, to anxiety, stress, and dissatisfaction — even to clinical depression.”

Good book. I’ve been reading it slowly in the evenings! It really describes well many people I know who seem to be paralyzed by choices. The key takeaway for my wife and I was this question, which Schwartz says is the key to healthiness in this area: “What is good enough?” For example, I don’t have to have the best coffee cup, but only one that is good enough, so that I can then put an appropriate amount of research and attention that the decision requires. Like I said…good read!

I’ve been spammed! For the first time today, I posted and got two spam comments, so I’ve broken down and turned on the word verification. What this means for you is that when you comment you will have to type a word as it appears on the screen. No big deal…just a minor inconvenience.