From Men's Health:
When your partner is upset but isn't clear about what she wants from you, do you...
A. Start drawing up solutions to her problems
B. Remind her of times she has solves problems for yourself
Answer: B. Drawing up solutions may feel constructive, but it also might make her feel powerless. Tell her that you believe in her, and point out times in the past when she effectively addressed similar problems.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Invisible Support
"Support can be characterized in two completely different ways... I show 'visible' support every time I tell her she looks great, or that she's supertalented... The second is called 'invisible' support. It's what happens when, instead of giving Sue advice, I just sit back and listen. Invisible support could even include vacuuming the apartment or washing the dishes without being asked." - John Lutz, 30 Rock
The challenge for guys often isn't to come up with solutions, but to resist the urge to do so. It isn't to be noticed, it's to be unnoticed.
The challenge for guys often isn't to come up with solutions, but to resist the urge to do so. It isn't to be noticed, it's to be unnoticed.
Mike Reid - Walk On Faith
Great messages in here.
Walk on faith... trust in love... keep on putting one foot down in front of the other.
When the valley's wide, we stumble in stride, and everything inside's telling you to give up...
Walk on faith, trust in love.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Vacation Bible School Music
Calvary United Methodist Church's Vacation Bible School took place from June 13-16. Pals Darren Plattner, Rob Stogsdill and I played a group of good-natured small town fellas who've been asked to lead the town sing-along at the annual Fall Harvest Festival. Despite no musical or farming skills, they decide to plant a crop (which goes terribly) and write a song (which goes better as the days go by).
The theme was "Growing God's Word In Your Heart." The four Bible verses were:
Day 1: Planting
Parable of the Four Soils
Mark 4:1-9
Day 2: Nurturing/Pruning
The Vine and the Branches
John 15:1-8
Day 3: Bearing Fruit
A Tree and Its Fruit
Luke 6:43-45
Day 4: Harvesting
Matthew 9:37-38
Photos used as props were contributed by Dena. And thanks to the magic of audio recording toys, the three-part sound track & instruments & clap track by yours truly.
A record 249 kids and their parents went wild after the finale!
Next year's theme is about construction. Should leave plenty of time to come up with another entertaining brand of amateur skits!
The theme was "Growing God's Word In Your Heart." The four Bible verses were:
Day 1: Planting
Parable of the Four Soils
Mark 4:1-9
Day 2: Nurturing/Pruning
The Vine and the Branches
John 15:1-8
Day 3: Bearing Fruit
A Tree and Its Fruit
Luke 6:43-45
Day 4: Harvesting
Matthew 9:37-38
Photos used as props were contributed by Dena. And thanks to the magic of audio recording toys, the three-part sound track & instruments & clap track by yours truly.
A record 249 kids and their parents went wild after the finale!
Next year's theme is about construction. Should leave plenty of time to come up with another entertaining brand of amateur skits!
Consumer Reports Finds Best Fast Food Restaurants
From Yahoo! Finance:
Next time you have a craving for fast food, think twice about slowing down for Burger King, KFC, McDonald's, or Taco Bell.
In our first major survey of quick-service restaurants (industry-speak for fast-food chains), subscribers who made a total of more than 98,000 visits to 53 chains said those four biggies were worse than many others. The main reason: the uninspiring food, though they also had so-so service. Readers said those chains, which boast of supersized value, don't even offer much bang for the buck. Other major chains with relatively low scores: sandwich shops Arby's and Quiznos and pizza joints Domino's (NYSE: DPZ - News) and Pizza Hut.
By contrast, our survey revealed good deals and even better meals at dozens of less-ubiquitous fast-food restaurants. Readers gave 21 of them especially high marks for food; 11 stood out for value. In-N-Out Burger (264 restaurants in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, and Utah), Chipotle Mexican Grill (1,100 nationwide) (NYSE: CMG - News), Chick-fil-A (1,536 nationwide), and Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza (1,250 in 37 states and Canada) ranked at the top of their type, and offered speedy and solicitous service that the industry giants couldn't match. (Most restaurant counts are approximate.)
Our survey's other key findings:
Diners Want Better Food
Many restaurants scored higher for service -- specifically, speed and politeness -- than for food. At chains with the highest scores for food, 42 to 54 percent of patrons called the fare excellent, but at Burger King, KFC (NYSE: YUM - News), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD - News), and Taco Bell, no more than 11 percent of patrons did. In fact, 15 to 19 percent of respondents who ate at one of those chains thought the food was fair, poor, or very poor. At Sbarro, an international Italian chain trying to emerge from bankruptcy, 27 percent of patrons judged the food fair, poor, or very poor.
Cheap Food May Not Be a Bargain
Fifty-four percent of those surveyed cited low prices as a reason for picking a particular fast-food restaurant, and savvy shoppers can often score discounts by downloading coupons and other perks from a chain's website and social-media pages. But despite the low prices, just 19 percent of all respondents said they got excellent value for their money. In-N-Out Burger, Papa Murphy's, and CiCi's Pizza offered the best value; Sbarro, Round Table Pizza, and KFC, the worst.
Diners Want a Better Experience
Whether they ordered cafeteria-style, at a counter, or at a drive-thru, or had food delivered, readers were much less pleased overall with fast-food restaurants than with casual full-service eateries like Cracker Barrel, Outback Steakhouse, and Red Lobster. Sixty percent of respondents said they were completely or very satisfied with their fast-food dining experiences vs. 68 percent of casual-restaurant patrons.
Sometimes Fast Food Isn't
The slowest places to get fast food were KFC, Popeyes, and Pizza Hut.
Consumers Talk Thin But Eat Fat
Despite their reputation for blowing a diet to smithereens, fast-food restaurants offer plenty of healthful options. Hardee's (1,900 in 30 states and nine countries) and Carl's Jr. (1,100 worldwide) recently started selling charbroiled turkey burgers; Subway (34,679 in 98 countries), egg-white omelets; and Little Caesars (thousands from coast to coast), pizza crust and sauce with no animal products.
Trouble is, there aren't many takers. "Indulgence wins over healthfulness every time," says Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a food-service research and consulting firm in Chicago. When asked if they had eaten a healthful meal during their most recent visit to a fast-food restaurant, only 13 percent of those surveyed said yes. At pizza chains, just 4 percent said they'd ordered something healthful.
Subway, with a "Fresh Fit" menu and spokesman Jared Fogle (an everyday guy who lost 245 pounds partly by living on the chain's low-fat subs), had the most diet-conscious eaters: Almost half of respondents who ate there said they chose a nutritious meal. But not all sandwiches are created equal, even at Subway, where the footlong Italian B.M.T. sub packs 900 calories and 40 grams of fat.
Next time you have a craving for fast food, think twice about slowing down for Burger King, KFC, McDonald's, or Taco Bell.
In our first major survey of quick-service restaurants (industry-speak for fast-food chains), subscribers who made a total of more than 98,000 visits to 53 chains said those four biggies were worse than many others. The main reason: the uninspiring food, though they also had so-so service. Readers said those chains, which boast of supersized value, don't even offer much bang for the buck. Other major chains with relatively low scores: sandwich shops Arby's and Quiznos and pizza joints Domino's (NYSE: DPZ - News) and Pizza Hut.
By contrast, our survey revealed good deals and even better meals at dozens of less-ubiquitous fast-food restaurants. Readers gave 21 of them especially high marks for food; 11 stood out for value. In-N-Out Burger (264 restaurants in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, and Utah), Chipotle Mexican Grill (1,100 nationwide) (NYSE: CMG - News), Chick-fil-A (1,536 nationwide), and Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza (1,250 in 37 states and Canada) ranked at the top of their type, and offered speedy and solicitous service that the industry giants couldn't match. (Most restaurant counts are approximate.)
Our survey's other key findings:
Diners Want Better Food
Many restaurants scored higher for service -- specifically, speed and politeness -- than for food. At chains with the highest scores for food, 42 to 54 percent of patrons called the fare excellent, but at Burger King, KFC (NYSE: YUM - News), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD - News), and Taco Bell, no more than 11 percent of patrons did. In fact, 15 to 19 percent of respondents who ate at one of those chains thought the food was fair, poor, or very poor. At Sbarro, an international Italian chain trying to emerge from bankruptcy, 27 percent of patrons judged the food fair, poor, or very poor.
Cheap Food May Not Be a Bargain
Fifty-four percent of those surveyed cited low prices as a reason for picking a particular fast-food restaurant, and savvy shoppers can often score discounts by downloading coupons and other perks from a chain's website and social-media pages. But despite the low prices, just 19 percent of all respondents said they got excellent value for their money. In-N-Out Burger, Papa Murphy's, and CiCi's Pizza offered the best value; Sbarro, Round Table Pizza, and KFC, the worst.
Diners Want a Better Experience
Whether they ordered cafeteria-style, at a counter, or at a drive-thru, or had food delivered, readers were much less pleased overall with fast-food restaurants than with casual full-service eateries like Cracker Barrel, Outback Steakhouse, and Red Lobster. Sixty percent of respondents said they were completely or very satisfied with their fast-food dining experiences vs. 68 percent of casual-restaurant patrons.
Sometimes Fast Food Isn't
The slowest places to get fast food were KFC, Popeyes, and Pizza Hut.
Consumers Talk Thin But Eat Fat
Despite their reputation for blowing a diet to smithereens, fast-food restaurants offer plenty of healthful options. Hardee's (1,900 in 30 states and nine countries) and Carl's Jr. (1,100 worldwide) recently started selling charbroiled turkey burgers; Subway (34,679 in 98 countries), egg-white omelets; and Little Caesars (thousands from coast to coast), pizza crust and sauce with no animal products.
Trouble is, there aren't many takers. "Indulgence wins over healthfulness every time," says Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a food-service research and consulting firm in Chicago. When asked if they had eaten a healthful meal during their most recent visit to a fast-food restaurant, only 13 percent of those surveyed said yes. At pizza chains, just 4 percent said they'd ordered something healthful.
Subway, with a "Fresh Fit" menu and spokesman Jared Fogle (an everyday guy who lost 245 pounds partly by living on the chain's low-fat subs), had the most diet-conscious eaters: Almost half of respondents who ate there said they chose a nutritious meal. But not all sandwiches are created equal, even at Subway, where the footlong Italian B.M.T. sub packs 900 calories and 40 grams of fat.
Hidden Blog Turns 4
How about it?
Four years is no particularly meaningful milestone in a blog's lifetime, but it is fun to look back thanks to the power of Blogger's stats-accumulating feature.
Total posts: 2,507. This is something of a surprise. I'd tried to start two or three blogs previously after being introduced to them through an acquaintance. Finding material was always a struggle, transitioning to a journalist's mindset. Looking at the world through the eyes of a person alert for blogworthy moments. Eventually, it led me to become a bigger reader. The original premise was superficially to catch Country Joe McDonald in Googlability, but the real purpose was to develop an electronic journal. Family members had encouraged me to do it as a boy, but those snappily-bound notebooks found their way into forgotten corners without a mark. I started and stopped at writing a Bernstein Bears children's book, wrote poems at whimsical moments, pretended to be a sportswriter covering a Micro League baseball team over a full season. Satired the Hardy Boys (the Haughty Boys) and the Super Bowl Shuffle. Never really got into writing on a steady basis. Like other accomplishments in my life, this one took off once I attached a goal to it - and 50 posts a month has been all the fuel needed. Even in this, the most work-intensive month of my career, the quota was filled. Quality beats quantity, and occasionally a gem trickles out.
Total followers: 10. Even more surprising here. I could hardly believe when Dona made a comment about my completely unadvertised blog years back. No doubt, the knowledge that someone might be out there reading has influenced my dedication to faithful production.
Readership has trended upward.
Monthly views:
- Jul 2009: 995 views
- Sep 2010: 1,426
- Feb 2011: 1,632
- Jun 2011: 2,263
17,000 views in the last two years is probably swamped by Country Joe in an hour, but thanks to followers Jane, Dona and Lola for trafficking 500 of them through their site.
The most-viewed posts:
- McDonald Diagnosed With Grover's Disease: 1,050 views
- Undercover Boss: 731
- Puppets - Boost Mobile TV Commercial: 197
- Mega Python Vs. Gatoroid: 157
- Nordstrom Employee Handbook: 152
Most of the views no doubt were people stumbling across it while searching for something else. So while the stated goal has changed, the name remains true... the Hidden Blog to be tripped upon by passers-by for years to come.
Four years is no particularly meaningful milestone in a blog's lifetime, but it is fun to look back thanks to the power of Blogger's stats-accumulating feature.
Total posts: 2,507. This is something of a surprise. I'd tried to start two or three blogs previously after being introduced to them through an acquaintance. Finding material was always a struggle, transitioning to a journalist's mindset. Looking at the world through the eyes of a person alert for blogworthy moments. Eventually, it led me to become a bigger reader. The original premise was superficially to catch Country Joe McDonald in Googlability, but the real purpose was to develop an electronic journal. Family members had encouraged me to do it as a boy, but those snappily-bound notebooks found their way into forgotten corners without a mark. I started and stopped at writing a Bernstein Bears children's book, wrote poems at whimsical moments, pretended to be a sportswriter covering a Micro League baseball team over a full season. Satired the Hardy Boys (the Haughty Boys) and the Super Bowl Shuffle. Never really got into writing on a steady basis. Like other accomplishments in my life, this one took off once I attached a goal to it - and 50 posts a month has been all the fuel needed. Even in this, the most work-intensive month of my career, the quota was filled. Quality beats quantity, and occasionally a gem trickles out.
Total followers: 10. Even more surprising here. I could hardly believe when Dona made a comment about my completely unadvertised blog years back. No doubt, the knowledge that someone might be out there reading has influenced my dedication to faithful production.
Readership has trended upward.
Monthly views:
- Jul 2009: 995 views
- Sep 2010: 1,426
- Feb 2011: 1,632
- Jun 2011: 2,263
17,000 views in the last two years is probably swamped by Country Joe in an hour, but thanks to followers Jane, Dona and Lola for trafficking 500 of them through their site.
The most-viewed posts:
- McDonald Diagnosed With Grover's Disease: 1,050 views
- Undercover Boss: 731
- Puppets - Boost Mobile TV Commercial: 197
- Mega Python Vs. Gatoroid: 157
- Nordstrom Employee Handbook: 152
Most of the views no doubt were people stumbling across it while searching for something else. So while the stated goal has changed, the name remains true... the Hidden Blog to be tripped upon by passers-by for years to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)