• Put this on the list…

    There are a few thing I never had intended to do in my life that I’m both learning about and entering into at the same time.

    1. Owning any sort of business. Stocks are easy to do because you can get some minor benefit of ownership and none of the work. Being a part of the YMX team has been really, really weird for me. There’s a steep learning curve and I’m trying to catch up. We think we’re doing well. Maximizing what we do good and minimizing our mistakes.
    2. Going on tour. I have no idea how this came about, but there are some sketches of a plan for a YMX United 07 tour. More on that at another time… never even dreamed of that one. But this may actually make it from the dream stage to the real life stage.
    3. Being a part of promoting something. There is a thing that we can’t talk about yet that YMX is helping promote. It may always be 100% "behind the scenes" promotion… but since I’ve never done it before we don’t know what to do our say about it. We just think it’s cool.

    So there are 3 things that I’ve done in the past 6 months that if you had asked me 6 months and a day ago… I wouldn’t have imagined.

  • I’m getting really Sirius

    Siriuslogoblu_img_lrg_4Well I did it again. I’ve bought still more stock in the company I think will win the satellite radio wars. The bottom line why I keep buying more and more of it is that I just think it’s a good product, a good price, and it will be a money maker for a long time. I read an interesting article today that said that the average person listens to their radio 40% of the time they are in their car. But a satellite radio owner listens 75% of the time. This is good for ad dollars. I like it and think Sirius will hopefully go above $6 in the next quarter.

  • The Contender

    Boxing_ring_titleTonight I’m really excited about LF. Not only is it a perfect night to play games outside and play with diet coke and mentos and wear shorts and all that "nice night goofiness" that we’re sure to experience.

    But I’m also excited to continue on our teaching series. Tonight we’ll be watching the battle that Jesus introduces to us in Luke 20. His enemies brought the fight and for our sake he embraces it.

  • YS’s big announcement

    Well, it was a big kicker to learn that Youth Specialties has been acquired by Zondervan. Really all this seems to mean is that Karla sold her stake and Zondervan took it’s spot. In the short term this obviously means little… but down the pipe it would make sense that there will be some changes. (Afterall, any living entity changes!)

    Not to be lost in all of this… their video press release is a riot! Marko and Tic Long are two funny dudes. It might be the funniest thing I have seen since lunch.

  • Illegal Immigrants

    Rally
    I’ve been thinking a bit today about the immigration rallies that "brought America to it’s knees" yesterday. Well, about 1 million people marched on the subject and the world continued to rotate on it’s axis and the United States was still in business at the end of the day. But anyway.

    Here is some of what was behind the "victory" yesterday.

    — The House of Representatives passed a bill in December, mainly
    with Republican votes, focusing on tightening the border with Mexico
    and making felons of illegal immigrants and punishing those who employ
    or help them. The House bill also would build a 698-mile wall along
    parts of the 2,000-mile Mexican border.

    — The Senate is at an
    impasse on a plan to overhaul immigration laws that would create a
    temporary worker program, as proposed by President George W. Bush, and
    open the way for more than 7 million illegal immigrants to become U.S.
    citizens. Critics denounce the measure as amnesty that would lead to
    even more illegal immigration.

    — Bush’s proposal for a temporary
    worker program has put him at odds with many in his own Republican
    Party. Bush insists it is a legal way to fill the jobs that Americans
    are unwilling to do, a position supported by business. Labor groups are
    wary of a guest worker program that does not provide a path to
    permanent residence saying it would create an underclass of workers. [Rueters]

    I just support what congress and the president are trying to do. We should be encouraging legal immigration reform. We should close our borders to undocumented workers. Companies who hire undocumented immigrants should lose their ability to do business in the United States. We should stop punishing people who are trying to legally enter our country because of those who come without invitation.

    We’ve all heard the arguments in favor of amnesty and things like that. But what if that steps on the foundations of our country? Equal opportunity and justice for all?

  • Static Age doesn’t open at 6

    StaticageOur intention was pretty simple. We wanted to take the Zero Hour Bible study back to it’s roots. In the fall of 2004 we started meeting at Sweetie’s Cafe at 6:15 AM. Well, shortly after our study ended for the school year, the place closed.

    Flash forward to this winter when Static Age opened in the same location. It’s taken us a bit of time but we finally decided to move the thing from my house (which is pretty sweet since I don’t have to travel) back to Static Age.

    Well, we all showed up this morning. The sign on the window says it opens at 6:00 AM, but it doesn’t. So we basically hung out and waited around until 6:45 before relenting and going over to Speedway. I’ll have to ask the people who run it what happened when I go there tomorrow.

  • Lawn Care

    Well, it’s begun. I spent a little time yesterday doing the front yard and a lot more today working on the back. The lawn has been mowed, the weeds wacked, and if I could get the leaf blower working correctly, that would be done too.

    It was pretty fun to use our family "team work" to get it done. Megan and Paul were helping mom with the sticks. Now if only we could get the animals to do their part?   

  • playing with the look here

    If you’re noticing some things moving around here, it’s because I’ve started tinkering again. So readers feel free to give a little constructive criticism.

  • I (A Meme)

    ***Editorial note: This isn’t my thing, but I did get tagged which is like a dare and dares are hard to turn down on a Monday morning.***

    I (A Meme)
    By Adam McLane

    I was tagged by Ryan – who was tagged by Len – who was tagged by Andy – who was tagged by mindi – who was tagged by renee – who was tagged by bobbie

    I AM: A dad and youth dude

    I WANT: to keep chasing my dreams

    I WISH: i were braver and bolder and more willing to go with my gut

    I HATE: bad habits, dogs who steal from the garbage can, being underestimated

    I LOVE: what i do, my family, and creating things that people enjoy

    I MISS: irresponsibility

    I FEAR: being looked at as "cool" by 7th graders, people thinking i’m a fake

    I HEAR: my kids talking to each other and watching cartoons

    I WONDER: when life will slow down, when the whole world will be dominated by people buying Sirius Satelite Radio so I can retire, and when the president will call me for advice.

    I REGRET: not following through better

    I AM NOT: as organized as i’d like to be

    I DANCE: as little as possible

    I SING: during worship and in the car and that’s about it

    I CRY: little, and never in front of others

    I AM NOT ALWAYS: serious at the right times

    I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: lots of things no one notices, a little site called Youth Ministry Exchange.

    I WRITE: much more than i publish

    I CONFUSE: about 40 students per week

    I NEED: more time to reflect

    I SHOULD: be doing yard work right now

    I START: a lot of things but finish much less

    I FINISH: about 1/3 of what i start

    I’m tagging Todd and Kim.

  • Coming Home

    Mclane_spring_034As I’ve recorded in the last day or so, we’ve been travelling to my hometown for a family funeral.

    It was amazing as we left Mishawaka and headed for Romeo. There is a lot of emotion involved with going "home" and even more in returning to our real home. While we’ve only been here for 3 years, we’ve never felt more at home than we do here. Yesterday, both me and the kids felt a tremendous draw home.

    As we took the kids to the park and even at the funeral, I couldn’t get over the emotion of this isn’t my home anymore. The same is true each time we go back to Chicago… it feels less and less like home all the time and Romeo feels more and more like the home we’ve always longed for.

    Just for fun: With that thought in mind, I thought it would be fun to refresh my memory on Kristen and Adam’s "wishlist" for a ministry location. (History: Each night we would take Megan for a long walk and we’d dream of someplace God would have for us.) Near mountains, not in the midwest, somewhere near a large university, and nowhere near Detroit. Yeah, Romeo is all of those "no’s."