Proverbs 3:27-28

Today I was listening to my Daily Audio Bible when a couple of verses caught my ear that I had never noticed before. Proverbs 3:27 – 28 reads “Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbor ‘Maybe some other time’ or ‘Try me tomorrow’ when the money’s right there in your pocket.”

It’s a good thing I didn’t know this verse when I was in high school because I probably would’ve thrown it in some people’s faces. Not in a confrontational, but helpful, way. I mean in a “you’re a big jerk” way. This verse pretty much describes every friend I ever went to for help in high school. Looking back I’m sure there were one or two people I could have gone to with my problems and they would’ve helped, but for one reason or another I didn’t want to go to them. The people that I did want to go to with my problems were never very helpful. It was always “Why do you go to talk to this person or that person instead.” Or it was “I can’t stay and talk I’ve got a test to study for.”

It always bothered me in high school because here were people that claimed to be Christians but they just brushed me aside when I was going through really difficult times. I understand school is important and all of that but more people than other people’s well being? Come on.

But it’s been 10 years since high school (scary!) and now that I’ve grown both in maturity and spiritually my thoughts on this verse were coming completely from the other side. I thought to myself. Am I like this? Does my hand represent God’s hand the way that it should? Honestly I don’t think that I’ve ever just completely turned down somebody that outright asked for help like I had done to me many times in high school and I’ve even gone out of my way to do nice things for people, but is that enough? The main reason I’ve never turned down anybody is because nobody has come to me. Do people know they can come to me? Do I need to do a better job of showing them or telling them they can come to me?

Disney News

There has been a lot of Disney news lately. I guess we’ll start first with the news that I don’t really care about and that is that Disney is already working on High School Musical 4 even though High School Musical 3 hasn’t been finished yet. This can not be a good sign. The third High School Musical takes place during their senior year. Going from high school to college will doom this series. Saved by the Bell the College Years anybody? Once you go from a high school program to a college program your audience changes and that audience doen’t care about High School Musical.

The other news is that Disney has announced that they have a slew of animated movies in store between now and 2012. Here is a summary of all of them:
Bolt (starring John Travolta) – Bolt, a German Shepherd, has lived his whole life on the set of his action TV show, where he believes he has superpowers. When separated from the studio by accident, he meets Mr. Mittens (actually a female cat) and a hamster named Rhino. Along the way, he learns that he doesn’t have superpowers and that the show is not realistic.

The Bear and the Bow – The impetuous, tangle-haired Merida, though a daughter of royalty, would prefer to make her mark as a great archer. A clash of wills with her mother compels Merida to make a reckless choice, which unleashes unintended peril on her father’s kingdom and her mother’s life. Merida struggles with the unpredictable forces of nature, magic and a dark, ancient curse to set things right.

The Princess and the Frog – A musical set in the legendary birthplace of jazz – New Orleans – “The Princess and the Frog” will introduce the newest Disney princess, Tiana, a young African-American girl living amid the charming elegance and grandeur of the fabled French Quarter. From the heart of Louisiana’s mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment and discovery with a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells and Cajun charm at every turn. Randy Newman will write songs and the score for the film.

Toy Story 3 (Starring Tim Allen and Tom Hanks) – Woody, Buzz, and the rest of their toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, departs for college.

Wall-E – After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.

Tinker Bell – Enter the magical world of fairies and meet the enchanting creatures of Pixie Hollow, who “nurture nature” and bring about the change of the seasons. Changing the colors of the leaves, moving a sunbeam to melt snow, waking animals from their winter slumber, or giving a patch of sproutlings a sprinkle of water are all within the realm of these seasonal specialists. Tinker Bell thinks her fairy talent as a “tinker” isn’t as special or important as the other fairies’ talents. But when Tink tries to change who she is, she creates nothing but disaster! With encouragement from her friends Rosetta, Silvermist, Fawn and Iridessa, Tink learns the key to solving her problems lies in her unique tinker abilities … and discovers that when she’s true to herself, magical things can happen.

Up – a comedic adventure taking off (and lifting spirits) in summer 2009. Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life. “Up” takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures. When seeking adventure next summer — look “Up.”

Tinkerbell North of Never Land – In autumn, Tinker Bell is entrusted with crafting a great treasure that can rejuvenate the Pixie Dust Tree. But when her friend Terence offers to help, Tink’s temper and stubbornness get the better of her, shattering both her creation and her friendship with Terence. To set things right again, she must embark on a journey far North of Never Land … and along the way, she will discover an even greater treasure.

Rapunzel – In this new telling of the classic fairy tale, “Rapunzel,” audiences will be transported to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl with the long golden tresses. Expect adventure, heart, humor, and hair … lots of hair, when Rapunzel unleashes her locks in theaters for the 2010 holiday.

Tinker Bell A Midsummer Storm – After being confronted by her antagonist Vidia, an irritated Tinker Bell retaliates by taking a photograph of Vidia … without considering the consequences. Now, the two must set aside their differences and cooperate to prevent evidence of the existence of fairies from falling into human hands.

Newt – What happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they can’t stand each other? That’s the problem facing Newt and Brooke, heroes of “newt,”

Tinker Bell A Winter Story – The fourth, as-yet-untold story of Tinker Bell and her fairy friends will take place in winter, completing the cycle of the seasons.

Cars 2 – All the world’s a racetrack as racing superstar Lightning McQueen zooms back into action, with his best friend Mater in tow, to take on the globe’s fastest and finest in this thrilling high-octane new installment of the “Cars” saga. Mater and McQueen will need their passports as they find themselves in a new world of intrigue, thrills and fast-paced comedic escapades around the globe.

King of the Elves – Legendary storyteller Phillip K. Dick’s short story (his only experiment in the fantasy genre) becomes the basis for this fantastic and imaginative tale about an average man living in the Mississippi Delta, whose reluctant actions to help a desperate band of elves leads them to name him their new king. Joining the innocent and endangered elves as they attempt to escape from an evil and menacing troll, their unlikely new leader finds himself caught on a journey filled with unimaginable dangers and a chance to bring real meaning back to his own life.

My Disney/Pixar Related Articles:
Top 15 Non-Animated Disney Films
The Seven Best Animated Disney Films
Ranking Pixar’s Best Animated Shorts
Ranking Pixar’s Best Feature Films

IMDB

Other than Associated Content I’ve only dabbled here and there in my freelance writing so I haven’t been published very many places. When people ask me who I write for I tell them I write for some websites and don’t name any because they have never heard of them. But finally I can say one of my articles was featured somewhere that they’ve actually heard of. Today my article called What Killed Saturday Morning Cartoons was featured on IMDB.com. I’m not sure if it will equal to a ton of page views because it’s at the very bottom of the page but I’ve already gotten about 40 comments since it was featured so it must be bringing in some page views.

The Music Post

For those of you interested I now have new glasses and contacts. Yay.

Anyway, this post I thought I would share some music with you. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of mash ups. If you aren’t familiar with mash ups they are songs that combine the music and lyrics of two different songs. I found one site, Tunes at Good Blimey, that has 2000 mashups on it. Most of them I’m not a big fan of because they are mostly hip hop, and I’m not a big fan of hip hop. But I did find a few that I like, so enjoy.

Beatles vs. Hanson – MMMy Bop Life

Dandy Warhols vs. Beatie Boys – Intergalactic Friends

Jackson 5 vs. Oasis – Stand By Your Alphabet

Jackson 5 vs. Oasis – I Want Your Wonderwall

Beastie Boys vs. Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get Triple Trouble Started

Andrew WK vs. Beastie Boys – Andrew Fights for His Right to Party

Also during Lost’s hiatus of been looking for some Lost related stuff to keep my busy until the show comes back. While searching I found several Lost bands, my favorite being a group called Barenaked Hurley. Barenaked Hurley writes songs about different episodes or storylines in Lost and puts the lyrics to popular music. Here are my two favorite songs:

Sitting On a Chair – This song is about the episode where Ben takes Locke to meet Jacob, only to find that Jacob is an empty chair. This song is sung to the tune of “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi.

Don’t Have Island Love – This song is referring to the fact that people who get pregnant on the island usually die, so you should not have sex on the island. The song is sung to the tune of “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Phil Collins.

Pink, It’s Like Red But Not Quite

I’ve been telling everybody I know that I’m looking for a new MP3 player. My iPod has just about bit the dust. I really only use my iPod while I jog but lately it won’t even work long enough for me to get through my usual jogging time and jogging without music is just really boring.

I’ve been pretty fortunate with my iPod, it has lasted five years, which is a lot longer than most iPods. But I decided I don’t want an iPod this time around, mainly because they almost all come with video and I don’t want to pay $200+ for a MP3 player because it has a video feature that I’m never going to use.

I got a lot of suggestions but wasn’t sure about any of them. Then one of my fellow Content Producers at Associated Content, Rissa Watkins, told me to check out Woot.com. If you’re not familiar with Woot.com they sell a lot of cool products but they only sell one special product every day. It is the only product you can buy that day but it’s usually a good product for a very good price.

It just so happened that on that day that Rissa read my post in the AC forums about looking for an MP3 player that she noticed Woot.com was selling a MP3. It went to check it out and sure enough they had a MP3 for just $9.99. Now this is a pretty dinky MP3 player. It only has 1 GB but that doesn’t really matter to me, I can’t listen to my entire music collection on one jogging trip anyway. All I really need is enough room for my Daily Audio Bible Reading, a couple of sermons and a few songs. It also doesn’t have a battery built in like the iPod, you have to use AAA batteries. But since I currently have a battery that is dying I kind of like the idea of having a battery I can change myself.

So anyway I figured this might not be the ultimate MP3 on the face of the earth or anything, but it’s good enough for my needs and it’s only $9.99. I decided to buy it and found out there is a choice of getting a blue one or a pink one. Unfortunately the blue were all sold out. So now I had a dilemma. Do I buy this MP3 for a really good price and carry around a sissy pink MP3 player or do I buy some other MP3 player. Well it turns out I’m cheap enough that I will be carrying a pink MP3 player.

Thanks to Rissa for the MP3 player help, everybody go to her Associated Content page and give her lots of page views.

Braves Love

After seeing the ESPN.com predictions for this year it seems like one of the trendy picks is to pick the Atlanta Braves in the National League. I’m not going to say that the Atlanta Braves won’t or can’t win the National League but it seems odd to me that they are liked so well. The Atlanta Braves finished only third last season and, on paper, they got worse. Although granted they probably underachieved last season also. There are plenty of reasons to not like the Atlanta Braves though so they are going to have to prove a lot. Here are the reasons I don’t think the Atlanta Braves can win the National League East.

Chipper Jones – If you go back to last year and look at Chipper Jones you’ll see that he actually had a very high batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage. He’s still hitting great and probably would’ve been a MVP candidate if he hadn’t missed 30 games. A lot of people are saying “If Chipper Jones plays 150 games he can be the MVP.” There’s just one problem, “if.” And that’s a big “if.” “If Chipper Jones plays 150 games” hasn’t happened since 2003.

Starting Pitching – Those picking the Atlanta Braves seem to think they have the best starting pitching in the National League. They’ll certainly be good, but I’m not sure they are that good. First of all John Smoltz started the season on the DL and while it’s not a major injury, any time your 40 year old ace is on the DL you have think a little bit more, “is he showing his age?” Tom Glavine on other hand is absolutely showing his age. Last season Tom Glavine had his third fewest number of wins and second higest ERA since 1989. Mike Hampton has looked great in spring training, but spring training means squat. Ultimately we’re talking about a pitcher that has pitched 12 games in three seasons.

Relief Pitching - I’ve heard in the last several weeks that the Atlanta Braves are looking to make a trade because their relief pitching is soooo deep. Okay, maybe they have a lot of middle relievers that could be valuable but they still don’t have a closer. Their current closer, Rafael Soriano, only has 13 saves in 22 opportunities in his career. Some will point out Mike Gonzalez is coming back this season but he’s never played an entire season as a closer. What good is their great middle relief if the closer is going to constantly be giving up the lead in the ninth? In fact, the Braves lost their opener last season on a ninth inning homerun. That could happen a lot this season.

Shortstop – There are people that know a lot more about baseball than me saying that the Braves’ new shortstop Yunel Escobar is going to be a stud so who am I to argue with them. But people are expecting way too much right away. Guys like Ryan Bruan and Ryan Howard have made people think that “sure thing” prospects are All-Stars right away but they are actually in the minority, not the majority. There are talented prospects every week coming up to the Major Leagues and falling flat on their face. Edgar Renteria batted .332 last season and was on his way to his third straight 100 run/70 RBI season before getting injured. Escobar isn’t going to be that good in his first season. That position is a downgrade in a division that has Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez and the reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins at that position on other teams.

Center Field – I know the popular belief is that Andruw Jones is overrated and he is. He’s gotten worse offensively, he’s gotten worst defensively, he’s overpaid, he strikes out a lot. There are a lot negatives. But Mark Kotsay? That is your replacement for Andruw Jones? Seriously? Even at Jones’ reduced play Kotsay is only about the tenth the player that Andruw Jones is. That’s another downgrade at a very important position.

Leadoff – The Braves are going to start this season with Kelly Johnson leading off and Yunel Escobar batting second? Wow. So basically Chipper Jones is going to have to hit about 80 solo homeruns to get to 120 RBI. Seriously though, how is Chipper Jones, even if he plays 150 games, supposed to be an MVP candidate when the three batters in front of him are the pitcher, a scrub and a second year player with very little experience. Actually, the starting rotation are pretty good hitters. Chipper will probably get more chances to knock them in than Kelly Johnson.

Bold Baseball Prediction

I know a lot of my faithful readers on this blog will probably be coming over here from Associated Content and most of those people are not fans of my sports articles, but my other articles. So I won’t bore you all with my season predictions for this upcoming baseball season, especially since my predictions aren’t a whole lot different from many others. There is one prediction that I’m going to make unlike anybody else. I’m taking a step out on the limb and making one very bold prediction. Here it goes:

2008 National League Cy Young = John Maine

Yes, I know it sounds crazy. Everybody is talking about the New York Mets acquisition of Johan Santana and the health of Pedro Martinez and John Maine at this point is an after thought, but I think it’s possible. Let’s take a look at the reasons.

Last Season - Last season at the All-Star break John Maine was 10 – 4 with a 2.71 ERA. Only three National League pitchers were having better seasons: Brad Penny, Jake Peavy and Chris Young. Maine struggled the second half of the season and ended up with only 15 wins and a 3.91 ERA. Maine’s second half struggles were talked about a lot but what people failed to mention was that there was a perfectly good reason. Before last season John Maine’s career highs were 15 games started and 90 innings pitched. Last season John Maine pitched 32 games and 191 innings pitched. He pitched a full 100 innings more than the previous season. Maine will be better prepared for a full season this year and he won’t falter in the second season like he did last year.

Offense – A lot of people are talking about Carlos Delgado’s injury and I’m certainly concerned but Delgado’s injury will not ruin the Mets offense. Last season Delgado didn’t hit, Beltran didn’t hit, Reyes played awful the last month of the season and the Mets were still the fourth best offense in the National League and two of the teams ahead of them (Philly and Colorado) have offense friendly fields. The Mets role players didn’t get nearly enough credit for playing well the past few seasons and they have plenty of offense for John Maine to win a lot of games. If Carlos Beltran hits like he did two years ago they can lead the league in runs.

Age -John Maine is still only 26 years old and during this seasons John Maine will turn 27 years old. What is significant about that? There is a popular theory in baseball that the age of 27 is when a player hits his prime. It’s possible that this year John Maine becomes an even better pitcher than last season.

Rotation – Last season the Mets didn’t have Johan Santana or Pedro Martinez. John Maine had never played a full season and was counted on to be the ace pitcher. This year John Maine only has to be the number three pitcher. That is a ton of pressure off of Maine, especially in a city like New York.

Bullpen – The Mets finished just one game out in division despite everything bad possibly happening to them. Two of those things were Duaner Sanchez being injured for the entire season and Aaron Heilman being ineffective. I doubt both of those things happen again this year. If the bullpen is better then that helps the starting pitching a great deal and if by some chance Heilman and Sanchez revert back to two years ago then the Mets don’t have to worry about their starters going more than 5 – 6 innings.

Bottom line is a John Maine was a 15 game winner last season. He’s likely to get better and more experienced. He has less pressure on him, the pitching will be better and he has plenty of offense behind him. I don’t think it’s impossible to think that all of those things can equal in 5 more wins than last year and a 20 win season easily puts you in the Cy Young race.

Associated Content Update

I think I’ve only mentioned Associated Content once or twice on this blog so maybe before I give another update I should actually tell you people what Associated Content is. Associated Content is a website that I write for and make a little cash on the side. I’ve written over 1,000 articles for them and made over $6,000. What I’m most proud of is that I have 793,000 page views, which is quite the accomplishment considering this blog has about 6 page views.

I was hoping to get 800,000 page views by the end of this month but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I still had my best month in four or five months though. I also had two articles hit the most popular page this week. The are The Most Addictive Video Games of All-time and The Longest Winning Streaks in Sports History.

So check out those articles and here are a few more of my favorites:
The History of Women Pirates
Worst Team Names in Sports
The Five Most Overlooked Verses in the Bible
Ranking Jennifer Connelly’s Movies
Best Wrestling Games at Madison Square Garden

333 Months

I have never understood why babies go by a different age system then everybody else. When a baby is born they are never a certain amount of years old, they go by months. Babies are never half a year old or 1 and a half years, they are six months or eighteen months old. Then suddenly at around 2 years old, they stop going by months. Why? Can people not count higher than 24? I think if babies are going to go by months then we all should. So everybody send me presents, because tomorrow I will be the big 333 months old. Yay me!

Unsolved Mysteries Episode 1

A few days ago on the Associated Content forums somebody brought up the age old question, “Why do people drive on a parkway and park on a driveway.” If you’ve been a long time user of the interweb you’ve probably heard this question and several other “burning questions”, like “why does Hawaii have interstates?” or “is there another word for Thesaurus?” People treat these questions like unsolved mysteries and there are numerous websites all over the web listing them. Of course if these people stopped making these websites and simply attempted to look for the answers then they would find it’s quite easy to find the answer.

Why do people park on a driveway? This is the easier of the two. Sure, eventually you park on your driveway (or maybe) in your garage. But driveways are called driveways because they are paths that allow you to drive from your street to your garage. That’s pretty easy to understand, I don’t know why this is such a “mystery.” Also, when driveways were first invented and the world was a lot less populated, houses were farther apart, yards were bigger and therefore driveways were much, much longer. So originally you drove on them for a lot longer than you drive on most driveways now.

Why do we drive on parkways. Well anybody who is familiar with the English language knows that some words have many different meanings. Yes, park can mean to leave your vehicle somewhere, but park also has 112 other definitions. The “park” referred to in parkway is referring to either the defintion of “an area of land, usually in a largely natural state, for the enjoyment of the public, having facilities for rest and recreation, often owned, set apart, and managed by a city, state, or nation” or “a considerable extent of land forming the grounds of a country house”. So a parkway would be a way to get from one to the other. You might think, well so and so parkway doesn’t connect two parky areas. But did it when it was first built? Maybe the non-park area was built after the parkway was already named a parkway.

So that is your lesson for the day.

Oh yeah, and interstates in Hawaii are called interstates because they are paid for by the same funds as other interstates and therefore are part of the network of national interstates.

And another word for Thesaurus is synonymicon.