A few weeks ago, Capri tweeted that she was "Spreading the Love". She was referring to paying bills.

Tonight, I sat down to "spread some love" and I got to thinking. I know it sounds weird, but I really like paying bills. I was trying to figure out what it is that I like about it. It's not that I like giving away my money to the man. I think, I just like the feeling of accomplishment when I can see in Money that a balance is almost paid off and there is a minor explosion from the joy volcano inside me when we pay someone off completely.

A little bit of disclosure here... Our family is digging our way out of debt. This isn't a new thing. It is a battle that has been going on for several years now. Slowly, we are moving towards becoming debt free. If you live debt free, congratulations. I commend you. If you don't, maybe you feel the same burden that I do and maybe you have that same eruption of elation when you take another step towards being free.

I don't really mind the mortgage, but aside from that, I dream of the day when we are not limited financially by debt. It's not that I want to buy more stuff, a nicer car, or a bigger house. I want to be free to give my money away to whomever I want. I want to be in a position where if I felt lead to I could fund drilling a well for some people that need clean water on my own.

Are you debt free? If not, what would you do differently if you were?

Labels: debt, freedom, money

The Nike: Fate commercial was picked as one of the top five commercials of 2008 by adage.com. I agree. I love this commercial. It doesn't really make me any more likely to go out and purchase some new Nike shoes, but I love the idea. I get chills when I watch it. I also found out that the director of this commercial was the director of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'.

You can see the other five commercials here.

Labels: advertising, football

Seems like this year there is a lot of music being given away for free. Here's what I have found...

The free songs on iTunes recently all have been holiday themed. I keep up with them by subscribing to freeitunessongs.blogspot.com. They post a blog entry for each new song/video being given away on iTunes with a link to the place in iTunes where you can download it. iTunes gives away a couple songs a week even when it is not the holiday season.

Amazon is giving away a free song everyday leading up to Christmas. The good part is that you don't have to go there every day to get your song. I just went and downloaded the first twenty-three songs today. Amazon is also giving away a holiday sampler, which consists of five songs. You can get that here.

I also got twenty free songs from the Apple Students group on Facebook. You may still be able to get that here.

Have you found any other free music recently?

Labels: music

In my last post, I talked about contacting a guy at Water for the Oppressed, which is an organization providing clean drinking water for people in Zambia. The guy I was contacting is a friend-of-a-friend of Jonathan Gould. I wasn't sure that this guy would be able to help me directly, but I was hoping that at the very least, he would be able to put me in contact with someone who could help me.

I emailed C.W. Bing before I went to bed last Thursday night. When I checked my email on Friday, he had already responded. I was surprised how quickly he was able to get back with me.

It seems that Mr. Bing will not be able to help me with his organization, Water for the Oppressed. However, it turns out that aside from founding and running their own organization, Mr. Bing and his wife also work for Living Water International. He is the Director of East African Development for Living Water International, which means he is in charge of drilling wells in countries like Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

In his response, he asked for more details on the location I was hoping to have the well drilled. He made it seem like it would not be a problem for him to help, which is awesome, but scary.

In case you are wondering where I am trying to get a well drilled, it is here and if you want to know more about the people that I want to drill a well for, you can find some general information on them here.

Labels: activism, africa, water

I wrote an email to Water For The Oppressed tonight. It's an organization that Jonathan Gould told me about. They have connections to Raleigh/Cary.

I have mixed feelings about it. It is exciting to think about what it could lead to, but it is also scary. I've been comfortable with my dream being a dream, but now that I am taking steps towards making it a reality, that scares me.

I can be risk averse when it comes to me potentially failing. I am also great with coming up with ideas, but horrible with following-through on those ideas. So, if you could pray for me to be a risk taker and for me to be someone that follows through, that'd be great.

Labels: activism, africa, water

Barack Obama has been named Time's 2008 Person of the Year.

Even if you were not an Obama supporter, you should check out the Person of the Year feature on their web site.

They have section a for the Runners-Up (Henry Paulson, Nicolas Sarkozy, Sarah Palin, Zhang Yimou), another section for People Who Mattered, which I really enjoyed, a section called Fond Farewell for those that passed away this year, and a section called Pictures of the Year. Some of the Pictures of the Year were amazing.

The feature was great because there were a lot of news stories that were trumped by the Olympics, the election, and the failing economy. This was a great reminder of a lot of the other stories of 2008. I highly recommend clicking through the articles.

If you check it out, come back and let me know what your favorite part was.

Labels: news

"I love technology." -Kipland Ronald Dynamite



HT: Chris Marlow

Labels: technology, video

This was a jammed packed weekend. Here's the run down and a few pics from a long the way...

Thursday night, I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 2:30AM with a jacked up stomach. I felt really dizzy, had some terrible nausea, and had an expressway open for all food headed towards the south exit. It was not a good rest of the night and Friday didn't get much better. By Friday afternoon, after having done little more than lay on the bed, couch and my office floor. I was feeling a little better.

Friday night, we had the Lavins' Christmas Party on the Calendar. This is always a great time. Aside from great company, the party features a plethora of sweets made by Erin and some home brew from Matt. I went to the party having not eaten much all day. Luckily, my stomach bug had cleared up and I was able to enjoy some tasty treats and even a beer or two. I really enjoyed hanging out with the Lavins, Leffingwells and Hemps. We should probably do that more.





Saturday, I played basketball in the morning. In the afternoon, I helped Jeramie with some prep work for his nursery project. Then, in the evening we went to Alamance County for the Hayes Family Christmas party. The family party was good. I shared some hardy laughs at the dinner table with the Alstons and Rays. Then, I caught up with what's been going on with a couple of my cousins later on.

Sunday was another packed day. The Visio Dei service was great. Tim Condor from Emmaus Way spoke in Jeff's absence. His talk was good and I really liked how he got the audience involved at one point. After the service, Daniel and I took our boys and the oldest three Ramsey kids to McDonalds for some lunch and time on in the play area while the ladies attended a volunteer luncheon. Daniel and Shannon Plus Five didn't go too bad.





Sunday afternoon was spent cleaning and prepping for our annual Christmas party. We spent the evening with some great friends. We shared a meal, some laughs and a beer or two. It was a good time. I hope our next house can accommodate more of our friends for parties and such.

It was a great weekend, but there was little down time. I feel like I need an extra to get some rest. Oh, well. Here come's Monday.

Labels: indiscriminate

I know you may be wondering what happened to me and/or my blog. Well, I'm still here and my blog is, too. It is getting a new coat of paint and will be back better than ever soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to give you a gift. A fellow blogger said, "This will change your life." I say if this doesn't get you in the holiday spirit, nothing will.

Enjoy.

Labels: christmas, music, video

Labels: christmas, video, youtube