Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3D TV Series 2008

Ok, I am a Star Wars geek. Here is a preview of a new 3D TV series that will debut in 2008. Thanks to Josh Griffen for posting this and for leading the way at theforce.net

Monday, May 28, 2007

Things I am better at than Golf

I went golfing today with my friends, Ed, Tim and Chris. It was blast. It was a great way to celebrate completing my last exam. Here are some pictures.




However, I also realized that I am not a very good golfer. I shot a 145. The funny thing about that score is that it is not my highest ever. It is not my lowest either. So Tim suggested that I should write about all the things I am better at than golf. Here is a brief list:

Writing, school, reading, volleyball, sleeping, eating, drinking, bicycling, eating, throwing a golf ball, tennis, running, walking, eating, sledding, football, basketball, softball, etc.

You get the idea, I am almost better at everything than golf. However, I still love the game and one day I will be good at it. At least good enough to get close to 100.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Chris Nickels Wedding

My friend, Chris Nickels got married today. It was a very nice wedding. Here is a (blurry) picture of the groom and me.


It was very nice to come home from my exam and spend sometime with friends celebrating Chris’s wedding. It was a very good day.

Thank for your prayers

Thanks to everyone that prayed for my PhD exam and me. Everything went great, meaning I felt I wrote a solid answer to the question. Thanks for all the support, prayers and cards that I received.

It will be about 2 weeks before I know the official results.

Here are some more pictures from my time on campus and driving home. I apologize for the blurred pictures, my phone is not so good, and I am not a good photographer.

CBN Building


Pat’s House


A fountain at the center of campus


Jay Gary and Jason Carthen who were taking all four PhD exams with me.


A sunset (I hoped it would be more pretty)

Friday, May 25, 2007

Comprehensive Exam

The few that read this blog may not know I am getting a PhD in Organizational Leadership with a major in Human Resource Development from Regent University. The basic structure of this program is 2 1/2-years of class work. Then you have to pass 4 comprehensive exams (topics are - Individual/Follower, Group/Organization, Dimensions of Leadership and a Research Question). After you pass all four, you can start your dissertation. The whole process takes between 3 1/2 to 7 years.

As I study for my last PhD exam (Dimensions of Leadership). I thought it would be fun to put some of the names I am memorizing into my blog. No guarantee that I will remember the theory that goes with each name(year).
Gilley, Eggland and Gilley (89)
Swanson and Holton (01)
Bandura (86, 97)
Stacey (01)
Bowen (75)
Maslow (54)
Alderfer (72)
Herzberg (59)
Vroom (64)
Adams (63)
House and Mitchell (74)
Lock (68)
Fishbein and Azjen (67)
Vaill (96)
Lewin (51)
Argyris (70)
Miles and Snow (78)
Invancevich and Matteson (02)
French and Raven (59)
Deutch and Coleman (00)
Ellis and Fisher (74)
Dunnette (76)
Dunn and Dunn (03)
Houle (61)
Knowles (78)
Brookfield (86)
Grow (91)
Confessore and Park (04)
Brooks and Brooks (99)
Merriam and Caffarella (99)
Dewey (16)
Valentine and Darkenwald (90)
Morstain and Smart (74)
Harvey (88)
Janis (72)
Davis (53)
Stewart, Manz and Sims (99)
Meyer (04)
Tuckman (65)
Wood (92)
Thompson (67)
Vroom and Drago (88)
Heifetz (94)
Gladwell (00, 03)
Baird and Weinberg (77)
Bennis (97)
Bass and Avolio (99)
Burns (78)
Greenleaf (77)
Heider (58)
McGregor (60)
House (76)
Hersey and Blanchard (69)
Fiedler (64)
Chaleff (95)
Depree (87)
Patterson (03)
Graem and Cashman (75)
Kouzes and Posner (02)
Bernerth (04)
Weisbord (78)
Morgan (97)
Burton and Obel (04)
Weick (69, 79)
Senge (90)
Littlejohn and Foss (05)
Eisenburg and Goodall (04)
Craig (99)
Hofstede (93)
Marquart and Engel (93)
Schein (92)
Niebuhr (51)
Yukl (02)
Ohio State Studies
Michigan Studies
Blake and Mouton (64)
Vroom and Yetton (73)
Spreitzer (95)
Green and Mitchell (79)
Wortman and Linsenmeirer (77)
Manz and Sims (80)
Jacobs (70)
Hickson (71)
Stodgill (74)
Johnson (97)
Weber
Handy (78)
Taylor
Ouchi
Argyris
Rogers (48)
Wlodowski (85)
Northouse (04)
Fayol(16)
Kotter (90)
Collins (01, 05)
Schnieder (87)

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Virginia Beach

Sounds exciting to be in Virginia, but I am stuck in a hotel room studying for my final PhD exam, which I take on Friday at 3:00pm. I thought it would be fun to share some pictures from the 5 ½-hour drive to Regent.

Above the truck is a road sign that reads “Winner Ave”. Honest it is there, my camera phone is only VGA.


Pretty Flowers


What it looked like most of the time outside my car window.


My favorite spot of the whole trip – The Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I love driving on this bridge; it feels like you are in the middle of the water.

Then I like to stop on the bridge at the rest stop to stretch and watch the water up close. Here is the fishing pier.


This is the classroom building of Regent University where I will be taking my test.


Since you endured my rambling driving log, here is a definition of leadership:
Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. – Northouse (2004)

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Ok Go Treadmill Video

Thanks to Uthstuph.com for sending me this video. It is pretty awesome. Plus it is a good song.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End Official Trailer

The actual trailer for the movie.

Pirates 3: At World's End New Featurette -

Here is the next big movie for the summer. I believe this will be bigger than Spiderman. I predict it will make between 140 and 150 million dollars this weekend. It should beat Spiderman 3 weekend record. What do you think?

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Shrek Movie Review

Ok, I did not see the movie yet, in fact I cannot see many of the movies I would like to see due to the pace of life, and the need to study for school. However, I do read reviews about movies so that I can have a general idea about the movie and then decide if it is one I should see.

Christianity Today has one of the best movie sites and I really appreciate their movie review policy. Here is their review of Schrek 3. Tell me what you think of the movie and their review.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Shrek 3 Trailer

Here is the next big summer movie to hit the screens on Friday. It will not be as big as an opening at Spiderman 3, but it will stay along time.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, adopted mothers and other types of mothers in the world. I also wish a special dose of God's love & grace for all the women for whom Mother's day is painful, whether it is a reminder of a loss of someone dear, or the frustration of not being a mother or some other sadness. May God and the church comfort you.

We had a great day with my wife's parents. We had a clam bake, which included shrimp, lobster tail, clams, corn on the cob, a chicken leg, carrots and potatos. It was very enjoyable to be with family.

Now I must turn my attention to my final PhD exam which I take on May 25th. I may not be blogging much until it is over, unless I find a way to study while blogging. Hmmm, maybe I will post some of my notes to keep it interesting.

Friday, May 11, 2007

How Rich Are You?

I noticed this link (Global Rich List) on Jim's blog. It is facinating and very informative. So click on over and see how rich you are compared to the world. Thanks Jim for the blog idea.

Also, you should visit Jim's blog often because the man takes amazing pictures and is in the middle of taking one picture a day for 365 days.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

How Beautiful

Please go and watch this video of a normal looking woman being transformed into a billboard goddess. It is amazing. The quote at the end is right on. (Thanks to Bettie Ann for sharing this video.)

campaignforrealbeauty.com

Star Wars

Thanks to the folks at digg.com for pointing me to this story - Click here to learn more about Lightsabers work. Be sure to click to page 3 for practical purposes of the lightsabor - great pictures.

I personally think Mace Wandu's lightsaber is the best, because I like purple.

Monday, May 7, 2007

Princeton, part 2

Every Wednesday of the Princeton Forum on Youth Ministry is a half day. It is a great time to explore the local area. This year, Shawn and I went to New York City (we were met there by Dale and saw my friend Jeff). It was a great trip, aside from trying to find a parking spot at Princeton Junction, which there were none, so we returned to Princeton and took the “Dinky” (only lost an hour with that miss adventure).

Here are some of the highlights - Visited Times Square.


Then we stood outside of the David Letterman Studios to see Drew Barrymore. She was late and so she ran from her Suburban to the studio.



Then we went to the top of Rockefeller Plaza. I did not know it had the best view of the city (only $17.50). I could have sat there all day and soaked in the view. Unfortunately, my cell phone died so no pictures. At the bottom, Shawn and I bought a pocket charger for my phone. It actually worked.

Then we saw Spamalot. A musical I have desired to see since it opened. We bought standing room only tickets for $21.50. It was great. One of the funniest shows I have seen. I loved it.


I love NY.

More pictures are available on my Facebook thanks to Dale.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Spider Man 3 Full Trailer

Here is the first trailer, Spiderman 3. It is a great trailer, vengence, evil, revenge, asking for help and forgiveness - very biblical.

Summer Movies Blockbusters

This past week my favorite edition of Entertainment Weekly came to my house. It is the summer movie preview edition. Now, I love movies. I could see everyone one of these movies if money was no object, but since it is, I don’t. However, I still love to read about them and I have a few must see. Now I am a little bit of a move snob. When I must see a movie, it is usually on opening day at 12:00noon and it has to be at a theater with stadium seating.

Here is a fun game. Let us try to predict the top ten highest grossing movies of the summer. So play along – here is my top ten list. (I hope to post some trailers soon).
1. Pirates of the Caribbean – At the World’s End
2. Spiderman 3
3. Shrek 3
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
5. The Transformers
6. Ratatouille
7. Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer
8. Ocean’s Thirteen
9. The Bourne Ultimatum
10. The Simpsons Movie

Please give me your top ten.

Princeton - Youth Ministry forum

This week, I am attending the Princeton Seminary Forum on Youth Ministry. It is really a good conference with a major focus on theology. It is always very challenging.

There are many highlights, but the best is to see some good friends like Dale, Leslie and Becky. The conversations are priceless. This year I got a big surprise by running into an old friend that I have not seen in at least 15 years. Shawn Coons is here! It is so good to reconnect with him and catch up on our lives with each other. God is so good to arrange meetings like this.

It will reflect more this event later in the week.

CPR & AED

This Saturday I got certified in CPR and AED, which means I can now save a life. My church sponsored the training to make sure staff and volunteers know CPR incase we ever needed to us it. I also receive the extra training for using our new AED, which is one of those heart shockers things. So am now certified to restart someone’s heart with electricity.

By the way, did you know that they changed how you do CPR? It is now 2 breathes and 30 compression five times. It’s true, I have a card to prove it.

I believe every youth pastor should be certified in CPR, do you?