Here are 10 of my favorites:

#1.  An “I Voted” sticker is the unequivocal best accessory of all time.

#16. Nader supporters will.

#21. “Whether we like politics or not, politicians are running our lives. They decide issues of war and peace, whether we’ll have jobs, whether we can afford a good education, the quality of our environment, and whether we and our loved ones will be able to afford quality health care. How can we possibly choose not to care? ” -Jerry Springer

#96. It’s so easy, even old people can do it. And they do. In 2004, only 47 percent of people age 18 to 29 voted; 73 percent of people age 65 to 74 did. Are they voting for the person you want to win?

#190. More than 1.1 million people will apply for legal U.S. citizenship this year—an all-time high. While those immigrants wait to enjoy the rights of that citizenship, we have all of its privileges now.

#202. As the “leaders of the free world” we seriously lag when it comes to voter turnout, and not just behind our friends in Western Europe, who have us by about 20 percent. Despite major suppression and violence, and an almost-total boycott by Sunnis, Iraq still turned out a higher percentage of voters than we did last time around. And Malta turned out 93 percent of voters in its last election—that was a down year.

#784. You voted for prom queen at your school. Ditto season two of American Idol.

#1521. The previously irrelevant town of Obama, Japan (population 32,000), wants to maintain it’s high Google ranking and booming tourist trade.

#1552.  You get to see the inside of some municipal facility you’d never otherwise visit.

#1554. The United States has scared the crap out of the world, and with a major change, we just might be able to rectify the damage done to our reputation and standing in world affairs.

I’m learning the joys of owning a home. My to-do list is never ending. But we love the house. I’m just anxious for all the boxes to be gone. Or to at least have one room in the house where I can sit and not see something that needs unpacked.

We won’t have internet til next week and I plan on updating more then. Right now I’m at Panera Bread and Megan is ready to go so that’s it for now!

The CTR community has been incredibly encouraging to us and it is so good to have their blessing as we go. We feel that in a way we’re being sent out from here. Words on the screen hardly do it justice.

But I’m incredibly excited about starting at Imago Dei and getting to work closely with good friends. I’m overwhelmed with the goodness that God is showing me…I don’t deserve to have a job that I love so much. 

Thanks to everyone in the Appleton area who has been a part of our lives for the past 3 years. Stay in touch.

Grace and peace.

I have never been accused of being an organized person. My desk is usually cluttered, my calendar isn’t up to date and my to-do list (if I even have one) is on random scrap pieces of paper. With the big move coming up in a month there is a lot to keep track of at work and personally. It gets a bit overwhelming at times and feels like I have so much to do but don’t know what to do next.

So in light of being in a stage of major life transition plus knowing that working at a church plant means juggling many things at once I’ve been on the lookout for organization/productivity tips. I came across this video of Randy Pausch’s “Time Management” lecture. Now that doesn’t sound too exciting at first but this guy’s story is pretty inspiring. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the video of his “Last Lecture” gained a lot of buzz online last year. He gave that lecture after he had been diagnosed with cancer and only had a few months to live (he just died a few days ago). It’s well worth your time if you haven’t seen it. Just good philosophies for life.

This “Time Management” lecture was also given after his diagnoses. It’s just as good but much more practical in nature. If you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day- take the time to watch this. I like his approach because it’s not ultimately about “getting more things done in less time” but rather- using your time wisely so you have time for things that really matter like family and friends. It’s a little over an hour long but it doesn’t feel like it. Skip ahead to about the 12 minute mark when he actually starts the lecture. And I would suggest watching it on Google Video so you can make it full screen.

The changes this inspired for me:

• Started using Remember The Milk for to-do lists. It not only lets you put due dates on tasks but it lets you give each task a priority and then sort your list by priority. That’s something most to-do list apps miss. You can have multiple lists in your account (work, personal, etc.) Plus there’s tons of other features and it’s free.
• Integrated RTM with my Google Calendar and GMail account. Now I can see and manage tasks right on my calendar or in my e-mail.
• Cleaned my desk.
• Cleaned out my e-mail inbox down to zero. (Check out Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero method for a more in-depth look at e-mail management.)
• Started to pause a few times a day for task managment. This seems like it takes more time at first, but in the long run it’s a big time saver.

Now the real trick will be making habbits out of these things. I’ll report back in a few weeks on how it’s going. (a to-do item right there!)