Hairily, Hairily, I Say Unto You

Last month, one of my co-workers on our basketball email list relayed to us that when he was in college he and his roommates would avoid shaving their faces for The Manly Month of March. He then asked if any of us wanted to join him on this endeavor, in place of his roommates.

I'm always up to try something different, especially if it's silly. So about a half-dozen guys, including myself, are saving our razors for the month of March.

I must say though, that I am seriously glad that it will be over in a couple of days. Although I don't think you can really tell by the pictures (taken about a week ago), there is too much gray in the mix and it's just too scraggly for my liking.


Also, below is a picture of my still-present, but thankfully (and hopefully) fading bald spot that is a result of the cyst I had removed back in December.

Request for Recreational Ideas

My boss (actually my boss' boss) recently asked me if I'd be interested in coming up with some social ideas for our group at work. That was probably about a month ago, and I haven't done anything with it yet.

The catch is that there is no budget for this, and any activities will have to be off of the clock.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

• Retro Movie and Pizza Lunch, starting with the movie Tron (we'd all have to contribute $ for the pizza).
  
  
• Fica Fridays, at 3pm. Fica is a Swedish form of coffee break.
  
  
• Donut Day. This would consist of me bringing in donuts one day a week.
  
  
• BBQ at the park. There is a pretty nice park less than a mile from here that we could meet at for lunch, or perhaps after work for dinner - the families of the employees could meet there.
  
  
• Dart Tournament. This would require me obtaining a dart board (from Craigslist?) and getting it approved and installed somewhere at work. Tough perhaps, but still possible?
  
  
• Wednesday burger lunch. When we had a company that actually cooked in our cafeteria, our group would regularly meet for lunch on Wednesdays when they cooked burgers. They have been gone for a while now though, so this could resurrect the tradition by perhaps all going to Burger King, which is within walking distance.

I think I'm going to start with Fica Friday this week.

Any additional ideas or experiences that anyone out there in blogland is willing to share would certainly be appreciated.

Whose G-Spot is Bigger?

I read an interesting article the other day about scientists discovering specific regions of the brain that become active when people think God-oriented thoughts. The article called them "God spots" (got you with the title, didn't I?).

This led me to thinking that I would like to see a more extensive study performed, with scans of a variety of individuals, from a variety of religions, and with various levels of dedication to their religion. If you scanned the brains of a dedicated Buddist, a Muslim cleric, a Catholic priest, and a Christian pastor, would the size of their "God spots" vary? Or if you compared a Christian pastor to a normal Sunday Christian (someone whose faith is limited to church on Sundays), would their be a significant difference in activity for that portion of the brain?

I would think that the people who are professionals and/or are extremely proficient at certain tasks would have higher development in the areas of their brain that use that function. Examples would be artists, scientists, accountants, or even athletes.

If this is also true for spirituality, then perhaps having larger developed "God spots" would offer a scientific explanation to how some people could have greater capacity or ability for spirituality. They would have a greater ability to "hear" God (know His will), understand Biblical concepts, and exhibit more fruits (Galatians 5:22) and gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14) of the spirit.

The World Revolves Around...?

I was talking to a co-worker in the gym yesterday, and he was relaying his metaphor about the solar system and how life changes through various stages. I kinda liked it, so here it is:

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When you're single, you are the Sun, and everything revolves around you.

Then when you get married, you then become the Earth and your wife becomes the sun, because your world now revolves around her. In some ways good and others bad.

After you have kids though, you then become the moon - revolving around the Earth that now represents your wife. And you are both rotating around the kids (as the sun), which have become the center of your Universe.

And the glue that holds it all together is money.
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I like it all, that is, except the ending. In fact, I gotta say that the last part really sucks.

What if the money disappears? What if you lose your job, like so many people in America (or around the world) are experiencing right now? Then what happens - the family dissolves and the "planets" drift apart?

The glue that keeps it all together - the gravity of the whole system should be the one thing in life that is stable and unchanging - God.