Random Thoughts 12/14/11

• This is our church's last regular Wednesday Family Night of the year.  Next week is our Christmas program (the non-Christmas Eve Christmas Eve service on December 21).
• We're still playing basketball at Wallula at 8:30 on Wednesday nights.  We might even play next week.  Come join us!
• Is there an inverse correlation between how nice you are and how good a college football coach you are?  It seemed to be true of the likeable Turner Gill.  Let's hope it applies to Charlie Weis.
• How about taking four or six power naps each day instead of sleeping at night?  That's called a polyphasic sleep cycle and you can read about it here.  As noted in the article, most college students do a version of this by only sleeping half a night and then taking a 90 minute afternoon nap.  I know that's what I did.
• I've often said that three-quarters of my counseling load is a by-product of alcohol.  Drinking caused the problems, exacerbated the problems, or is just lurking there ominously like a powder keg.  Well, now I've settled on another, much deeper, cause of problems: Daddy-issues.  I don't like that particular term, as such, because it sounds patronizing; the problem is, specifically, poor and/or absent fathering.  The way fathers can mess up their kids has a much more direct connection to today's problems than alcohol; alcohol is often a symptom rather than the problem itself.  Bad fathering is often the real problem.  And firm, consistent, wise fathering is profoundly helpful to people as they deal with life.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars officially have a new owner.  Supposedly, he's going to keep the team in Florida.  But the NFL wants a team in Los Angeles.  If the Vikings don't go, the Jags are extremely likely to transfer no matter what the official line is.
• No KU basketball until next Monday.  This seems like it's taking forever!
• Eli snooped in his mother's purse and found some Christmas stocking stuffers.  The little twerp got read the riot act by his mother and now the gifts are going back to the store.   I'm thinking of making him take them back to customer service himself.