africa

The year was 2001. I found myself sitting in the middle of a little church in the middle of a little village in the middle of nowhere in Kenya, Africa. We were miles from electricity. The church was a small building made from sticks and mud. With the exception of a few people, everyone was standing because there was not enough room to sit. A decent-sized group of people stood outside, listening through the windows. About 45 minutes into the church service, my guide/interpreter gently elbowed me in the side.

Today is my annual clean-up day: the day that I clean up a ton of the messes I’ve made throughout the year. Here’s how I spent my day. I encourage everyone to take a day to focus on these tasks also. You’ll feel a lot less encumbered when the new year smacks you in the face.

target

Attention all you haters out there: Yes, I love Black Friday. Is it stupid to wait in line for 3 hours to save $20 on a muffin maker that I didn’t really need to buy in the first place? Yes. I don’t care. Black Friday is the #2 people-watching event of the year (#3 if your city hosts a county fair). That’s what it’s all about, really. I’m betting that most of you know the ins and outs of Black Friday; but, here are a few ideas for you Black Friday rookies out there:

cigbud

So, I’ve analyzed the cost of a few of my bad habits. Let’s take a look at the bad habits of you other heathens.

1.) Smoking

Admittedly, I haven’t really paid attention to the price of cigarettes ever. Holy smokes! Those little cancer sticks are expensive! Let’s look at a couple scenarios:

fatfatfatty

Hi, my name is Josh. I’m addicted to Ghirardelli brownies. Also, Ben and Jerry’s and vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic. So, I was wondering, “In addition to losing the respect of society, how much does this stuff cost me?” Let’s find out!

1.) Brownies.

wcagls

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I spent today at the Willow Creek Assocation Global Leadership Summit (well, at one of the many simulcasts thanks to St. Stephen andParamount Baptist Church). Good times. If my math is correct, there were 1,926,724 great ideas discussed. Here’s my synopsis of a handful of those. I’d be more thorough, but I think I got carpel tunnel due to frantic note-writing. I’ll break it down by speaker.

Today is my annual clean-up day: the day that I clean up a ton of the messes I’ve made throughout the year. Here’s how I spent my day. I encourage everyone to take a day to focus on these tasks also. You’ll feel a lot less encumbered when the new year smacks you in the face.