Strengths Finder

The school recently had a group of directors and principals each read Strength Finder 2.0.
The premise is instead of trying to work on your weaknesses, you should concentrate on your strengths and build them up. For the last few years the school seems to be on a track to run more like a business. Coming from the business world myself I can see some pluses to that. However, the school is also a ministry and unfortunately there have a few instances where the scales have tipped toward business and away from ministry. In my opinion anyway. I'm getting off track here.

After reading the short book (27 pages in part 1. The rest are the 34 themes) you can get online and take a 30 minute test that will reveal your top 5 strengths and a plan of action to strength your strengths. They call them themes. A few of them are Achiever, Analytical, Deliberative, Focus, and others. The test pointed out these as my top 5:

Input - People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

Learner - People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

Connectedness - People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.

Harmony - People who are especially talented in the Harmony theme look for consensus. They don’t enjoy conflict; rather, they seek areas of agreement.

Intellection - People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.

That last one cracked me up. It goes a bit further:

Instinctively, you may select unusual words to describe your ideas or feelings. Perhaps your extensive vocabulary allows you to capture people's interest. Driven by your talents, you read to stimulate your mind, to broaden your perspective, and to explore familiar as well as unfamiliar subjects. Reading is a solitary activity, which is one of the reasons why you like it so much. You are quite comfortable being alone with your books and your thoughts. By nature, you sometimes use words, terms, or phrases that force people to stop and think in new ways. Chances are good that you think carefully about particular matters. You might enjoy reflecting on certain people and/or circumstances in your life. Perhaps you rely less on emotion and more on logic to draw reasonable conclusions about specific issues. You may tend to use your mind rather than your heart when critical judgments must be made. Sometimes you are most comfortable when you are alone with your thoughts. Maybe you have little need to be constantly surrounded by talkative people.

Hmmmm...I guess.

Jay Leno's Favorite Interviews

What Every Man Wants in Bed

I need one of these to find my Mojo. Yeah baby...

U2

I've never been an over-the-top fan of U2 but I've always loved their music. As Blue Eyes and I were getting ready to check our library books out this afternoon, this book caught my eye. I brought it home just in case the other 3 didn't work out.

Many of you know how much I love music so it should be no surprise that I enjoy reading about the ones who sing to us. I've read Jackson Browne's story, Marvin Gaye's biography , various Beatles biographies, the Eagle's autobiography and others.

I sat down this evening and started to read U2 By U2 and was immediately hooked. The only problem is the size and weight of the book. It's big enough to choke a mule. It's 12 and a half by 10, 352 pages, and weighs over 5 pounds. When I read I typically go through a series of body contortions trying to get comfortable. Sometimes I read laying down on one side then switch to the other. I'll sit, stand and sometimes I'll lay flat on my back and hold the book at arms length above me (a necessity at my age) . That's ok with a paperback but with this anvil of a book it can be dangerous. It slipped out of my hands and knocked me out cold. Blues Eyes walked in and thought I had fallen asleep. Sweet wife that she is, she drew the curtains and let me sleep for a while. After I regained consciousness, I returned to my reading.

Bono has this brilliant (my favorite word lately) quote at the beginning of the book:

I have heard of people having life-changing , miraculous turn-arounds, people set free from addiction after a single prayer... But it was not like that for me. For all that 'I am lost, I am found', it is probably more accurate to say 'I was really lost, I'm a little less so at the moment.' And then a little less and a little less again. That to me is the spiritual life. The slow reworking and rebooting of a computer at regular intervals, reading the small print of the service manual. It has slowly rebuilt me in a better image. It has taken years, though, and it is not over yet.

Can you better explain the Biblical doctrine of sanctification with a little geek-speak thrown in for good measure? I believe the man understands it.

Well, pass me the service manual and press Control-Alt-Delete.
I think I'm in need of a re-boot.
I'll keep you up to date as I work my way through this anchor.

Addison Update

Well, she's a week old and simply beautiful! Angela and Jonas are truly blessed with a good baby. It's very rare to hear her cry! I thought that I'd share some updated pictures with you.

Shame On Me

Fool me once (Oceans 12), shame on you.
Fool me twice (Oceans 13), shame on me.

Patti's review notwithstanding, don't bother.

Cereality Check

The concept behind Cereality is at once simple, comforting and familiar. The cereal bar and café serves up dozens of well-known hot and cold cereals. You choose the toppings you want then pour on the milk. (Like Starbucks & coffee or Coldstone & ice cream). The café got its start at Arizona State University in Tempe. A second one followed near the University of Pennsylvania campus and more are planned. Visit their website for more information. www.cereality.com

America! What a Country!

Trivia: The famous "Let Mikey try it" commercial aired from 1972 through '84. It was the longest-running commercial in television history.

East Side Story

Jets and Sharks rumble on the isle of Cyprus.

Good Funk, Bad Funk?

I've written about my funks before . Every once in while, out of nowhere I get depressed for no apparent reason. Nothing major. It only lasts day or so. I get really introspective and live in my head for a bit.

I've recently come across a very interesting article in Wired (a technology magazine of all places) that states it might not be a bad thing to not be happy all the time. It's titled Down With Happiness. You can read the whole thing here.

It touches on the different legal drugs that people turn to in order to stay happy. While certain people really do need these drugs to deal with serious mental illnesses, they write that "we risk medicalizing the human condition". It goes on:

From a distance, pleasure without fear or desire sounds pretty good. But in your grasp, it starts to feel less like paradise and more like soma. A species that shuts out adversity does not survive very long in a Darwinian universe. In the short term, humans with happy-making neural implants would cease to be interesting. Quenching feelings of hardship also means never feeling desire or want. Unpleasant as those emotions can be, they're also the basis for ambition and creativity. "Happy people are not ambitious," Greenfield says. "They do not build civilizations."

It ends with a grim warning:

Ultimately, the problem could be self-correcting. As rich Westerners buy all the happiness products they can jam into their brains, the developing world will be left blissfully productive. A good thing, because places like China and India have mighty new cities and wealth to build.

So. All this to say, next time you're in a funk, embrace it. It's part of the human condition.
Remember the words of Christ:

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Thank God for that.

Happy Father's Day!

This day we have been blessed with a new arrival to the family.

Angela and Jonas have delivered their first child at 3:41 AM.

Addison Jennifer Key

6 lbs. 14 oz. 20" long

What a GREAT Father's Day present... next year when Jonas gets a Tie.... it will just not be the same!

Saturday Morning Mellow Disco Jam

I watched a great Bee Gees documentary last night.
This is one of their best.

Millie: The Bee Gees live in Miami.
If you run into them, tell 'em the U-man says "Hey".

This one goes out to those open, silky shirt, disco kings of the 70's:
Chati, Ron and Tonz... and of course, Bill Teichman (Blue Eyes' brother), the Disco King himself.
Yeah, don't deny it boys. Don't make me pull out the pictures...

Best line:
Cause were living in a world of fools
Breaking us down
When they all should let us be
We belong to you and me

Oh Crap

"Disperse or you shall force us to hurl dung in your general direction!"

Apologies to Monty Python...

You're Unique . . . Just like everybody else.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 40 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

The First Annual

Cardona Father’s Day

Survivor Challenge - FLORIDA

Join in the festivities, this Sunday, June 18^th, as our Cardona fathers (and father to be!) battle it out for the ultimate title of “Surviving Father of the Year” for 2007.

Yes gentlemen, you will be faced with leading a team, chosen at random, through harrowing feats of danger and turmoil, as you strive to win the most immunity idols. He with the most toys wins!!!

Who will survive?….Who will conquer?….Who will win the most immunity idols?

Place: Camp Cardona at 121 Millholland Drive, Oakland

Time: 2pm

Items you may want to bring – Bathing Suits

Extra set of clothing

BBQ to follow

Ladies – You each have an assignment for the festivities. You will need to bring the following supplies for your husband’s team. The men’s team colors are as follows:

Dave: Blue

Ulyses: Red

Pop: Purple

Eric: Black

Jonas (Dad to be): Green

1. 3 White T-Shirts decorated with you husbands team logo/name

2. 3 Bandana’s of the same team color

3. 1 pair of pantyhose

4. 1 Playground kickball

"D'oh!"

I took the day off today to watch the little guy. We were driving down the street and I was trying to explain to him that there are times when you have to do things that you don't want to do. He's very stubborn. Don't know where he gets it

Anyway, I was telling him about a time when I had a job I hated. Every day I would get up hating this job but I did it because I had to. So I'm going into the details of why I hated this job so much and the boy stops me in mid-sentence and says with a smirk "Papa? Did you have hair then?"

I said "Be quiet boy and let me finish my story!" Jeeez... I guess he was going for the visual...

Boys, It's Time For That Exam

It's in Russian (?) but you get the picture:

Hot Fun In The Summertime

He's more goofy than his papa.
Now that's a scary thought.

Movie Reviews

I'm a little behind on my movie reviews. Sorry Rosie ;-)
We've seen two good ones in a row.
Last week we caught After The Wedding.
It was a foreign (Dutch), independent film and it was a brilliant piece of work.
Here's the snapshot:

Jacob Petersen has dedicated his life to helping street children in India. When the orphanage he heads is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer. A Danish businessman, Jørgen, offers him a donation of $4 million dollars. There are, however, certain conditions... Not only must Jacob return to Denmark, he must also take part in the wedding of Jørgen's daughter. The wedding proves to be a critical juncture between past and future and catapults Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life.

The acting was phenomenal. The script was sharp and believable.
There was a scene where one of the characters finds out they don't have long to live. As the scene plays itself out you come to see the hopelessness that people without Christ have to deal with as they face death. The character has an emotional breakdown while screaming "But I don't want to die yet!" Great movie. Check it out on DVD when it comes out.



Tonight we went back and forth between Oceans 13 and Waitress.
We enjoyed Oceans 11 but felt a little burned by how crappy 12 was so I was a little wary of Oceans. Waitress was playing close by so we caught that one.
The plot:

Jenna is unhappily married, squirreling away money, and hoping to win a pie-baking contest so, with the prize money, she'll have enough cash to leave her husband Earl. She finds herself pregnant, which throws her plans awry. She bakes phenomenal pies at Joe's diner, listens to old Joe's wisdom, tolerates her sour boss Cal, is friends with Dawn and Becky (her fellow waitresses), and finds a mutual attraction with the new doctor in town. As the pregnancy advances, life with Earl seems less tolerable, a way out less clear, and the affair with the doctor complicated by his marriage. What options does a waitress have?

It was quirky and I like quirky. The girl from Felicity stars in it (no, I don't watch Felicity. Blue Eyes enjoys it) and the real life story of one of the other actresses made the movie a little sadder.
Good night out...

New T-Shirt

I want one.

Overheard at Family Poker Night

"What are the Puerto Ricans doing watching NASCAR?
Ulyses

It's A Guy Thing

It's almost 10 minutes long. Except for the rule about never using a urinal when the adjacent urinals are occupied (You are free to use it. But you’re obliged to feel really, really uncomfortable when doing so.), this is 100 percent true.

Back me up guys.

Some People Just Do Not Know When to Stop!

It's All About The Beer

Class Hole

Is this what baseball has come to be? The guy should be on stage, not a baseball field. Take off your uniform and put on a clown suit.