birthday parties

Yes, yes, but people want to know how many...

...oh, right. There it is...

Aw, those tricky candles that won't go out!


Now then, don't forget to look below for other photos from the other parties (including the big day, IF i can get that one...)

30

30...
I feel 20. I certainly don’t feel old. There is a sense of refreshment, vitality and passion for life, bearing fruit in activity, duty and honor to serve and show compassion and love to this world.

I believe this is because I follow God where He leads me, that my heart is strong and young because I seek to be a man after God’s own heart, which means I want to have the same heart as God.
God’s heart loves people and all the rest of his creation. His heart is pure. His heart is infinitely large. His heart is true.
I can only pray that moment after moment I can be molded, fashioned and transformed more like that, to not only see the beauty I could not before, but heal the damage done to those who walk this world and are hurting, to be hands that serve, arms that carry, a back that holds, legs that walk the extra mile, and feet that ache so that others no longer have to.
I am a child. I trust in my heavenly Father. Jesus is my way, my truth – he IS my life.

AND I AM ALIVE!!!


I like life. It's kind of fun. A roller coaster now and then. Scenery's not so bad either.

Birthday stories for me???

Hello, for my birthday this year I was wondering if you could write back something short with one of the following:
a way in which I might have blessed or served you, a way you have seem me grow or helped you to grow, and/or a time that was meaningful for our friendship or working together.
BONUS: you can remind me of a funny story about me or something we've done together! :-)

Thanks. As part of turning 30 I want to make sure to reflect on my life.

I'll write more Saturday (the 'big' day), but to drop a note I have to say I feel like I'm 20. I don't feel like a great deal of time has passed since high school and college even though I know it has. This fact bewilders me, but it is true. Much love to you all

This is my Friday night party

which i catered instead of cooking for 60

mostly my local friends

maybe students or teachers or other

from my time here in Indonesia

Reading between the lines

Rank School Total 5-star 4-star 3-star Avg.# Total
commits Stars Points

1 Florida 24 4 11 8 3.75 2,597
2 Tenn. 27 5 7 14 3.59 2,461
3 Texas 22 2 14 5 3.77 2,439
4 LSU 24 0 16 7 3.63 2,182
5 Notre D 18 1 12 5 3.78 1,982
6 USC 13 4 8 1 4.23 1,943

Let me help out a little bit so you understand what I'm talking about and why.
1) You have total number of recruited high-school football athletes receiving available scholarships (commitments).
2) from this pool of "commits" they are then ranked as 5, 4 or 3 stars. (I suppose the good schools don't "waste" their time with lesser ranked players).
3) this ranking then finds the average number of stars, and multiplies times the total # of commits to give a total point value.

All in all, "Total Points" is a meaningless statistic. If I recruited more players, then I will have a higher score. Who cares?
Tennessee has 5 "5-star" recruits, Florida and USC 4 each. The total number of 5-star players for the top 25 schools listed on the chart I got this from was 23. That means the top 3 schools had 13/23, leaving just 10 more for the remaining 22 schools.

USC basically said, "We're going to get the best players we can find and recruit them. If they don't meet up to our standards then we won't use a [expensive] scholarship on them at this time."

Clearly, in the scheme of things two things become apparent:
1) These schools have and will continue to dominate the college football scene for a while.
2) These are all people's opinions of high school athletes, and are, to a degree, not that scientific.

I am curious, though, what is the average GPA and SAT score for these schools, comparing their incoming athletes vs. general standards for the rest of the student body?

medium short

but i am still tall



perhaps one day i'll even smile. :-)

poetic license

aren't artists supposed to have long hair or something?
BUT, everytime I let it grow, people tell me to cut it back or even buzz it.
So. you decide. Longer? Long as now? Medium like the photo of me in the yellow jersey (or the italy one back in May or June). Or Buzzcut short?

Vote now. And make sure the turnout is better than the apple vs. PC one. Or I'll just let it grow... Or not. :-)

Happy New Year!!!

and my 100th post anniversary :-)