PRICELINE.COM: GEN X MARKETING GENIUSES?

Have you seen those pop ads that Priceline.com has been using for a while now? They pop up like a regular ad, but they are games you can play. When you click on the game to play a new window opens up and takes you to Priceline, but you can continue to play the game in the window. The game looked fun and lured me into playing! I just minimized the new Priceline window and returned to my game. The games that I've seen are water dunking, baseball, golf, etc...

I guess for all of us "Gen X" 80's & 90's video game addicts this could be a somewhat effective approach. It got my attention and even got me to write about it on my site. So, I might as well go all out and direct you to the site of Priceline.com. Here you go - click here to go to www.priceline.com!.

These people should pay me big money for this...

P.S. Those other ads that companies are using that cover up the whole screen or float around on top of the page you are trying to look at (i.e. Monster.com) DRIVE ME CRAZY!! Can you say "INVADING MY SPACE?!?"

MATRIX/NARCOLEPSY/RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME/NEW BOOK/VALPO INTERVIEW

Just returned home from watching The Matrix Reloaded @ the IMAX. 2nd time seeing it, but this time much larger and louder! Went with a couple of friends who found it necessary to continuously poke fun at me during the movie in the midst of my attempts to mimic someone with narcolepsy. I don't know what my deal was tonight, but I was so TIRED! I must've fallen asleep at least 6 times. I guess I'm getting old...

Have you ever had a weird sensation in your foot or leg where you feel like it's so restless that you just have to shake it or move it around? I had that all night tonight. It was really weird. I think they call it "restless leg syndrome" or something like that. Just a sec - I'm going to Google that phrase... Ok - check this out:

Restless Leg Syndrome
Restless leg syndrome was described as early as the 16th century but was not studied until the 1940s. People with RLS complain of an irresistible urge to move their legs while at rest. A person with RLS will experience a vague, uncomfortable feeling while at rest that is only relieved by moving the legs. The symptoms of RLS may be present all day long, making it difficult for an individual to sit motionless. Or they may be present only in the late evening. Late evening symptoms can lead to sleep onset insomnia, which tends to compound the effects of RLS. Pregnancy, uremia, and post-surgery conditions have also been known to increase the incidence of RLS. And, surprisingly, fever seems to decrease it.

Although one study found RLS to be most prevalent in middle-aged females, its incidence increases with age.

Restless leg syndrome is estimated to affect 5% of the population. Approximately 80% of people with RLS have PLMD, though most people with PLMD do not experience RLS.

Oh Lordy!!!!

Ok - that's weird. I don't get that very often - maybe once every year or so. So, I'm going to ignore the symptom and just move on with my life.

Started reading a new book tonight - Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. I'll post a review about this when I'm finished. I heard Mr. Lencioni speak a couple of months ago and he was great. Part of the reason I enjoyed him so much was his apparent A.D.D. issue, which I can so clearly relate to. (If you doubt that, just read some of my posts...)

Well enough nonsense. I'm off to bed. I'm being interviewed tomorrow by a college student from Valparaiso University in Indiana for her theology class, so I better get lots of sleep so I don't look like the leader of a cult in the morning.

Goodnight.

FREE DOG!

Another dog that needs a home!

We obviously can't take the dog, but maybe you know of someone looking for one. My neighbor is looking for a good home for a very special dog. He said it's really lovable and friendly with kids, but his wife said the dog makes her nervous when it stares at her and she wants it out of the house. Kind of weird, I know...

Anyway, here's a picture. Tell me what you think.

COOL NEW FEATURE!

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FRIENDS & ER

Well, tonight is the "big" night for all of us "Friends" & "ER" fans!!! Season premiere for both shows. So please, don't call me, show up at my house (unless you want to watch with us!) or even look my direction from 7-8pm or 9-10pm Central Standard Time.

Thank you.

PARENTAL FRUSTRATION?

Ever feel like doing this to your child? Just kidding!!! :)

COMMENTS!

I've noticed that my "comment" feature is currently down. It appears to be an issue with the company who I use for my "comment" capability. Hopefully it will be up again soon. Save your comments somewhere and be sure to check back!

Thanks!!

THE PROOF IS IN THE LIVING

From the Brian McLaren article mentioned below. Check out the entire article here.

"Why, in a Christian subculture served by 24-hour Christian radio-TV, bathed in books and periodicals of unparalleled quality and quantity, instructed by a state-of-the-art seminary system, and inspired by a state-of-the-heart worship music industry … why are so few of our good Christian people good Christians?

Why is Prozac needed by so many? Why are the most biblically-knowledgeable so often so mean-spirited? Why are our pastors dejected so often? Why do our speakers (both human and electronic) have to blare so loudly to get a response, and even then, why is the response so shallow or temporary?

That discontent may be the ending point for many of us, but it is the starting point for our brothers and sisters of the emerging culture. If Christianity doesn't bear fruit in a way or rhythm or pattern of life that yields Christ-likeness in real measure, they aren't interested. Being "saved" is suspect if people aren't being transformed."

Oh man! I love this! It’s so stinkin’ convicting, yet something about it just seems right.

“Why do our speakers (both human and electronic) have to blare so loudly to get a response, and even then, why is the response so shallow or temporary?”

Could the answer to this be partly because the speakers are blaring the “right” message the "wrong" way? Or maybe the “right” message has been so heavily influenced by wrong thinking and/or the twisted opinions of man that it has become the “wrong” message? Or, maybe the problem is that the “speakers” have been doing nothing but “speaking”.

One of the things that I pick up from my readings and experiences with our emerging culture is a strong belief in the old adage that says, "talk is cheap". Lots of talking and little living. Or, our (referring to much of the church) actions have been blanketed with harsh, judgmental attitudes. Sort of the “get right, then you can join us” attitude. So opposite of the attitude of Jesus when He walked this earth.

It seems that people are not so much interested in the “proof” of the Bible, Jesus, etc… as much as they are in whether or not it’s "right" for them. For many in the 80’s & 90’s, apologetics were they key. "Prove the Bible is true, or prove that Jesus really was the Son of God and I will believe." Now it seems that our postmodern culture is not so much interested in the "proof" as much as they are interested in whether or not it is something that they believe will really need or want.

Which leads to this convicting question: When a seeker looks at me, do they want to become what I am?

One more thing... I think that what they want to see in us, as Christians, is not "perfection" or "unapproachable" living. It's authenticity, honesty and a willingness to admit that we too, as Christ followers, have questions and sometimes struggle too - while at the same time living in the grace and power of Christ.

Your thoughts?!

NEMO HAS BEEN FOUND!

Click here!

EMERGING VALUES

I ran across a great article today by Brian McLaren, author of More Ready Than You Realize and The Church on The Other Side.

I am going to tear apart this article and comment on it over the next few days because I really think there are a LOT of great "nuggets" of truth for churches and church leaders who desire to impact our culture with a relevancy so rarely found in our hungry communities.

From the article:

Another moment came in the early '90s. I had left college teaching to pastor a church. A newcomer to our church, a spiritual seeker, highly educated, highly motivated, and highly skeptical of easy answers was asking tough questions, I was giving (thanks to C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, and Josh McDowell) my best apologetics-informed replies, and I wasn't getting through.

My linear Liar-Lunatic-or-Lord arguments, either-or propositions, and watertight belief system didn't enhance the credibility of the gospel for my new friend; rather, they made the gospel seem less credible, maybe even a little cheap and shallow.

_______________________________________________________________________________

I thought the word "missional" was awkward when I first heard it. My spell-checker still tries to correct it. But the word is here to stay, subsuming and replacing more familiar adjectives like missionary, evangelistic, and socially active. Mission in this sense includes missions, and more. It brings together evangelism and social action, "home" and "foreign." It integrates Christian concerns that range from racial reconciliation to ecological stewardship, doing good works and doing our daily work with goodness (which is an underrated fruit of the Spirit).

Old categories merge in what I believe is a radical shift in our theology, from a system in which "missions" is one department of theology, to a new place where theology is one department of mission.

I was once talking with Dallas Willard about Islam. He dropped this little thought virus: "Remember, Brian, in a pluralistic world, a religion is valued by the benefits it brings to its non-adherents." The virus has taken hold in my thinking, bringing to mind sayings of our Lord, like "the birds of the air" nesting in the branches of the kingdom of God, people seeing the light of our good deeds and "glorifying your Father in heaven," "by their fruits you will know them."

How different is this missional approach to the "rhetoric of exclusion" that worked so well in modernity: "There are blessings to being on the inside. You're on the outside and so can't enjoy them. Want to be a blessed insider like us?"

In contrast, missional Christianity says, "God is expressing his love to all outsiders through our acts of kindness and service. You're invited to leave your life of accumulation and competition and self-centeredness to join us in this mission of love, blessing, and peace. Want to join in the mission?"

I'm going to let that digest for all of us a little bit and comment on it later. But go back and read it - soak in it. It's saying some pretty important things to us.

Click HERE to read the article in its entirety.