Arms Wide Open

So you’re headed to a holiday party and you want to impress your friends. Or maybe the kids are home for vacation and just dying to play with fire. Well have I got the cure for you. Here are 10 little tricks you can try at parties to impress your friends or co-workers. You can also polish up your skills at home and have the kids thinking you’re “Houdini”.

*Disclaimer - The makers, contributors, authors and web masters of aaronconrad.com are not responsible for any accidents which may take place as the result of working out your mad skills attempting these tricks. If fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery while testing these stunts.

1. Did you know that there is actually a fear of Friday the 13th? It’s called paraskevidekatriaphobia

2. I could not find a fear of people named Jason on the web though.

3. “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth” -Muhammad Ali

4. I have to be honest and say that the whole “Twilight, New Moon” obsession bus must have passed me by. I just don’t understand.

5. Not that there’s anything wrong with that….

6. The fear of vampires is called Sanguivoriphobia.

7. Tar Heels haven’t looked too bad in their first few games. The “Bigs” have been as advertised.

8. Unfortunately the backcourt has been as advertised so far too. Gotta clean it up and cut down on the turnovers.

9. Speaking of which, Tar Heels play THE Ohio State University on Thursday. A “source” within the OSU camp summed it up to me the best the other day. He said “good thing we’re catching them early in the season”. Agree 100%.

10. The Buckeyes are strong in the backcourt, small on the inside. Carolina is huge inside, weak in the backcourt. Should be a great matchup.

11. Have I mentioned the Heels play the toughest Division One schedule in college basketball? I’m just saying it now.

12. In other Non-Tar Heel news, there’s still time to get signed up with us for the 4 miler on Thanksgiving morning. As of this morning there are only 800 spots left. We’ve got 12 friends ready to hit the trail that morning. It’s gonna be a great time. Get signed up today!

14. We’re headed to Charlotte, North Carolina (God’s Country) on December 12th for the Thunder Road Half Marathon. Can’t wait!

15. Tomorrow is Saturday the 14th….

16. Sunday is Sunday the 15th….

17. I can’t find a fear of Sunday the 15th or Saturday the 14th on the web.

18. Lebron James announced he’s changing his number from 23 to 6 next year to honor the accomplishments of Michael Jordan.

19. In other news, if he signs a free agent contract with the Knicks, he has announced he will change his number to the dollar sign.

20. The fear of Lebron James signing with another team is called iamfromclevelandandhaveseenthismoviebefore.

Much going on right now, but not enough worthy of a full blown post. So here are some random thoughts to get us all caught up:

Very proud of all 3 of my little ones. Last weekend they competed in the Red Nose Race for kids prior to the Columbus Marathon. Each one competed in a different race based on their age group. They had a great time…no pun intended.

Even though Windows 7 was released last week, I have ZERO interest in it. I am now the proud owner of a MacBook Pro and LOVE this thing.

The excitement is building at our house from Friday nights Indiana Pacers Home Opener vs. The Miami Heat.

If you want a sneak peak of our seat location for the game, click on THIS LINK and enter Section 20, Row 1.

The only buzz kill about the game Friday night is that Hansbrough just started practicing last week. I doubt highly he will play in the game.

Third Eye Blind is performing before the game on Friday too. So we have that going for us….which is nice.

Our next race is the Flying Feather on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a 4 miler and the anniversary of my first race one year ago.

Our next 1/2 marathon is in Charlotte, North Carolina (God’s Country) on December 12th. I can’t wait to get back to North Carolina and gasp breathe that air with some great friends.

We won’t have much time to recover from Charlotte as we board a plane and run another half marathon in Phoenix, Arizona with some friends on January 17th.

When April arrives, we are going to head to Nashville, Tennessee to run in the Country Music 1/2 marathon with some new friends from Thomas Nelson Publishing. The race is April 24th and rumor has it, it’s brutal. Can’t wait to meet our friends in person and share the torture experience.

We wrap up the 1/2 marathon schedule (for now at least) just 2 weeks later in Indianapolis, Indiana for the Mini-Marathon on May 8th. Everyone has told me “you need to do this one”. So, we’ll give it a go this May. The best part of this 1/2 is that you finish by running one lap around the track of the Brickyard race track.

The new Creed CD “Full Circle” drops tomorrow and I cannot WAIT! The songs “Rain” and “Overcome” are in regular rotation on my iPod.

I am currently reading “Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World” by Dr. David Jeremiah. Hopefully I will have a review in the next few weeks.

That’s about it from here. Until next time remember this….

If God is a DJ
Life is a dance floor
Love is the rhythm
You are the music
If God is a DJ
Life is a dance floor
You get what you’re given
It’s all how you use it…

-P!nk

Yes….I just quoted P!nk. There’s more truth to those lyrics than we all often realize….

I am officially not allowed to visit johnnytshirt.com anymore. Dangerous things happen every time I do. This is actually for the half-marathon on August 30th. I thought I would annoy my good friend (and Duke Fan) Jeff  for 13.1 miles! Rumor has it that he has been doing some shopping too. His Duke shirt can be found (HERE). GO HEELS!!

This might be a “data dump” of sorts, but it is what has been on my mind for a little over a week now. I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t ever think about the house we almost bought in Charlotte, North Carolina. I won’t act like there are not days when I wonder what it would have looked like to be there now instead of Ohio. There are moments where I drift off to thinking about what being “here” means, looks like, feels like and if this is “as good as it gets”. Does that make sense? Does anyone else ever wonder that?

Now before you write this post off and cruise to the next web site on your list, hear me out. I meant what I wrote when I talked about dealing with some things on that half-marathon. Over the past 10 days or so, it feels as if some chains have been broken, burdens lifted and a new sense of clarity has come to me. It is this clarity that quickly screams to me each time the “good” question is raised. Almost audibly I am reminded that if this is as good as it gets…then there is nothing wrong with that! I have found a peace and a place of being content with where you are.

Not where you wish you were – wishes can be deceiving.

Not where you dream you will be – dreams give us the chase.

Not where you think God is going to place you – God never draws it up the way we do.

There has been a shift in my looking at this world and my place in it. If this is as good as it gets then I have much to be thankful for. I have been blessed beyond measure. If you have handed me a script of where I would be today ten years ago, I would have accepted it in a heartbeat. I am challenged why I don’t feel that way sometimes now that I am here? It’s not bragging, it’s perspective. For example:

I hate our washing machine. It has the most annoying beep when it is all done. Yet there was a time when I would drive 5 miles to switch loads at the laundry mat. Somewhere tonight there are people with no washer at all. If this is as good as it gets…..

I will forever believe a part of me was left in Charlotte, North Carolina last year. That part of me may never return. Yet here in Columbus, my kids have great schools and teachers. My wife has a great circle of sisterhood. I have friends that I am convinced would take a bullet for me if necessary. If this is as good as it gets…..

I often wonder where God would have us in a ministry. I look for that place where our hearts desire and his plan intersect so that magic moment we read about happens. Yet day after day I have people walk through my life that don’t know Jesus. I spoke to one of our neighbors for the first time since we moved here the other day (we’ve lived here 4 years). Last time I checked, the city I live in was not filled with saved people. It is just like every other city and people need the love of Christ in their lives. If this is as good as it gets….

You get the picture. As quick as I have been to ask “is this as good as it gets” the past 10 days, I have been just as quick to put that question in perspective. Funny when you do that how the answer always comes back -

If this is as good as it gets…it’s great to be here.

A rabbit trail today led me to a blog that hit on a subject that I have written and re-written and never posted several times. The author of this blog post makes a good argument for why many bloggers have decided to either take a break or quit altogether. As many of you will remember, I took a break AND called it quits a few months ago. I then made a return here lately but have been fascinated by the amount of blogging friends I follow that are no longer blogging regularly or at all. Just last night I hit a friends blog to find that there had not been a post since February.

I am wondering what has happened to blogging. I wonder if it isn’t a combination of several things. Sites like facebook and twitter have absolutely exploded recently. Even new comers like Tumblr are growing in popularity when it comes to micro-blogging. Quick posts throughout the day are replacing a long post that took all day to put together. In talking with other bloggers, I have found that many have also seen a drop in their number of “hits” and comments per day. To a blogger, that is the scorecard. It lets you know that you are not just putting things on the web that you could have just kept to yourself. I’m curious if many people are not getting their information from facebook and twitter and no longer feel the need to visit a blog to find out “what you are doing”.

I also wonder if there are not so many blogs now that all say the same things. There are mom blogs, dad blogs, faith blogs, tech blogs and combination’s of all four. As an author of one of the many blogs out there, I can admit to a pressure to bring something creative, different or relative each time you post. There is also a constant reminder that the longer you go without posting the more people will go elsewhere to read or find posts. I would guess that some of the blogs in my sidebar are no longer active or have moved on to something else. Recently, two of the blogging giants I follow announced their departure from the web. One eventually returned, the other did not. Just this morning, another blog I follow announced that he was pulling the plug and going to devote his time to his wife and family.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I also think that many blogs are not what they started off with. Over time, the blog found a groove in a certain group and became a blog all about that particular area, topic or group of people. The authors now feel that each post must fit into that category so they start blogging about one thing only. I have spoken with more than one blogger that said “it’s not even about me anymore”. In other words, it wasn’t their blog rather it was a blog about things that they thought the people that read and comment wanted to read and comment about. Over time, a blog that strays away from it’s original launch and only focuses on one thing can take the steam out of the desire to continue that blog.

It all makes you wounder if blogs are slowly coming to an end. I would guess that personal blogs are trending towards that. The big blogs that do this for money and other reasons will remain. My guess is that many will move to twitter, tumblr and facebook. It also makes you wonder what is “next” on the blogging scene. Reading that yet another blogger was calling it quits this morning prompted me to post this. Each time I read that I guess I ask why I do this or what I do this for. If nothing else it makes you evaluate where and what you spend your time on. Maybe I’m just interested to see if anyone is reading or if those that stop by here have a thought or two on this topic as well.