Keywords by David Yonke

As horrific as the Mumbai attacks were, it is a slight relief that the terrorists were driven by political and not religious motives. It doesn't lessen the severity of what they did, and the nine of the 10 who died are already facing their eternal judgment.
But so much terrorism today is fueled by religion and that carries widespread repercussions, tainting millions of innocent and devout adherents. It corrupts the religion in the minds of others and fuels hatred and bigotry.
Political terrorism is a blight on humanity and whenever possible the perpetrators need to face swift and thorough justice. Of course, I hope it doesn't happen again but that's not very realistic. A small solace is that the demented people who committed these atrocities in hopes of freeing Kashmir are not having their twisted logic unfairly projected onto the world's Muslims or Christians or Hindus or Buddhists or Jews.
* * *
I watched an NBC interview with Andreina Varagona, an American woman who survived the attacks after being shot twice. She spoke calmly by phone from a Mumbai hospital but the horror she experienced cannot be imagined. She was dining at the Oberoi Hotel with other Americans and Canadians when they heard shooting. They ducked under the table but the gunmen saw them and shot at them, killing two of the six. Afterward there was a brief lull and the staff told them that if they were going to flee, now was the time. She was unable to stand, having been shot in the leg, so the hotel staff dragged her into the kitchen and barricaded the door. The gunmen then started shooting at the door and lobbing grenades. Hotel staff literally carried the woman to a taxi and they sped to the hospital.
This is a perfect example of how ordinary people can become heroes under extraordinary circumstances.

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Sorry the blog has been up and down lately as I try to work on the redesign. The home page is not as cool looking as it used to be, but at least it's up to date. Thanks for bearing with me.

I went to a party the other day and started chatting with a young man who is interested in going into journalism. He asked me what I thought. My response: Are you crazy?
I love the news business but for someone who is just getting started in this field, there are so many unanswered questions and potential pitfalls it would be hard for me to recommend it for a career.
Maybe after this season of turmoil is over we'll know more more about the future of journalism. For now, however, we don't know (a) how long there will be a print edition of newspapers and (b) how newspapers are going to survive the next few years of economic strife.
Like most industries, the fate of newspapers is intertwined with the strength of the economy. When we are in a recession, as the government finally acknowledged on Monday -- retroactive to December 2007, by the way -- people buy fewer goods and services and advertisers tend to buy fewer newspaper ads.
Add to that the impact of the internet, where newspapers are desperately slitting their own throats by offering everything they have in the print edition only free and instantaneously, and you've got a genuine catastrophe in the making.
Only the best business minds and news visionaries will be able to hold their course through the troubled seas and steer their way to the calm waters that lie somewhere ahead for the newspaper industry.
In the meantime, I have plenty of ideas but nobody's asking me -- except prospective journalists in their teens and early 20s. All I can tell them at present is to find another less tenuous career. Those who feel compelled to be journalists, which I was at their age, my words of wisdom are to jump in and hang on for what is sure to be a wild ride.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Dec. 2, 2008

I love the music on Paul McCartney's new album, "The Fireman: Electric Arguments," a collaboration with an artist named Youth. But I was appalled to find that the thick, glossy booklet enclosed in the package contained photos of Macca and Youth painting their childlike scribblings used on the album cover.
You'd think such an expensive add-on would show the pair making music, or include the lyrics, or essays about the recording sessions or the musicians' approach to the album.
No such luck. It's just feed-the-ego photos of these two great musicians making artwork that, to be brutally honest, is little more than infantile. I was drawing better cartoon graphics when I was in grade school.
McCartney is a world-class songwriter and musician and composer who has enjoyed immense fame and wealth from his musical achievements. But I guess that's not enough for him. Does he think he must prove to the world that he's a Renaissance man, a great visual artist as well as a musical genius?
If that's his attempt, he failed miserably in the "Fireman" booklet and album cover.
Sorry, Sir Paul, you should stick to what you're good at.
You have accomplished more than most people ever will, and there's no need to try to prove anything more.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
Dec. 3, 2004

Layoffs are hitting home now and it's sad to see good people lose their jobs.
How to deal with the "perfect storm" (to use a cliche) that has hit the newspaper industry?
A friend just got back from London and said all the newspapers are given away free there. The idea is to get people to read the paper and cover the distribution costs through advertising instead of subscriptions. This seems like a logical way to deal with the news giveaways on the internet.
Someone who follows the industry closely told me that several major U.S. newspapers are considering the same step but no one wants to be the first to do it.
The economic crisis continues to wreak havoc across the country and who knows what else is looming in the shadows...
I believe God is in control but history has shown us that even his devout followers are not exempt from trials and tribulations.
I don't have a lot of faith in politicians or our business leaders at the moment but I do trust God completely.
We should do all that is humanly possible to fix the problem, but let's not forget to pray.

Psalm 55:16: I call to God; God will help me. At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs—he hears, he rescues. My life is well and whole, secure in the middle of danger Even while thousands are lined up against me. God hears it all, and from his judge's bench puts them in their place.

Here are some photos I took at the Bill Gaither Homecoming Concert 12/4/08 in Toledo. There were more than 20 singers on the stage and the concert lasted from 7 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., longer than almost any other concert I've been to except the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, and the all-day or all-weekend festivals...
Wonderful vocals and arrangements in traditional Gospel music style... Hope you enjoy the pics. -- David

Bill Gaither

The Gaither Vocal Band

The Isaacs

Mark Lowry

Ivan Parker

Vic Speer

David Phelps

Ernie Haase & Signature Sound

Today would have been singer Jim Morrison's 65th birthday had his life not been cut short by drugs and alcohol. He died July 3, 1971 at age 27.
It also is the 28th anniversary of John Lennon's tragic death, shot and killed by a demented "fan" in New York City. Lennon was 40 years old.
Both of these singer-songwriters were major inspirations in my life, especially Lennon.
When I was growing up in the 1960s I fell in love with their music and I felt inspired to question and challenge the status quo because of their lyrics and the statements they made in interviews.
Some of their views were naive and their behavior self-destructive, but they did help lead a generation in a transitionary time from the button-down culture of the 1950s to the self-indulgence and freedom of the psychedelic 60s.
Lennon was always seeking the truth and skeptical of institutions. It's such a shame that he was murdered just as he was getting his life on solid ground, getting past Beatlemania and revolution and plugging into society as a "house husband" and father.
Morrison was a poet and an iconoclast who was always on the verge of skittering out of control. He was charismatic but with a dark side. Yet the Doors music was vibrant and moving, and the melodic and rhythmic magic will still sweep you away.
I interviewed Ray Manzarek, the Doors' keyboard player, several times and he has kept the anti-establishment and mystical mindset of his old band alive, saying repeatedly: "Break on through to the other side."
I never interviewed Lennon or any of the Beatles but I did get a Christmas card from Yoko Ono one year after I wrote a column about what Lennon meant to me.
Tonight, I'll give these two rock icons some playing time on my stereo. Their music and legacy live on, although personally their influence on my life has been tempered by time and a little wisdom.
* * *
Last week was another anniversary of the death of a rock great: Frank Zappa died Dec. 4, 1993 of cancer at age 52.

He was another brilliant innovator and iconoclast whose sophisticated musical skills and intelligent ideas were somewhat obscured by a pseudo-juvenile sense of humor.
But if you listen to some of his neo-classical-jazz-rock instrumentals, you'll find that FZ was a genius who stood far above most of his contemporaries.
I saw him in concert a dozen times and he was probably the most interesting, entertaining, demanding, and precise band director in rock history.
I remember one thing about Zappa was that he always had a burly, shaved-headed security guard on stage with him, looking fierce and intimidating. One time I was at a Zappa concert at the Jai Alai fronton in Tampa when a fan tried to climb onto the stage. The bodyguard ran quick as a gazelle at him and kicked him square in the chest, sending the guy flying backward into the seats.
It wasn't until years later that I realized why: Zappa had been pushed off the stage by a fan in London in 1971 and suffered serious injuries to his head, back, leg and larynx. His band members thought he was dead when he hit the concrete floor.
No wonder he had a bodyguard nearby after that scary moment.

Toledo, Ohio
Dec. 8, 2008

Yes, it's true. But I'm going for a story, not for punishment.
I know the chaplain at a federal prison on Milan, Mich., a little north of the state line, and have been wanting for years to write about the faith-based program there. But they have been reluctant to allow the media into the facility.
Recently, I got an offer to come and write about the inmates' Christmas program. This is a bold step for the prison administration and I am delighted they are letting me in. I don't know what to expect but I have a feeling it will be a good story, which I am planning to write for the 12/20 edition.
* * *
Speaking of prisons, going to work has that kind of feeling lately. Major layoffs in the newsroom were announced last week and the specifics are coming out this week.
The layoffs were covered by local TV stations so this is all public knowledge at this point.
I feel terrible for the people who are losing their jobs, most of them young reporters who are extremely talented and have the energy and drive to make the paper a better product. They dig up stories and work hard and make new contacts and have helped the paper get back to where it should be, where it was a few years ago before pay cuts and worker-management animosity caused many of the best and brightest to flee to other newspapers.
Now many of these hard-working and motivated young reporters will lose their jobs effective Dec. 26.
Those who are "left behind" will be working under very difficult circumstances, the details of which remain to be determined.
In addition, management (i.e. the business office or bean counters) in all its wisdom mandated that there will be no more overtime pay. So while there will be fewer workers on the job, the rest will not be allowed to work extra hours to make up some of the loss of manpower.
I have to say there are problems nationwide for newspapers, but I think several factors -- some of which could have been prevented -- make Toledo one of the worst-case scenarios.
What will the results be? Will readers notice the difference? Will people still be buying the paper?
Stay tuned...
* * *
I am reading an amazing book by Dr. Kenneth Pargament, a Bowling Green State University professor, on religion and psychology. This is an area that fascinates me and Dr. Pargament is one of the leading scholars in the field.
For most of the young history of psychology, there has been a chasm between spirituality and psychology. Dr. Pargament is helping to bridge that gap and incorporate religion and beliefs into treating and understanding patients.
Simply fascinating, this is groundbreaking stuff and long overdue.
* * *
I've been listening to Lucinda Williams' CDs lately, particularly "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road." She is an amazing artist, someone whose voice carries such tremendous emotion and expression, and her songwriting is among the best out there. She is honest and sincere, and her songs just knock me out. Sometimes she gives me goose bumps, sometimes she brings tears to my eyes. I can listen to her songs over and over and many times pick up something new from them.
Lu is one of the best and most genuine artists in music today.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Dec. 11, 2008

Mom always said that if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all.
Taking that to another level, I have been feeling a bit stressed out lately and wasn't in the mood to bore you with my negativity.
It all has to do with the job situation -- 25 reporters, editors and clerks being told last week that they are being laid off by the newspaper.
That's bad enough, but those who are still on the staff will be facing ridiculous pressures to produce and now the company has banned overtime.
But after the initial shock and sadness, I am now getting back to almost my normal upbeat self. After a lot of prayer, I finally realized learned to accept the fact that it was God who called me into this line of work and God, Jehovah Jireh, will provide.
As it says in Philippians 1:6, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Coincidentally, last week I wrote an article on "Blue Christmas" services (you can click here to read it) being held in the area for people who are struggling through the holidays. As one counselor told me for the article, the holidays magnify everything. If life is good, the holidays make them better. If life is sad, the Christmas season makes you more sad.
I feel for all the people who have lost their jobs in the last month or so. It's a tough time all around. And yet many of those who were laid off are in good spirits and have told me they feel confident things will work out for the good.
God bless 'em, as Tiny Tim says.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
Dec. 16, 2008

By Andy Borowitz

In their latest bid to beef up their pitching rotation for the 2009
season, the New York Yankees today signed Iraqi journalist Muntadar
al-Zeidi to a three-year deal worth $32 million.

The right-handed al-Zeidi, 28, impressed the Yankee scouts with his
performance in Baghdad yesterday when he threw both of his shoes at
President George W. Bush.

While neither of the shoes hit their target, both throws "had great
velocity and good movement," said Yankee owner Hank Steinbrenner.

"The first shoe was high and outside but the second one was right down
the middle," Mr. Steinbrenner said.

The Yankee boss said that he was also impressed with Mr. al-Zeidi's
fighting spirit when Secret Service agents tackled him.

"That could come in handy when we have a series with Boston," he said.

(Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New
Yorker.)

Thanks to John Gibbs Rockwood for bringing this to my attention. I'm only sorry that the Indians didn't get him!

I wrote an article about Bob Dylan's Jesus years, focusing on a new documentary film by Joel Gilbert. It's an interesting period in Dylan's long career and one that I particularly liked, being a Christian and a Dylan fan.
"Slow Train Coming" is one of the finest folk-rock albums ever recorded, religious or mainstream.
I know not everyone was quite so happy to hear Bob sing about his Savior. In 1980, when I went to a Dylan show in Ann Arbor, one of the guys in the row in front of me was grumbling that he hoped Bob wasn't going to play his Jesus stuff (he threw in a few expletives).

Here's a link to the article.
* * *
Northwest Ohio got hit with a winter storm that mixed ice and snow yesterday afternoon. The roads were extremely slippery and my usual 20-minute zippy commute took me over an hour to get home.
My car rides about as well as any in this weather, since it's a front-wheel drive Saab with snow tires. But even so, at one point as I was creeping along the interstate yesterday I tapped the brakes and the car started to slide. Not a good feeling. But I was going slow enough and kept it under control with my Helio Castroneves-like reflexes.

It's odd but yesterday as I was driving on the slick roads, the traffic was moving in my direction, albeit slowly, but totally stopped on the other side of the interstate. I could see the blue and red police lights flashing above the concrete dividers.

Today, the traffic was totally stopped in the two through lanes, but the two local lanes I needed to get to work were wide open.

It was nice to be moving and not stopped in gridlock. It was one of those times where I was grateful for the little things in life.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
Dec. 17, 2008

One of the most interesting Christian music projects of 2008 is CompassionArt, in which a dozen top artists huddled together in a small Scottish town to write songs with all proceeds going to charity.
The CD comes out in January but six songs are already available for free, a donation requested, online.
Click here to get the songs.

Saw this interesting tidbit online today... Technology at its best, or worst?
Next thing you know, they'll have Teflon-coated sand that won't stick to your skin.
-- David

Dubai hotel to build first air conditioned beach

According to the Australian, the Palazzo Versace, a luxury hotel in Dubai set to open in 2010, is about to create the first climate controlled beach for the rich and famous. The 10-story luxury hotel will house 169 apartments and 213 luxurious rooms, each with their own pool. But the main attraction will obviously be the famous refrigerated beach.

The article says the beach will have a network of pipes beneath the sand with coolants made to absorb the heat from the surface. The swimming pool's temperature will be controlled, and giant fans will be installed throughout to blow a gentle breeze over the so-called beach. Everything, including the thermostats, will be linked to computers in order to achieve that perfect temperature.

* * *
Meanwhile, in Toledo we're bracing for a winter storm tonight, ice and snow and sleet. A day on an air-conditioned beach sounds pretty good right now...

As I mentioned previously, I spent most of an evening recently behind bars at Milan Federal Correctional Institute in Milan, Mich., about 35 miles north of Toledo.
The occasion was a Christmas program by the inmates who are in the prison's faith-based wing, known as the Life Connections Program.
They sang very well, directed by an inmate with a music degree. But the thing that really made an impression on me was the comments some inmates made when they were asked to say what Christmas meant to them.
Modern-day Americans have such a skewed view of the holiday. We fight the crowds and spoil our kids and buy gifts for people that we don't even know if they want or need, all because Jesus Christ was born.
Is that a good way to celebrate the arrival of God in human form?
It's really crazy and I can't say I'm any more spiritual than the next guy when it comes to holiday priorities. I love to think about Jesus coming down from heaven in the form of a helpless infant, and it's simply amazing.
But when it comes time to "celebrate," I go along with the flow and spend too much money on material goods even though I know it's so contrary to what Jesus taught us, or tried to teach us.
Today, as I wove my wave through traffic and crowded store aisles, I thought of how Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple in his most visible act of outrage in the whole Bible.
Today, we're a lot like the money changers who have taken a spiritual event and turned it into a monetary transaction. I think Jesus would storm through the department stores, pushing the cash registers off the counters and trying to knock some sense into people who supposedly celebrating His birth.
In prison, one inmate after another walked up to the microphone and asserted that Jesus is the reason for the season.
When you are stuck behind bars you can have a different perspective on things.
You can't go shopping. You can't get caught up in the material side of Christmas. On top of that, you might even be feeling a bit penitent in the pentitentiary.
Life under those conditions makes the accumulation of things and desire for getting stuff less important than just being thankful for what you've got -- i.e., counting your blessing.
It's a lesson I took home with me, although I still have my work cut out. But I did shop for some presents at heifer.org...
I can't say what yet because it's a Christmas gift. But it felt good to spend some money to help underprivileged people in another country rather than add another item to somebody's closet or shelf.
* * *
December 20, 2008
Sylvania, OH

I'm reading a very interesting and somewhat disturbing book called "Misquoting Jesus," by Bart Ehrman. Some of you may be familiar with it already, it was a New York Times best-seller.
The basic premise of Ehrman, who is a scholar on biblical textual criticism, is that much of the early copies of the Bible were written by people who were not experts at language or writing.
Remember there were no Xerox machines or printing presses back then.
The letters and words and pages were copied by hand, and these untrained scribes, some of whom could barely write their name, made many mistakes.
He documents quite a few of them.
Later, the duty of making copies was considered a much more important and responsible job and the task was assigned to skilled scribes who worked in "scriptoria."
Ehrman said that none of the original manuscripts can be found today and that much of our modern Bible is based on the work of very human and error-prone people.
I'm not quite done with Ehrman's book but it is causing me to do a lot of pondering.

When I'm finished with this book I have another one waiting to go, written by Timothy Paul Jones and titled "Misquoting Truth." It was written specifically to rebut Ehrman.
This is a highly important issue for people who take the Bible seriously and my head is spinning a bit as I read Ehrman's authoritative writing. His arguments carry a lot of weight, the question is what do you personally do with the information? How do you reconcile your faith in the Bible and in God when, if Ehrman is correct, much of Scripture is plagued with errors?
I hope Timothy Paul Jones has a good explanation. Even if he does not, Ehrman's writing does not shake my faith. It just gives me something to think about. Deeply.

* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Dec. 20, 2008

From David Letterman's book of Top Ten Lists:

Top Ten Signs You're in an Unsafe Airport

10. Parking lot has sign: NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CARS DAMAGED BY FALLING AIRCRAFT.

9. Machines sell insurance just for your time in the airport.

8. You see a limo driver holding up a sign: AVOWED TERRORIST.

7. Mary Jo Buttafuoco walks through metal detector without her bullet setting it off.

6. The ground crew is bringing the jet fuel to the plane in their cupped hands.

5. At check-in, agent reminds you you're limited to two carry-on explosives.

4. Runways have passing lanes.

3. As you board plane, gate attendant says, 'You poor s.o.b."

2. Cheering crowd has gathered in lounge around a pilot doing ten shots of Stoli in a row.

... and the No. 1 sign you are in an unsafe airport...

1. Hijackers are allowed to preboard.

Here are a few quotes worth pondering from multibillionaire Warren Buffett:

"Never ask a barber if you need a haircut."

"If you hit a hole in one on every hole, you wouldn't play golf very long."

"I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others
are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful."

"The only way to be loved is to be loveable, which really irritates me."

"Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level
of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament
to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing."

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."

"We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll
wait, we'll wait indefinitely."

and finally:

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

Madoff victim Elie Wiesel

Have you been following the disappearance of $50 billion from Bernard L. Madoff's investment firm? It's almost beyond belief that anyone could pull off a Ponzi scheme on such a massive scale, or that the perpetrator who did it could live with himself.
I've been reading about it in disbelief, especially when you see the famous people who lost their fortunes to Madoff. Among the respected and well known victims are Fred Wilpon, owner of the NY Mets ($300 million loss), Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mort Zuckerman, and, much to my dismay, Elie Wiesel.
Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner who spoke in Toledo in October. I was honored to interview him and attend his lecture and have my photo taken with him. He is a remarkable and inspiring human being. But according to Newsweek, Professor Wiesel's Foundation for Humanity was completely wiped out after it lost $15 million to Madoff's thievery.
Professor Wiesel is a professor at Boston U and has written 50 books, so I am assuming he personally won't be destitute. But if this forces his foundation to close, it will be a tragic turn of events because the foundation has done so much to promote world peace and inter-cultural and interfaith understanding.
When you think about Madoff making $50 billion disappear, you have to wonder how the SEC did not catch it.
Here's one way to picture how much money a billion dollars is.
Let's say somebody gives you $1,000 a day, seven days a week, all year long, and you never spend a dime of it. Without even figuring in any income from interest, just stacking the money up in your house, how long do you think it would take to acquire $1 billion?
It would take you 2,737 years, 10 months, and 7 days.
And Bernie Madoff made $50 billion disappear.
There's no punishment in the statutes that fits this crime. He'll never be executed and he couldn't possibly spend enough time in prison. Maybe they should sentence him to 2,737 years, 10 months, and 7 days and keep his mummified corpse in a cell until it's done.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Dec. 23, 2008

Good morning and Merry Christmas!
I'm sure that greeting means different things to different people, but to me and most Americans, it is a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. That is the pivotal point of human history, according to the Christian perspective, when God became human.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday. One of the greatest "traditions" of Christmas is to spend it with your family. I feel so blessed because my three daughters, one son-in-law, and one fiancee-in-law are all coming to our house today. Plus Dana and Matt are bringing our beloved "grandpuppy" Lulu.
Last night, we went to a Christmas Eve service at our church, then went to our friends' house in Perrysburg for a tradition that started in 1999.
There were more than 20 people over, as always, and we had dinner, played the white elephant gift exchange game, and ended the night with a wild and crazy game of Four Men on a Couch. That game is so much fun. It's men vs. women and I've never played such a cut throat, cheating-riddled game but that's part of the fun.
We got home well after midnight and four of us played "Rock Band" for over an hour.
So everyone is sleeping in this Christmas morning, giving me a chance to say hello and wish you all the best for the day.
God bless, have a beautiful day. Remember the reason for the season.
* * *
I've been off work all week but working on my novel. It's progressing well. I am about a quarter done, so I still have a long way to go. But I am very happy with it and very excited about how the story and characters are developing.
I'll keep you posted...
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Dec. 25, 2008

Janet and I had Chinese food for dinner tonight (General Tsao Chicken from the Fortune Inn -- very tasty if not the healthiest meal) and for the piece de resistance (please excuse the mixed idioms), I had a fortune cookie.

Interestingly, there were two different fortunes in one cookie.
The first one I pulled out was ripped down the middle, but said: "You will always be successful in your career."
The second fortune said this: "Now is the time to try something new."
Very interesting, considering the state of affairs of the newspaper industry.
I worked today with a reporter, James Joyce, not the Irish author of course but a 28-year-old journalist from Maryland who, incidentally, once played arena football. Today was his last day at the paper because he was laid off, one of eight young reporters to get axed this week.
James is a good reporter and a nice guy and we all hate to see him go. But he says he does not plan to pursue a news career anymore. Things are changing and the newspaper's piece of the pie is shrinking. He's got other ideas about a career.
James said an interesting thing today: "I feel more alive now than ever before."
His life had been planned out, one step at a time, and now he's facing the unknown. I'm sure he'll do well. Meanwhile, for those of us who are left behind, are we guarding the fort until reinforcements arrive, or is somebody going to be the one who turns out the light?
In light of all that, the double fortunes in my fortune cookie was an interesting twist of fate.
* * *
Got a few new PS3 games for Christmas -- well one new, three slightly used. The new game is FIFA 2009. The game play and graphics are amazing. I used some of my Christmas money to buy the other games yesterday while on a marathon shopping day with my wife and daughters. I could only take so much of the clothing and fashion stores at the mall so I headed over to Game Stop and they were having a buy 2, get one 1 free used game sale. So I bought Tiger Woods and Madden '07, plus a game callled Metal Gear.
I don't have a lot of time to play around with my beloved PlayStation 3 but when I do use it, it's such a blast.
For the Tiger Woods game, I createrd a character that has gray-and-brown speckled hair, very skinny legs, and a belly that is, well, larger than the ones you find on most pro golfers except for John Daly. In other words, it looks a lot like yours truly on the golf course.
And just like yours truly, I won my first challenge match, beating Scott Adams 4 up at Firestone CC.
* * *
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are on TV now, a 2005 live concert from Barcelona. Bruce really puts on an amazing show, with so much energy and enthusiasm. Everybody needs to see Bruce a couple of times.
I've probably seen him six times, starting in 1972 -- 36 years ago! -- when a college friend came back to Duke all excited about this young rocker from New Jersey.
Turns out my friend knew talent when he saw it. I've always enjoyed Springsteen although I'm not a fanatic about him like many good people I know, some of whom follow him on tour from one city to the next.
I had a chance to meet him a few years ago when he played the Fox Theatre in Detroit. My friend and mentor Gary Graf invited me to go backstage after the show but I had to file a review on deadline and could not spare a minute. As soon as I finished writing, I hustled back there but Springsteen had already left. You win some, you lose some...
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Dec. 28, 2008

Every year, some churches have their baby Jesuses (is that the correct plural?) stolen from their creches. It has happened in Toledo a few times.
A few years ago, a Lutheran church in the suburb of Maumee had its baby Jesus stolen and later returned with a new look: partly painted black.
Last year, a church in Wellington, Fla., that had several missing-Jesus incidents was worried about the safety of its new expensive figurine. Church officials came up with the brilliant idea of equipping little Jesus with a GPS (Global Positioning System) device. When baby disappeared from the church's Nativity scene last year, police were able to quickly track Him to a nearby apartment, where they found Jesus face down on the carpet and arrested an 18-year-old woman.

That incident prompted a savvy marketing opportunity for a security firm that offered free rental of a GPS device to any church worried about the safety of its baby Jesus or any synagogue fearful that an outdoor menorah may be stolen. Seventy churches and synagogues took the firm up on its offer of a free GPS for the holidays.
Three thoughts about this crazy scenario:
First, it is despicable that anyone would steal a Jesus figure. It shows a total lack of respect and reverence and anyone who does so has some serious mental or social problems.
Second, it is a sad commentary on modern society that it happens frequently enough for churches to even think about using GPS devices to track their baby Jesus figures. This is partly a reflection of the breakdown of a moral society.
Third, hiding a GPS device inside of baby Jesus or a menorah is a kinder and gentler way to deal with the problem than rigging the creche like a booby trap.
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A friend and former colleague, Paddy O'Gara, who now lives in Spain, posted this comment on his blog recently, and I thought I'd pass it along:

"An Iraqi man has thrown his shoes at Bush during a press conference yesterday. A good idea, but it would have made more sense if he had not taken them off first."

Paddy is a brilliant man and a talented artist with a very British sense of humor. We miss him around here.
He created one of my favorite newspaper front pages of all time, for the Jan. 1, 2000 edition of The Blade. It featured a full color photo of the earth taken from space, with a large headline that said: "We're still here." (Remember all the Y2K fears?).
I'll put a link to Paddy's blog with a caveat: he only posts an entry about once every two or three months. But his self-penned bio is worth a visit. Here is the link.
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Toledo, Ohio
Dec. 30, 2008

I hope all of you have a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve. I'm off to work soon, and then we'll be heading to a friend's house for a party tonight.
2008 has been an extraordinary year in many ways, most of them not good.
But it also has been a good opportunity for personal growth and discipline.
I'm reading a book called The Divine Mentor by the Rev. Wayne Cordeiro, a book that our whole church is reading together. It's really packed with great advice for life and one of the first things that jumped out at me was this:

"Life has given us two very effective teachers. Both are top-flight instructors, but neither comes cheap. While both are effective, both require something of us. We have to choose one or the other, and if we choose neither, the second will be chosen for us.
The teachers are Wisdom and Consequences."

He gives an example: Consequences are when you run into a wall and break your nose. What do you learn? "Wall hard, nose soft; wall win, nose lose." So don't run into walls.
With wisdom, on the other hand, a person sees the consequences ahead of time and makes a change before running into a wall.
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As I look back at 2008, there were many blessings in my life. My daughter Cara got engaged. I met a lot of wonderful people. Wrote a lot of stories that I really enjoyed writing. Won some journalism awards. Read a lot of excellent books.
Janet's brother Ed got married in Laughlin, Nev., so we flew out there and also visited Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Zion National Park in Utah.
We spent one terrific week with the entire family on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, renting a house over July 4th.
I enjoyed five days in Washington, D.C., in September for the Religion Newswriters conference.
Our church is doing well and I've been enjoying my tenure on the deacon board and other volunteer work there. We are involved in a wonderful "care group" that has been studying The Truth Project by Del Tackett and which has taught me a great deal.
Despite the problems in the news industry, I still have a job. I also have had a few bites from moviemakers about my book. I'm off to a good start on my next book, a novel.
In some ways, 2009 will be a gut-check year. It also is a time to count your blessings and take stock of what is really important in life.

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Forbes magazine has just listed the biggest losers of 2008, financially speaking. It was a rough year for many but at least you didn't lose $30 billion.

Anil Ambani
March net worth: $42 billion
Current net worth: $12 billion

The biggest billionaire gainer last March is now the year's biggest loser. Ambani lost $30 billion in the past nine months, more than anyone in the world. Stock of his telecom company dropped after his estranged brother helped scuttle a deal with African telecom MTN. It's quite an achievement in a year in which three of his fellow countrymen--estranged brother Mukesh, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and Indian KP Singh, all of whom ranked earlier among the world's 10 richest--lost more than $20 billion apiece.

Dec. 31, 2008
Syvlania, Ohio

The Ohio Supreme Court today ruled that it will not hear Father Gerald Robinson's appeal.
That is the almost end of the legal road for the priest convicted of murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
There are two options remaining that I am aware of, one is to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The other is the petition for post-conviction relief that was filed and put on hold pending the outcome of the other legal efforts.
I will keep you posted.

Here is the basic announcement from the court, under a general heading saying the court declined to review the case:

2008-1666. State v. Robinson.
Lucas App. No. L-06-1182, 2008-Ohio-3498.
Pfeifer, J., dissents.
Lanzinger, J., not participating.

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Toledo, Ohio
Dec. 31, 2008