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(click on the picture for a larger version of why the wii is having shipping shortages)

I want to say a huge thank you to all the parents and kids who chipped in for my gift. For those that don’t know, some of our Kids workers got together, raised money, waited in line, and somehow, found me and my family a Nintendo Wii. I’m so grateful for the thoughtful (and hard to find!) gift. It means so much, not just that you thought of my family, but that you went through all that effort.

We’re blessed to be at such a loving and caring church. Thanks so much!

(Parker is very excited!)

Check out the current crewcast (Episode 14 – “crewcast we have heard on high) for perspective on the title of this post.

Today we celebrated Christmas with the Mangialardi family (Bethany’s mom’s family). It was your typical Italian party. Lots of food, lots of talking, lots of yelling, lots of food, lots of games, lots of crazy dancing, lots of arguing, lots of food, lots of opinions and lots of love (did I mention food?).

Santa even decided to show up and give some presents to the kids, but as you can see, my boys have some sort of freakish fear of him.

Then there’s always the “dancing” at these get togethers.

It’s official. I’m an old man.

I noticed something in the mirror today. A nose hair. Not just any nose hair, but one that actually protruded outside of my nasal cavity. It wasn’t obscenely long, curly or otherwise obscenely nasty, but it was there nonetheless.

I’m not sure exactly what this means, but I think, at least, that it marks the beginning of me becoming a gross old man.

In case you’re wondering, I promptly plucked and disposed of the wayward hair. Hopefully that will deter his friends for a while….

Recently, some math nerds got together and solved the greatest of human mysteries: why do traffic jams happen for no apparent reason?

You can read this article for a more thorough description of their research. It basically comes down to the fact that when one car slows down, the one behind it then slows down even more, and the next even more until cars eventually have to stop and wait before they can move again. One of the mathematicians says,

“Our model shows that overreaction of a single driver can have enormous impact on the rest of the traffic, leading to massive delays.”

and

“When you tap your brake, the traffic may come to a full stand-still several miles behind you. It really matters how hard you brake – a slight braking from a driver who has identified a problem early will allow the traffic flow to remain smooth. Heavier braking, usually caused by a driver reacting late to a problem, can affect traffic flow for many miles.”

It’s interesting to me how one car can have such an enormous affect on those behind it. I can’t help but think how this rule applies to our lives in general. What I say and do has an influence on my family, coworkers and friends.

I wonder how many “traffic jams” we cause for other people because of how we react and live out our lives?

I think Christmas caroling is going the way of the dinosaur.

Instead of our regular Christmas party, we decided to take our students across the street from the church to do some Christmas caroling. We left around 7pm and got back about 8pm.

Our group had a hard time finding people to sing to. We even went to the decorated houses so that we would avoid the “scrooges”. At one house we could see the couple sitting at their dinner table in front of their large window. They weren’t eating, but they didn’t even budge when we rang the doorbell and knocked. It was very weird.

This happened other times. We’d see movement in a window so we’d ring the doorbell. Nothing. They didn’t even acknowledge us. I can understand if you’re in the middle of something, but to just ignore your doorbell seems very odd to me. Were they scared of a dozen Jr. High students (this is possible since my group was running around like they’d just had a dozen Red Bull)? Do they dislike caroling? Was their TV show that interesting? I was a bit disappointed with the lack of response.

Anyway, the night wasn’t a total bust, but I’ll be rethinking the caroling thing for next year.