Joel's Opinion

John 1

2008-11-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

I've heard of people saying that in John 1, when it says, "and the word was God", that because, in the Greek, the "the" before God is left out, it should say in the English, "and the word was a god." Basically saying that Jesus is a god, rather than Jesus being fully God and fully man.

We actually talked about this a little bit in the Greek class I am taking at church and here's the tricky part; the way it's written could be interpreted that way, but it could also be interpreted the way it is written as well, but we know based on context that we are speaking of the one any only God. We learned that in Greek the subject of the sentence is given the "the."

John 1:
1 ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. 2 οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

ὁ λόγος (ho logos) - the word
τὸν θεόν (ton Theon) - the God

Notice, in the portion, "καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος" there is no "the" before θεὸς (Theos - God), the kai is a conjuction (and). But, that is because the author wanted the subject to be, "the word" not "God" or else we would read the sentence, God is the word. That would mean that God is Jesus or God equals Jesus, that they are one in the same and equal in all ways. This is not the case, that is the problem with trying to do a direct word-for-word translation, it just doesn't work. We know that Jesus will sit on the throne at the right hand of God. You could think of it as saying that, everything that God is, The Word (Jesus) is also. Notice verse 2, "οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν", He was with God in the Beginning, and this time God has the "τὸν" in front of it... it is Jesus who is fully God yet fully man not the other way around. In the context we know that the author, John, is speaking of the one and only God, not just any god. Jesus is fully God, He was with God in the Beginning and through Him all things were created. God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They each act separately and perform different functions, yet all make up God. The word became flesh and lived among us. All that was in God was put into human form to live among us as the word. Very symbolic.

My Week 6 Predictions

2008-10-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

Chicago over Atlanta: Atlanta has been looking decent, but I think that Chicago has a defense that will hold Atlanta's running game to a minimum and give the Bears a victory.
Miami over Houston: I think Miami has a few easy games ahead of them and with their recent victories over two hard teams have gained some momentum.
Indianapolis over Baltimore: Indi needs to pick it up and win this one.
Minnesota over Detroit: Minnesota should dominate a broken Detroit team.
New Orleans over Oakland: Oakland will hopefully have some new life after a bye week with their interim coach, but I don't think it'll be enough to win.
NY Jets over Cincinnati: Cinci is just bad.
Carolina over Tampa Bay: Carolina should win this one, they are looking pretty good so far.
Washington over STL: The Redskins look great this year, and the St Louis Rams look horrendous.
Denver over Jacksonville: Despite the good D of Jacksonville Denver has shown they can prosper over good defensive teams.
Dallas over Arizona: Dallas should win this one, as long as they stick with the run game.
Philly over San Fransisco: The 49ers look really weak despite being 2nd in the division.
Green Bay over Seattle: Seattle looks bad, and Green Bay should take this one easily, but I also thought that about their matchup versus Atlanta... and I was wrong.
New England over San Diego: This should be a fairly tough game that the Chargers really have to step up for, and the Pats aren't in last years form, but they should win.
NY Giants over Cleveland: Giants will dominate this game against a pathetic Browns team.

Okay, so only the Titans and Giants are still undefeated

2008-10-08T22:20:00.000-07:00

So, I was right about:
The Titans winning,
Carolina beating the Chiefs,
the Bears running all over the Lions,
the Atlanta-GB game being close (although the Pack did not win),
the Colts pulling off the W,
I was right about the Giants,
the Skins over the Eagles,
Denver pulling off another win,
the Cowboys, the Pats, and
I was completely right about the Steelers game,
and the Vikings.

However, I was wrong about the Chargers and Dolphins (although I did say I liked Miami and I wanted them to win), wrong about thinking Green Bay would beat Atlanta, wrong about saying that the Bills would defeat Arizona.

That makes me 11-3 for week 5. Not too shabby.

Titans, Bills, and Giants will remain undefeated

2008-10-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

There are three undefeated teams in the NFL right now, the Titans, Bills, and Giants. However, both the Titans and the Bills have beaten 4 teams with combined records of 3-12 and 4-11, respectively. They just haven't played anyone that great yet. Don't get me wrong the Titans have proven they have a great defense and can win games. The Bills barely beat Oakland and had to come back to beat St. Louis. But they won, and looking ahead at their schedules, I think that they can still remain Playoff bound in their divisions.

The Giants have only played 3 games so far, 2 of them against the winless Bengals and Rams, and have at least 3 more easy games before facing some harder opposition. They will have a hard time in their division this year with both the Cowboys and Redskins playing tough, along with the Eagles' strong defense rearing the NFC East at 2-2. They all have tough match-ups and I am favoring the Cowboys right now to be the contenders for the top spot again.

As far as this week goes... I think the standings won't change too much.

Titans at Baltimore: Titans will win this hard fought battle
Chiefs at Carolina: The Panthers will take this one, even though the Chiefs have some life in them.
Bears at Detroit: I think that the Bears will run all over the Lions.
Falcons at Green Bay: This might be close, but I'm going with Green Bay.
Colts at Houston: Neither team looking too great, but I expect the Colts to come out the gates playing and pull off a Victory.
San Diego at Miami: I actually like Miami and want them to win. Their pass defense is not that great and Phillip Rivers can throw it deep. And Miami won't be able to get away with the stunts they pulled off against New England. San Diego will most likely win this one.
Seahawks at NY Giants: I fully expect the Giants to take this game even with Seattle finally getting 2 of their injured receivers back (although for my fantasy team's sake, I hope Engram gets the ball in the End Zone).
Redskins at Philadelphia:This is a tough match-up to call. Both these teams have been playing great lately, but with Westbrooks injury, I think the Redskins can pull this one off, as long as they can stop Buckhalter like the Bears stopped him last week.
Bucs at Denver: The Broncos were looking good this year until that defeat by the abysmal Chiefs, but I think that they can come back to form against the Buccaneers. I don't expect them to make a lot of stops against the Bucs, but with the offensive numbers they've been putting up they should pull this one off.
Bills at Arizona: This shouldn't be that hard of a match-up for the Bills. I expect them to take home the win.
Bengals at Dallas: As poorly as the Bengals are playing this year, I don't see how they can beat the Cowboys.
Patriots at San Fran: Despite the 49ers being my team, they just don't have what it takes to beat the Patriots, even a Patriots team that doesn't have Tom Brady.
Steelers at Jacksonville: This will be one tough game, and probably the most difficult for me to decide. The steelers don't have Willie Parker, Big Ben is all banged up, but they have a great defense. Jacksonville as has a great defense, and I see this as another battle of the D's which Pittsburgh will pull off.
Vikings at New Orleans: Despite the Vikings 1-2 record and New Orleans 2-0 record at home this season. Despite, Drew Brees lighting it up through the air. I don't think this game will go down this way. I believe the Vikings will win this game.

Wow! Week 3 had a bunch of close games and surprises

2008-09-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

I had some predictions yesterday, and it here's the results... one more to go:

1) Falcons over the Chiefs... Correct.
2) Bills over the Raiders... Correct, but closer than I thought.
3) Bears over Bucs... Wrong, but a close game.
4) Vikings over Panthers... Correct.
5) Patriots over Dolphins... Wrong... an upset... not even close.
6) Giants over Bengals... Correct, but surprisingly close.
7) Titans over Texans... Correct.
8) Cardinals over the Redskins... Wrong.
9) 49ers over Lions... Correct.
10) Seahawks over Rams ... Correct... they got their first win.
11) Broncos over Saints ... Correct, and got close toward the end.
12) Steelers over the Eagles... Wrong, and it was hard fought and low scoring.
13) Colts over the Jags... Wrong... thought the colts had it, but lost it by a FG.
14) Browns over Ravens ... Wrong... wasn't really an upset, but unexpected.
15) Cowboys over the Packers ... Correct... keeping the Cowboys at the top of my rankings.
16) And on Monday Night, I think the Chargers will finally pull off a win. The Jets will probably lose this one, but it will probably be high scoring and hard fought.... and We'll see. (And, I was right)

9-5 this week. (10-5)

Week 2 in the NFL

2008-09-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

My predictions this week:
1) Falcons over the Chiefs... Chief's backup QB Thigpen is in their offense hasn't been clicking, despite the Falcons losing pretty badly last week their RB's are looking good and the Chiefs have a horrible run defense.
2) Bills over the Raiders... Raiders' Jamarcuss Russel not looking so hot, so all they do is run. With Fargus out and their back-up McFadden banged up... it's not looking too good. Bills' Marshawn Lynch will run all over the Raiders in this game.
3) Bears over Bucs... The Bears looked good against the Colts, although Peyton Manning wasn't up to par in that game, I think they have what it takes to take down the bucs.
4) Vikings over Panthers... okay so the veteran Gus Ferotte is stepping in for Jackson and Peterson is banged up, but can the Panthers really keep this facade of greatness by winning with slim margins.
5) Patriots over Dolphins... yes, the Patriots are a great team and I want the Dolphins to win won, but I'm not sure they can against the Pats.
6) Giants over Bengals... the Bengals, Carson Palmer, the O-Line, and Ocho-cinco are looking horrendous, and the Giants look like Super Bowl Defenders.
7) Titans over Texans... Texans don't look to good and despite injuries the Titans have they are looking rather good in this matchup.
8) Cardinals over the Redskins... The Card's are on a great 2-0 start with Kurt Warner in his super bowl glory days and MVP form... with the Cardinals? I think they can do it. The Redskins offense is finally starting to click with their new system, but we'll see.
9) 49ers over Lions... not just because the Niners are my team, but because the Lions are just that bad.
10) Seahawks over Rams ... Hopefully a win for the Seahawks here... if they lose this one, they'll take my position at number 32 overall where the Rams now lie in my Rankings.
11) Broncos over Saints ... The Bronco's, despite controversial victory last week are scoring machines, and with Brandon Marshall back have a lot more targets for Cutler.
12) Steelers over the Eagles... yep, the 2-0 Steelers will probably beat the 1-1 Eagles, despite a healthy Donovan McNabb and a hurting Ben Roethlisburger the Steelers will pound this one out.
13) Colts over the Jags... the Colts just have to win this one. David Girrard isn't looking so hot and Peyton Mannings coming back to form.
14) Browns over Ravens ... the 0-2 Browns put up a fight against the Steelers last week, if Braylon Edwards can wipe the grease off his hands they should win this one.
15) Cowboys over the Packers ... despite the Pack looking good so far, they've beaten two lackluster teams, while TO and Romo have been putting up some strong numbers. Rodgers isn't too bad himself, but they're missing some firepower and have some banged up starters and won't have enough to pull this one off.
16) And on Monday Night, I think the Chargers will finally pull off a win. The Jets will probably lose this one, but it will probably be high scoring and hard fought.

Football Season

2008-09-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Today, is the day I get to watch some football. For some odd reason I was really looking forward to the Jets/Dolphins game, and it didn't disappoint. At first I just thought that Miami didn't have much of a chance, but in the final 6 minutes Chad Pennington really brought the heat and made a game out of it. Another exciting drive that I got to see was Delhomme in his final 2 minutes 5 points down against San Diego, and wow, it amazes me the way the ball made it through two defenders to his receiver and pull off the win as time expired off the clock. Now, I'm watching Indi against the bears, and it's turning to be an exciting season already. Too bad, both my Fantasy teams aren't doing well.

D-rawr-ing :)

2008-08-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know the picture is kinda ugly, but I'm kinda proud of it since I did most of it just using paint brushes and smudge and blur in GIMP photo editing software. The first picture I did on some paper at work. I then took a picture of it with my mobile phone and uploaded it. Here's that pic.

Then the rest of this I did in GIMP. I filled in the dark areas with the fill tool and added color with paint tools and used blur to make the nose and eyes.

Then I added a layer on top of that and started making the fur as best I could... and I'm kind of proud about the way it turned out... so here it is.

One last film... or two

2008-07-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

I just watched Chaos Theory, starring Ryan Reynolds and some other people that I don't know too well, but it also had Sarah Chalke (Dr. Elliot Reid from scrubs) who played a very small part. Needless to say, it's a story about love, struggle, and pulling through in a marriage. The movie was very interesting, silly, and at times was even touching. I saw some deeper insights in the movie about how not to communicate with your spouse, how important it is to be open and honest and up-front with your spouse, and how important communication really is, and being a father, of course you have to look for that part. I don't know if I would buy this movie, but it was definitely worth renting, if you're looking for something that's a nice movie.

Another movie with Ryan Reynolds worth a watch is "Definitely, Maybe"

A Few More Movies

2008-07-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Vantage Point: It kinda reminded me of the Shooter and The Bourne Supremacy combined. The beginning of the movie gives you one vantage point at a time with a limited understanding of the events that are taking place up to a certain point in time. Once all the vantage points of the assassination have been shown, the movie progresses from there in the present. Everything ties together and there are some twists and turns along the way, making for a pretty decent action flick.

Michael Clayton: Throughout the movie, I kinda found myself wondering what was going on, and what Michael Clayton's purpose was. It wasn't until the very end of the movie that we gained a small insight on what his job was. The movie was entertaining, but had crude language, suggestive material, and won't be at the top of my list for movies to recommend.

Movies I just saw

2008-07-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

I just rented, "Momma's Boy" with Jon Heder, Diane Keaton, Anna Faris, and Jeff Bridges. Jon plays Jeffrey, the son who still lives at home at the age of 29, hence the name of the movie. His mom is played by Diane Keaton, who has babied him since the death of his father as a younger boy. He's got a little bit of attachment issue with his mom, and he begins to feel threatened that her new boyfriend, Self-help guru Mert played by Jeff Daniels, may steal her away from him as he tries to push him out of the house. The characters are well built-up and most seemed to perform well together. I kinda liked the quirkiness and the lack of over-the-top humor, still I found myself laughing anyways. It's rated PG-13; there is some crude language, drug use and reference, and sexual references and innuendo, which don't detract from the movie too much, not that I've ever thought they were necessary. It's worth a rent.

We also rented "Penelope," with Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, and Reese Witherspoon, among others. Besides the fact that the pig nose was a little cheesy looking, the movie was very good. I liked how they developed the story and kept it moving along without too many lulls. Basically, Penelope was born into a rich family, that had known riches for many generations. One great-great-great grand relative announced his love for a servant girl, who killed herself when he rejected her due to her stature. Her mother happened to be a witch who cursed the family. That's where pig-nosed Penelope comes in. She had been hidden away to not cast shame on the family name until the curse could be broken, but the only way to be accepted by someone of her stature, so they had to find her a man willing to marry her. It's a very touching story about trying to be happy with one's self and appearances, and coming to terms with life no matter the cards you've been dealt. Of course, there's some cheesiness factor involved. My 5 year-old enjoyed the flick, but the 3 year-old lost interest. It's rated PG, and there probably wasn't anything too bad for the kids in this one, as I said I let my kids watch it with me. They may lose interest cause it's not really a kiddie type piggy movie, but it's a good watch.

Happy Resurection Day!

2008-03-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Aka Easter. The word may have been derived from a some Pagan God or Goddess, and I don't understand how any Bunny could lay eggs, and what that has to do with the day, but needless to say, I enjoy getting together with family and friends.

Jesus tells us to remember his death on the cross... he says, "Do this in remembrance of me"... not only should we remember his death, but we should remember his resurrection as well. That's what Easter is really about. Without the resurrection of Christ my faith would be meaningless. Why? God and Jesus made promises and all had to be fulfilled.

Read this article about the fulfillment of prophecy in Jesus' resurrection. Acts 2:31 also refers to a prophecy of the "Holy One" spoken of in Psalm 16.

Jesus was more than just a prophet, and by his death and fulfillment of over 300 messianic prophecies, he is the Savior. That's what we are celebrating and that's what is important.

More about Faith and Works

2008-03-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

Romans 1:8-17 (ESV)

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you
10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—
12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
13 I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

The words used for faith and belief stem from the same root word in the Greek. There are different types of faith and belief forms, but all describe a kind trust and knowing something to be true. A belief, in our understanding of the word is something that cannot be seen as it is something internal to us. But, the type of faith described above is outward. Notice verse 8 above states, "your faith is proclaimed in all the world," which shows that faith is an observable action. Notice also verse 12, which states, "that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith." In order to be encouraged by some one's faith, it must be outwardly expressed through an action. There are many occurrences of an outward faith in the bible, where Jesus says, go your faith has healed you, when someone had touched his robe, or when they went to great lengths to reach him. If the man who was on the cross had not spoken out to Jesus, would he still have turned to him and said, you will be with me in paradise. I don't think so, because sometimes faith requires action, at least the type of faith that will save you.

Here's something real interesting. The two arguments for faith and works that supposedly contradict one-another utilize the same analogy. In Romans 4, Paul describes Abraham being justified through his faith and not through the law. James 2 also refers to Abraham putting his son on the altar, and shows that he had more than just a belief in God, he had a trust and faith in God that he acted upon, and even in the Old Testament, that type of faith had saved him. Both refer to the same events to prove their point. The points being that we are saved based on our faith and not of fulfilling the requirements of the law, but our faith must show through in our actions or what type of faith would it be. Even demons believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Like I pointed out, Faith is belief with action, the type of faith God expects is a humble faith, a faith where we subject ourselves to the Lord and try to follow the law, without boasting or being proud. Notice verse 17 of Romans 1, "The righteous shall live by faith." We are not made righteous by following the law, but through our faith with action as I pointed out last week in my previous blog. We are all sinners and we will be saved because Jesus died for those sins, but we have to have a humbling faith that others can see. We all mess up, which is why we are not saved by our works, especially not by our own doing, it is completely a gift from God, but we have to accept that gift. Accepting takes action.

Faith and Works?

2008-03-10T09:12:00.001-07:00

It's funny, I was sitting in Church one day and the pastor (not my current pastor) showed a slide of a bunch of different scriptures that talked about these apparrent contradictions between being saved by faith and some that showed being saved by works. He didn't delve any further, and I was disappointed.

Are we saved by works alone? NO.

Are we saved by faith alone? NO.

That last one probably shocked you, right? But, but the Bible says, for it is by Grace that we are saved not of works, so that any man can boast... right? And John 3:16, says that whosoever believes shall have eternal live... but it doesn't explain what is entailed in believing.

The bible further explains belief and faith in James 2:

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but
have no deeds? Can such faith save them?
15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless"

Are these Contradictions? The answer is easy, No. You must have faith, and if you really had that faith, the works would naturally follow. So, you must act upon that Faith. Faith without action is useless. Faith without love is also useless (1 Cor 13:2).

If you truly believed and had Faith, your works would follow your faith. If your actions in this world don't follow closely to your beliefs, then are you really believing? Do you really have Faith? Salvation is a Gift from God, are you willing to accept that gift and follow Him. Following requires faith and action; action requires work.

Don't be confused, there are not a specific set of works, (which is what the bible refers to when it says we are saved by grace through faith a gift from God and not of works). There is no requirement for baptism, or confession, or rosary as some will have you believe. Faith and Action go hand-in-hand; faith without action is not really faith at all.

The Case for Christ

2008-03-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading The Case for Christ... this is something that I've picked up and put down here and there. Well, I've picked it back up again, along with a few other books that amazingly all relate somehow, and actually relate to my blog a couple days ago about the diety of Jesus Christ.

One amazing point that sticks out in my mind is when the Author, Lee Strobel, is questioning John McRay, PH.D about archaelogical evidence for Christ and His Diety, this spoke directly to me.

In response to when John the Baptist was imprisoned, he asked about Jesus' identity, sent his followers to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Matt 11:3).

Jesus' response is not what we would expect.

Matt 11: 4Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are
cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to
the poor.
Lee Strobel goes on to explain:

"Through the centuries, Christians have wondered about Jesus' rather enigmatic answer. Instead of derectly saying yes or no ... Jesus' response was an allusion to Isaiah 35. But for some reason Jesus included the phrase "the dead are raised," which is conspicuously absent from the Old Testament text." (pg 142 The Case for Christ)

The book brings to light a manuscript that is referred to as 4Q521 from the Dead Sea collection that contains a version of this scripture that includes the missing phrase. This gives a definitive answer on Jesus' part. Jesus not only satisfied John the Baptist with his message of being God, but this shows through Archaeology that God is playing a huge part in sending this message to those that doubted due to this missing peice.

Another interesting aspect of the book that touches on this specific topic as well was through his discussion with Ben Witherington III, PH.D. He mentioned, not only how Jesus' alluded to himself as God through referring to the scriptures such as Daniel 7, and his radical statements that defied the Old Testament way of thinking that put him on the same level as God, but also by his mission and carrying out the mission Jesus showed that he knew he was the Son of God, and he made it known to us.

More to come...

AMERICAN IDOL TOP 12

2008-03-06T20:31:00.001-08:00

David Cook, David Archuleta, Jason Castro are the first 3 guys to be selected into the top 12.

Brooke White, and Syesha are selected and you would think that they would continue as before, but throw you off by telling Kady Malloy that she'd be the first one not to make it to the top 12; I kind of expected it to happen sooner.

David Hernandez and then Michael Johns is the next one to take a seat in the top 12. Then as I expected Luke Menard is the next to go home, whose wife was there to watch him sing "Jitterbug" on the stage for his last time on American Idol. Danny Noriega surprisingly wasn't crying.

Next to make it through was Ramiel followed by Carly and Amanda. Just one guy and one girl seats left. Two girls left standing, Asia'h and Kristy, but Asia'h goes gome. I think that Kristy should definitely stick with country as it looked as though it has helped her make it through; she needs to continue to work hard though if she's going to continue on. Asia'h sings her way off, Danny cries this time and Paula dances. Now it's down to Danny and Chikeze. I've never been so excited to see someone leave... yes... despite his decent performance, I had him and Luke going home... it seems I was right this week about the guys! Chikeze goes through.

The top 12 (in no particular order)are:
1) David Cook 2) Brooke White 3) Jason Castro 4) Michael Johns 5) Amanda Overmyer 6) David Hernandez 7) Syesha Mercado 8) Carly Smithson 9) David Archuleta 10) Kristy Lee Cook 11) Chikeze and 12) Ramiele Malubay

Top 8 Girls

2008-03-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I missed most of the show, but I will tell you that I am surprised that everyone thought so highly of Amanda's performance... as I thought it sucked. I missed almost everyone elses performances with exception to the first 4 contestants and Brooke White, but needless to say that Brooke is better than all of those girls and I'm sticking to it.

She will be in the top 3 for sure. I'm not sure which of these ladies will go home, but I'm guessing that Amanda will stick it out a little longer. Maybe Kristy Lee Cook... hmmmm?

We'll see tomorrow I guess.

American Idol: Top 8 Guys

2008-03-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

You heard them sing... or maybe you didn't, but here's my order of best to worst:

1) Michael Johns
2) David Cook
3) David Hernandez (yes, he was a stripper for male clientale... ugh)
4) David Archuleta
5) Jason Castro
6) Chikeze
7) Danny (Please vote him off by not dialing his number, I don't care what VTFW says)
8) Luke Menard (This guy needs to go too)

My Top 5 guys of the competition are Michael Johns, David Archuleta, David Cook, Jason Castro, and David Hernandez. The guys were so close this week that it was hard for me to pick between Michael Johns and David Cook for top honors. David Archuleta didn't do that hot this week compared to previous weeks, while Jason Castro and Chikeze upped their game to the point where it was hard to narrow these 4th through 6th spots. They were so close to each other this week, but I'm confident that my bottom 2 were the complete worst and need to go.

Jesus' claims to be the Son of God

2008-03-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

I've heard many people say that Jesus never claimed to be the son of God and that he was given his diety until dictated during the Nicean creed or some hokey pokey, but I tell you that Jesus was not only the Son of God, but that he made those claims as well.

The first scripture that I found was John 19:7. This isn't directly from Jesus' mouth, but it shows that Jesus not only claimed to be the Son of God, but it was known that it was his claim. Then I found Mark 14:60-62 and Luke 22:70, where Jesus answers in to the Sanhedrin that he is in fact the Son of God. Many times Jesus used the reference of the Son of Man when talking about himself during his lifetime, and his answer in Luke above pointed out the prophecy of the second coming of the Son of Man on a cloud (Daniel 7:13). Jesus also revealed to his disciples during his lifetime that he was in fact the Christ (Mathew 16:13-20).

Tell me now that Jesus was only given his Diety later on after his life. Jesus was the Son of God, and He also made those claims. He was not just a great prophet as many claim... read the bible (at least the linked scriptures) and you will not be able to say that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God, nor that he didn't claim to fulfill scriptures.

Elimination Round Last Night

2008-02-29T09:58:00.000-08:00

Last night 4 contestants were voted off.

They started with the guys, they had the back row stand up, and then there were two standing... Jason Yaeger and Danny Noriega. I thought for a second... maybe Danny will finally go home, but that wasn't the case.

Then the women's turn, Alexandrea Lushington and Amanda Overmyer were the only two standing. I was thinking that Amanda has been pretty bad of late, and she looked hideous, but then they said Alexendrea was voted off... it wasn't a big surprise for me even though I would have thought that Amanda Overmyer would have been picked over her, Alexandrea's performance over the past two weeks was worse in my opinion - slightly. Then they go down to the bottom row of women and the final two standing were Kady Malloy and Alaina Whittaker, not much of a surprise for those two as on www.dialidol.com had them listed right on the bottom. However, I didn't think that it would have been Alaina over Kady. I liked Kady initially, but she has not really been living up to my expecations and Alaina has been doing somewhat well. Oh, well.

The guys are up again and this time it's down to Luke Menard and Robbie Carrico. Luke Menard, I thought for sure would be the one to go home (and according to dialidol was on the bottom, however they claim they predicted correctly as they gave all the guys a 2-10 placing, only David A was given the top spot). Robbie Carrico went home... I guess I was a little surprised that it wasn't Danny or Luke, but he would've been my next option.

Until next week. Go Guys!!!

American Idol: Top 10 Girls

2008-02-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

The top 10 ladies in order of how I liked them:
1) Brooke White (she was the best of the night and I think the judges thought so too)
2) Carly Smithson (just a great performer and singer)
3) Ramiele Malubay (I don't think the judges liked her much, but I thought she sounded great)
4) Kristy Lee Cook (Great improvement over last week, and did a good job)
5) Syesha Mercado (Pretty good, a few pitch problems)
6) Alaina Whitaker (Okay, but pitchy)
7) Amanda Overmeyer (got bad reviews, I thought the beginning was good, but just got worse)
8) Alexandrea Lushington (kinda week for me)
9) Kady Malloy (Just didn't have it, received the worst reviews)
10) Asia'h Epherson (Randy and Paula loved her, but the beginning minute was horrible and she only sounded good at the last 10 seconds of her song)

These are just my opinion, and I also feel that the men belted out better performances this week than the ladies.

My overall favorites are still Brooke White, Carly Smithson, and Ramiele Malubay. I still like Alaina, and even though Kristy Lee Cook improved this week, I'm not sure I'm a fan (I hope she sticks with the country though, it's her sound).

Movies I've Recently Seen

2008-02-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

The Good:
No Reservations - Funny, well-acted, romantic comedy.
3:10 to Yuma - Guns-a-blazing with Russel Crowe and Christian Bale. Awesome movie.
Rescue Dawn - Interesting POW type war story, also with Christian Bale.

The Okay:
Balls of Fury - funny movie about ping-pong deathmatches.
The Hunting Party - Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, I guess I expected a little more.
Rush Hour 3 - funny in parts, but ridiculous in others. Action was great as usual.

The Bad:
Good Luck Chuck - Horrible. It wasn't just the acting, it was the lack of a plot and crudeness.
The Heartbreak Kid - Terrible. Not quite as crude as Good Luck Chuck, but nearly there. Just stupid storyline.

American Idol: Top 10 Guys

2008-02-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

Again, the men prove why this is supposed to be one of the best group of American Idol contestants ever. Except my least favorite of the week guys, everyone stepped up their game this week.

In my view this weeks top performers are:
1) David Archiletta (Last performer to go, had the crowd going wild, Paula was crying, and he got excellent reviews from the judges, basically perfect 10's)
2) David Cook (received pretty good reviews from the judges probably an 8 or 9)
3) David Hernandez (he went 6th and Simon said he was best of the night)
4) Chikeze (Excellent reviews from the judges)
5) Michael Johns (okay reviews, but I thought he did well)

Jason Yaeger probably got the worst reviews from the judges and Robbie Carrico wasn't given too high of reviews either. Jason Castro and Luke Menard got mixed reviews. I also didn't like Danny Noriega, but I think Luke Menard and Jason Yeager are in jeopardy on Thursday. This is my second week listing Luke Menard and Jason Yaeger near the bottom and I'm sure that either one or both of them will go this week.

Why do we have crosses in church?

2008-02-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

I've always wondered this: Why are crosses always displayed so predominately in church? Do we need some sort of image to remind us that Jesus died for our sins.

EXODUS 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol [or graven image] in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below."

HEBREWS 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

The cross was the method used to torture of our Lord Jesus Christ. I understand that the cross that many wear (if you're not Catholic) is empty and has been said to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus rahter than some sort of worhsipping device. The cross itself is shameful and was used for killing.

Are we partaking in Idolatry to display a cross or wear a cross? Think about it. We don't need an image of the cross, an image of Jesus, or any other engraven image as the pagans did, or a Christmas Tree to remind us of Jesus and His gift to us.

American Idol: Elimination show from 24 to 20

2008-02-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

12 guys and 12 girls performed on Tuesday and Wednesday and tonight 2 guys and 2 girls are going away. I already made my predictions in my previous blog of who I thought would be eliminated and why, let's just see how accurate that is.

The show starts and first I have to listen to all of them sing together... I guess this is just to drag it out a little longer into a full hour. I guess it would be too easy to just say, "you 2 girls... GO HOME, you two guys... GO HOME!"

Commercial time - Man, these vitamin water commercials are CrAzY!!! Where do they come up with those things? I also don't think that the show "UnHitched" looks all that interesting.

I guess I forgot about that other David (Hernandez)... he wasn't half bad, now that I think about it. Immediately, they call up Garrett Haley and just tell him he's done... just like that. BAM!!! Now, I have to listen to the horrible song that got him eliminated in the first place. I was right with this one. I really can't see how this guy made it and Josiah Leming didn't. WOW!!!

Ladies turn... "After the Break".

Going through last nights performances and the judges comments, I personally didn't think that the Asia'h chick was the best of the night as Simon said... I personally don't hear her voice selling any CD's. The call up Kristy Lee Cook, and I'm surprised she was not voted off, but I was not surprised about Amy Davis... at all. We listen to her sing, and yep it was just as bad as I remember.

Yeah... we get to watch Paula Abdul... again. I guess I didn't have to watch her on the superbowl pre-game show, but I did, and she's outdated to me. Even her outfit looks like the one from her old music videos... you remember the one with the cartoon cat. Her sound is kinda new though.

Joanne and Amanda were called up and one of them are going home, which means the rest of the women are safe and none of the others will be going home. I thought that Amanda was bad, but thinking back to Joanne's performance, she was kind of (as Simon would say) "forgettable". I personally thought that Amanda Overmyer slurred her words and didn't sound well, but she had the better reviews from the judges. Yep, Joanna has been voted off. I don't think she was that great, but there were a few worse than her that's for sure. Her performance however was forgettable and people forgot to vote for her. I guess I just like the song she sang, "I sing a little prayer for you," probably cuz I'm a fan of "My Best Friends Wedding," and her rendition definitely sounded better than Amanda's slurring and yelling. However, I was wrong about who would get voted off on this one.

It's back to the guys, and they called up Chikeze and Colton. I thought there would be an off-chance that Chikeze might creep in there, so I'm thinking he may be the one to go... wow... no Colton. In my book he was good... let's listen to his song again... or no, we'll watch their "journey" to the top 24 first. Listening to his song, I guess he wasn't top 4 guys like I thought, but it wasn't that bad... maybe votefortheworst.com had a little bit of a pull on keeping Danny alive... who knows?

That's the end. Joanna Borgella and Amy Davis are the two ladies voted off. Colton Berry and Garrett Haley are the two boys voted off. I guess I didn't think Joanna and Colton were all that bad, but I guess America did. 20 left and still my favorites Brook White and Michael Johns are still in it, and I like David Cook, Jason Castro, and Carly Smithson ... so until next week.

More American Idol - The Top 24

2008-02-21T10:01:00.000-08:00

Two nights ago the 12 guys gave their performances in front of the judges. Last night the ladies performed. The judges said that there were more talented women than men, but I think that even though there were four women I liked and four men, that the men were actually better sounding than the women. The four men whose performance I liked were Michael Johns, Jason Castro, Robbie Carrico, and David Cook. The four best women were Alaina Whitaker, Brooke White, Carly Smithson, and Ramiele Malubay. As a whole there were 6 men who did well as I think that David Archuleta and Colton Berry also were good, but as for the ladies none of the others really stood out in my mind. The judges must have been hearing something I couldn't as they loved Amanda Overmyer (the rocker), which didn't really pronounce her words but slurred them, and Alexandrea Lushington who they said "had it" was off on my ears. For the most part I had agreed with Simon on most occasions and I was surprised that he said the girls were better than the guys because I can only count 3 women he had good remarks about, but he said there were 4 great girls... hmmm?

I think that out of the guys the worst performances were Danny Noriega, Garret Haley, Jason Yaeger, and Luke Menard. I think that Danny Noriega will probably get the spunky votes like last years Sanjaya and won't get voted off. I actually think that the two bottom vote receivers will be Garraet Haley and Jason Yaeger, just my opinion although Chikeze may slip in there somehow. It still surprises me how any of these 4 or 5 guys made it over Josiah Leming (MTV Article), but that's life, and he seems to be taking it well.

As for the worst women performances, I have to say that Amy Davis was really bad. I didn't like Amanda Overmyer, Kristy Lee Cook (even though she's from Oregon), and I wasn't too sure about Asia'h or Alexandrea as their voices didn't sound that great to me even though I don't think either of them will be voted off tonight. I think Amy Davis and Kristy Lee Cook will be the most likely to be voted off tonight as they were pretty off. If VFTW (Vote For The Worst) has any pull, Amy Davis may stick around, but I find it unlikely.

Who were your faves and who were your least?

American Idol? Anyone?

2008-02-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

Yah, yah... I went from talking about football to American Idol. I'm actually into this season as all my other shows, such as Chuck, Heroes, and Grey's Anatomy are not on the air right now due to this whole writers strike BS, so I got into American Idol.

I really liked that Josiah guy... he's a talented kid, but he had a big head and thought that he needed to rewrite the song instead of just trying to sing it. Needless to say, he didn't make it, but I found some of his videos on Youtube and his MySpace page (if you don't know who he is). Of the people still in it, I really like Brooke White and a few others like Michael Johns. Who do you guys like?

Superbowl

2008-01-24T22:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's been a while. I didn't expect the Giants to make it this far, that's for sure, and I don't think anyone really did (except Giants fans).

Eli Manning has been looking better since he played the Patriots in week 17, a game that they lost by only 3 points. Do you think that Eli Manning and the Giants could actually win in the Superbowl. Part of me wants to root for the underdog, the 1st NFC team to win 3 straight road games to make it to the Superbowl, but the other part of me wants Tom Brady and the Patriots to acheive what no other team has done, reach 19-0, a feat all in its own.

As you can see, I am not really partial to either team, but its hard not to believe that the Patriots will win this game. I think it will be closer than most believe, Vegas odds have it at 13 points, but I'm thinking it'll within 7 points and even a possible Giants victory.

What's your stance?

Playoff Picture Becoming Clearer

2007-12-30T16:53:00.000-08:00

The 3 teams that were battling for the final playoff position in the NFC, the Saints, Vikings, and Redskins has been decided. The Saints lost earlier, cutting off their chances completely. The Vikings showed some promise by sending their game into overime, but the Redskins defeated their rival the Dallas Cowboys fairly impressively, as the Cowboys didn't take out their starters until the 3rd Quarter after all seemed lost anyway. We already knew that the Cowboys sealed Homefield advantage when Green Bay lost against Chicago last week, so it's hard to determine whether they were playing as hard as they could. I have to say that the Redskins defense was pretty impressive, holding the Cowboys to a total of 1 yard on the ground. If the Redskins can keep up this kind of momentum against Seattle next week, who knows, we may see them playing the 'Boys again. I'm rooting for Seattle, but it won't be an easy game.

Now, we're waiting for the tonight to see if the Titans can give the Colts another hard time. The Titans have a good team and have done well against the Colts, so I imagine in a game that doesn't really matter too much to the Colts, the Titans have a good chance to pull this one off, but we'll have to see how things pan out. This race is a little easier to understand: The Titans win, they're in; they lose, the Brown's go through. That's the picture as we see it now.

NFL So Far

2007-12-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday, December 30th, 2:30 PM. The Patriots just went 16-0, and Brady and Moss both got their two touchdowns, breaking the records I spoke of in the previous blog. The Browns won, but that is irrelevant because the Titans will determine their own fate tonight versus the Indianapolis Colts.

To my amazement, the Redskins are out in front against the Cowboys, and even more amazing is that the Vikings are getting beaten by the 6-9 Denver Broncos. If they lose that game they don't really deserve to be in the playoffs anyway. The Saints already lost, so if the Vikings lose it won't matter if the Redskins win or not, as they would have clinched the playoff spot by either winning against the Cowboys or both the Saints and Vikings losing. It looks as though, it will be the Redskins... at this point in the picture.

1 week to go

2007-12-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

Week 16 is almost over and there is one week left to go; there's one game left, but the playoff fate for tonight’s two teams has already been determined.

The playoff picture is about the same as I described last week in the NFL Rant blog, but the Jaguars, Steelers, and Giants Fates have been sealed; they are in to the playoffs (or wild-card). The Panthers have no shot as I expected. Things have gotten a little complicated with the Cleveland Browns unexpectedly losing to the Bengals in a rivalry game. They lost, now they need the Titans to lose next week... the Titans are in control; if they lose, they are NOT in the playoffs, and if they win they ARE... that simple. The Browns however, can win or lose, and they have no control over their own destiny, they've royally screwed themselves against a struggling Cincinnati team, but that's the excitement of the playoff picture.

In the NFC, The Redskins now control their destiny as well... Minnesota lost control last night when they were annihilated by the Redskins in what looked pretty pitiful as they couldn't get anything going on the ground or in the air. It looks as though their one sided offense can be stopped pretty easily. The Vikings now have to win with the Redskins loss. The Saints can still get in with a win, and a Vikings and Redskins loss. Things are looking a little bleak, but with the Vikings past performance and their single threat offense, I don't know how great their chances are; luckily, for them they are playing Denver.

Luckily for the Browns and Minnesota, they both have two abysmal teams to defeat... the Browns are playing the 49ers (although showing hope with a 2 game winning streak behind QB Shaun Hill and 3 out of their last 5) and the Broncos are playing against the Vikes, so these should be wins or they don’t really deserve to be in the playoffs anyway. And as long as the Vikes win they don't have to worry about the Saints, and the Redskins are playing the tough Dallas Cowboys who seem to be falling out of their groove in the past few weeks. Even though home field advantage has been locked up for the boys in Dallas, they may play tough against the Redskins to get back into the flow of things before the playoffs since they have a bye that first week. If by chance all the blocks fall into place and the Vikings and Redskins both Lose, the Saints would still have to win against Chicago.

However, for the Browns (win or lose) they have to hope the Titans lose. Luckily for the Browns, the Titans are playing the Indianapolis Colts, but we'll have to see how much of an effort the Colts will actually put in against this team with the bye already locked up for the first week of playoffs. It’s hard to say how hard the Colts will play, but I’m hoping that they understand the importance of playing tough.

Well, good luck to all your favorite teams as mine is out… part of me wants the Browns to make it, and the other part of me wants my 49ers to crush them even though it does no good for my team, but it does stick one to Patriots (who have their first round draft pick due to a trade).

Back to watching the Record Books... Randy Moss and Tom Brady both need two touchdowns a piece to break the single-season records for most TD's in a season. Moss is at 21 Reception TD's and needs 1 to tie Jerry Rice and two to hold the record. Brady is at 48 TD's tying Dan Marino, but needs 1 more to tie Peyton Manning and two to take the Record.

NFL Rant

2007-12-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

It will be New England, Indianapolis and the Chargers in the AFC playoffs for sure. The Jaguars, Steelers and Browns will most likely all make it as well, but the Titans have a small chance for the wild-card, so unless a miracle happens for Tenessee, it will be the Chargers, Jaguars, Steelers and Browns in the wild card. If Tenesse loses 1 game, the Jags, Steelers and Brown clinch a spot. Here's what needs to happen for the Titans to get a spot, they have to win both games, and possibly if Jacksonville loses both games, but since they would have the same conference records and same head-to-head records, I think that the Jaguars would win in this scenario in a tie-breaker. The Titans real hope is that either the Steelers or Browns lose both of their next two games, if they both lose both their games the Steelers will clinch their division due to tie-breaker, and then the Titans would have to win both games against the Jets and Colts (unlikely) to oust the Browns. I don't see the Browns losing against Cinci or San Fran, so if they win their games, then they have to hope that the Steelers lose both their games and then we are in another tie-braker situation. If the Titans lose 1 game, then the AFC playoff picture is pretty much as I stated above, the only difference will be who plays whom.

In the NFC, Dallas, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, and Seattle have all clinched a spot. Dallas and Green Bay are sure bye's that first week. The NY Giants are set for a wild-card spot, the Vikings have a great chance, but the Saints and Redskins aren't out of the picture yet. This race is a little closer, since Minnesota and Washington play each other next week; so if the Saints win their remaining games (agains Philly and Chicago), and the Redskins beat out the Vikes next week, the Saints will have the spot over both the Redskins and the Vikes due to Conference Records. The Panther's only chance is if Washington beats Minnesota since Minnesota has the better record, and then Washington loses to Dallas (pretty likely), but the Panthers would have to win both their games against Dallas and Tampa Bay (very unlikely), then in this case the Panthers have a shot because even though their records are tied, their conference record would beat out both Washington and Minnesota, assuming that Minnesota loses to both Washington and Denver, but unlikely. However, there is a great chance that Washington can beat Minnesota, and will lose to Dallas, so for all you Panther fans out there... start praying, their schedule isn't looking promising though. The Redskins need to win against both Minesota and Dallas, and the Saints will have to lose one of their remaining games against the sub-par Chicago and Philly teams, so even if Minnesota wins against Dallas, the Redskins would get the spot due to the head to head game (if they win next week). If Minnesota wins just one game against the Skins or Dallas then the Skins can't get in, but Minnesota will only clinch if the Saints lose one of the following 2 games, because the Saints would win in a tie-breaker against Minnesota.

Brett Favre just broke Dan Marino's career record for most passing yards in a career, but it doesn't look like he nor Tom Brady have a shot to steal his record of most yards in a season of 5084; Brady would have to average 425 ypg in the final two to take that record. Tom Brady also needs 5 more TD's to steal the record from Manning of 49 TD's in a season (that record was 48, previously held by Marino until 2004), but Brett Favre already has the record for Most TD's in a career that he took earlier this season and now has over 440, which is 20 more than Marino, and continues to make it harder for anyone else to come close over their lifetime.

It doesn't look as though Peterson has a shot to break the rookie record for rushing in a rookie season, but he already holds the all time record for most yards in a game of 296, so who's complaining? He's 3rd in the standings for total yards this season right below Willie Parker and LT even after missing 2 games due to injury, and IMO is a sure-fire win for Rookie of the Year honors. On the Defensive end, my man Patrick Willis has to be a top candidate for the Defensive Rookie of the Year.

49ers pull off another win

2007-12-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the Bengals aren't really doing all that well this season either, and the win was by one touchdown (that the Bengals almost had), but it was a win none-the-less. The win doesn't really help, but it doesn't hurt the 49ers either. Who is this Shaun Hill guy? A rookie? No, he's been in the NFL for 6 seasons, but hasn't played but one game (and another in 2002 that looks as though all he did was kneel) and that was last week in which he didn't start. He's got 1 start and 3 total games under his belt now, but I'm sure he's very experienced by now being in the league for so long. It's a little late now, and maybe too early to tell about Shaun Hill, but he is getting his chance to prove himself. Alex Smith is over-rated in the 49ers eyes, and I'm hoping Shaun Hill is more than meets the eye.

Gas Stations in Oregon

2007-12-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

I live in Oregon now, and I'm just getting the hang of the idea that I have to let people pump my gas for me. My wife's car has the gas cap on the drivers side and mine is on the passenger, but this morning I wasn't thinking and pulled in on the wrong side up to the pump. The attendant says to me, "You need to turn your car around." So, I do. I get out of the car and stand there for 2 to 3 minutes before a different attendant walks up. It's actually not permissable to pump your own gas, I don't know what would happen if I just did, but I was getting pretty upset waiting there. As a different attendant walks up, he says, "What can I get you?" Obviously, my answer was, "Gas!" I was pretty upset, but all I could do was laugh after I said that. I didn't get the nicest response, but I deserved it. Anyways... I could've pumped my gas and gotten out of there before the attendant even came up and talked to me (the second time), but I guess it's good for the Oregon economy as it gives some people jobs.

Another team gives the Patriots a run for their money

2007-12-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

Are the Patriots heads getting too big? Did they even prepare for this game? They were behind and chasing the Ravens the whole game, but the Ravens offered them a helping hand every time they were down. Tom Brady throws an interception... here have it back Tom Brady. 4th Quarter 10 minutes left, Ravens up by a score... here you go Pats, as Boller puts his lead in jeopardy with a long bomb that's intercepted. I'll admit, the game was a nail biter down to the very last second. Two weeks in a row now a sub-par team has given the Patriots a horrible time, but somehow the Patriots pull out the win.

The 49ers lose again after putting up was a hopeful turn-around last week. Adrian Peterson keeps his lead as the leagues leading rusher after missing out 2 games due to injury. LT pulls off an astounding 170 something yards and 2 TD game over the Cheifs to close in on AP. Tom Brady now has 41 TD's this season and only needs 9 more to break the record, that's a little over 2 TD's per game for the last 4; he could also possibly break the record Dan Marino set for total passing yards in a season, but he would have to throw over 350YPG in his final 4, and Favre also has a chance too. In order for Adrian Peterson to break the Rookie rushing yards in a single season needs to average over 150 yards per game to break that record in his final 4 games. He will be hands-down the Offensive Rookie of the year, and San Francisco's Patrick Willis will probably be the Defensive Rookie of the year. (Stats and Records received from www.nfl.com)

Enchanted

2007-11-30T23:09:00.000-08:00

My wife and I took the kids to the matinee to see "Enchanted." I have to say that I was entertained and enjoyed the movie. I'm not sure that the movie was geared toward children because there was some adult humor, however it was not as bad as other supposed children movies with their unexpected innuendos. "Enchanted" was funny and entertaining, for both me and the kids, but I don't think my 2 year old was quite as interested as my 5 year old; she was more interested in a little girl a few seats down from her, but overall she did well at the movies. This movie is more of a play-on all Disney movies than a new fairytale, but they did in such a way that it wasn't ridiculous or over-the-top like other parodies. They kept it pretty fresh and humorous, even if it was pretty obvious what would happen at the end, but there were still a few surprises here and there. Overall, I give the movie an A-, and it's fun for parents to watch with their kids too (at least they give you an excuse to watch it).

How 'bout them 49ers?

2007-11-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I know the 49ers suck, but they are still my team. I grew up loving them and I can't just forget about them while they're down. They broke an 8 game losing streak and helped out the Seahawks in the process. I did live in the Seattle area for the past 7 years, so I can be happy that their win over the Cardinals helped out the Seahawks and giving them hope. I'm not too attached to the Seahawks though, as I know there are plenty of other teams that will waste them in the playoffs, but the NFC is pretty weak right now with the exception of the Packers and the Cowboys, so the Seahawks have a pretty good chance of getting past the wild card game. Green Bay and Dallas are doing awesome, and next week we've got these two 10-1 teams battling it out. Oh, how exciting. I hope it's a battle to the end, a nail-biter, within 7 points where one team has a final 2 minute drive to bring the game into overtime... Stuff the 49ers would pull off in their hey-day. You know.

I finally hit the $3 mark in Moola

2007-11-26T16:49:00.001-08:00

Okay, I've been playing for a little over a week, and I'm taking it kinda slow.

First you need an invite... which you can get HERE Check it out.

If you don't know what Moola is, it's a FREE website that upon sign-up gives you 1 penny. You have the chance to double that penny up, and the idea is if you double up that penny 30 times, you will have won $10 Million dollars... moohahhahaha.

Once you've signed up... you can earn money in Moola just by inviting your friends to come play. I have not received any spam or complaints from any of my friends for receiving any spam from Moola. Another way to earn money is through boosters, which is where you buy stuff from their affiliate online stores and receive a little bit of a kickback that you can use toward games.

The most fun way to earn money is through challenging others in one of three games: Hi/Lo, Ro-Sham-Bo Fu, and Gold Rush.

My strategy so far has been to play at the lower levels and build myself up slowly. Search and Spin as much as possible and try not to wager all of your earnings in one game. Sure, if you win you will have doubled your money, but if you lose you have to start all over again from level 1. It is so hard to rebuild from nothing. But, if you have a little bit to start with its easier to bounce up from losses. Right now, I am betting about the 10% of my total level, but I am trying not to drop below $3. So, if I had 3.05, I would bet .04 and then if I got up to 3.09 I would bet .08. This is just my tactic for now, I set small goals and try not to fall below that level. I guess that I could continue to play at the 10% level and bet .16 to .32, but if I took a couple hits, I'd be right back down to $2 and less.

Look below for some strategy to these games that has given me a greater than 50% winning percentage in Gold Rush.

My Favorite Moola Game

2007-11-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

I love Gold Rush. You, your opponent, and the "mine" all have 6 stones starting at 1 lb increasing to 6. 1 stone will pop out of the mine and you must determine what the best stone is to use against your opponent with the overall goal to reach 32 lbs before your opponent. If your weight is greater than your opponent than you win the gold in the middle; for instance if a 4 lb gold stone comes out of the mine and you throw a 3 and your opponent throws his 4 lb gold, then he would have a score of 11 to your 0.

Here's an example of some of the luck of this game. I was recently playing an opponet and the first stone to come out of the mine was the 1 lb stone. A lot of times an opponent will play a 1 in this situation, so I play my 2. The second stone comes out and it's a 2, I could play my 1, but I go with the 3 here and so does my opponent. Now, this is a tie, so when the 5 stone comes out there are a total of 13 lbs worth of stones in the center. Sometimes you'll play against a player who will toss out a lower weight here, but my lowest weight is 1 and his is a 2. He would win 13 lbs at the cost of his 2 lb stone. So, I opt to throw my next lowest of a 4 and my opponent throws his 6 stone. Now he/she is leading me 23-4. Looks pretty bad, but my opponent doesn't have a 6 stone and his best stone that he has is a 5. The 4 stone pops out of the mine, so I'm in a bad position here because if my opponent throws his 5 and I throw my 1 it will give him enough points to win. Luckily for me I still have a 5 and a 6. So, I throw my 5, he/she throws his 2 and I win. Now the 3 stone comes out. I know that if the opponent throws his 5 against my 1 that he will win, but throwing his 5 against my 6 is sure defeat. So, he throws his 4 against 1 he wins, but this puts him at 31. I got real lucky that he didn't throw his 5. It's a gamble and I got lucky. He got unlucky. I could tell that the player I was against was skillful and had a gameplan. It fell through, but that's the thing about these type of games there's a lot of luck involved and I barely won 32-31. Either way, we both were skillful, just one of us got lucky.

Moola games. Complete luck or skill?

2007-11-17T00:13:00.000-08:00

HI/LO - Pretty much a game of luck. The only skill involved is knowing when to lock in your cards and getting lucky that it doesn't hurt you in the long run.

Ro-Sham-bo-fu - This game is mostly luck, but they add a twist that makes it a little more skill. The first set is worth 3 points, but if you don't use Rock you get a bonus of 2 points. Even if the other player wins you will at least get the 2 point bonus for not choosing Rock in this scenario. This leaves only Paper or Scissors, and since both players are given the same bonus option, the best option in this scenario is to choose scissors because it beats paper. Here's the reason: you choose scissors, even if your opponent chooses Rock he only gets 3 points and loses out on his bonus, but you get the bonus. Now, the score is 3 to 2. If your opponent also chooses scissors, you tie and each get 2 points. On the off-chance your oppent picks paper, you win and get 3 points plus 2 bonus - the score is 5 to 2. On the first move this is really your best option.

Second Round. If their was a tie in the previous round, this round will be worth 6 points. Here's where more luck comes in. You have to guess what your player will do next. Let's assume the next bonus is if you don't pick Paper. Do you think that your opponent will stay safe and pick Rock (using the methodology described above)? If so, then pick paper lose out on the 2 point bonus, but pick up the 6 points. Or, do you think that your opponent will also be sneaky and pick Paper for the win, then you could go with Scissors, which would not only give you the 6 points for the win, but 2 points for the bonus and your opponent would get none; however, this move is risky because you may be against a player who only goes with the bonus, and you will be out the win here and be down 6 ponts. You really have to poke around and figure out what type of player you are against... with all things said, it's still a lot of luck. But, there's a lot of players who only pick one of the two bonus items, which is a definite win for any player who reads this.

Gold Rush - There's definitely a little bit of skill involved in this little game. For instance, the first stone comes out and it's a six, and naturally (if you know nothing about the game) you want to throw a 6 stone at it. Your opponent throws a 1 stone and you get 13 points. You think you did good, but now, the 5 stone comes out and both you and your opponent throw a 5 stone, which results in a tie and 15 points in the middle. You have no chance in winning this because your opponent has a 6 and you already wasted it so you end up losing the game. There is still a lot of luck involved, trying to get a read on an opponent you've never played. Are they going to throw a 1, 2, or 3 stone first. I haven't quite developed a winning game plan yet, but I've won my fare share. I usually come out throwing a 2 or 3 stone. I expect on a 6 stone that my opponent will throw out his 6 stone, so I throw my 1 stone. As long as I play my stones right I have a pretty good chance to win once my opponent gets rid of his 6 stone. You really have to pay attention to whats out there though and figure out what your opponent needs to win. Once you or your opponent reach 32 the game is over... so keep that in mind.

Here's a rundown of a recent game to show how luck and skill are both involved:

First, the 4 comes out of the mine. It's probable that an opponent will throw just a 1 here, but a lot of times they will throw a 2, so I throw 3 and my opponent throws a 1. Score 8-0.
Second, a three comes out. I know the player just played his 1, and will most likely play his 2 here, so I just give it to him by playing my 1. He plays a 2, and wins. Score 8-6.
Third, a 1 comes out. This is kind of unlucky for me because my opponent has used his 2 lowest gold pieces already, so I will lose this one, but I throw my 2 anyways. My opponent throws his 3 and wins. Score 8-12. Now, we're even with stones (we both have a 4,5, and 6) and my opponent has the lead.
Fourth, a 5 comes out. I'm thinking that my opponent will most likely throw a 5 or 6. If we both throw 6's, we end up in a tie, and since he has the lead it is a sure win for him, so I don't want to throw my 6; my only chance is throwing a 4, so I throw out my 4. My opponent throws his 6 and he wins. Score 8-27.
Fifth, the 2 comes out. You would think that I'm in the dumps here... down 27-8. But I have a 5 and 6. My opponent only has a 4 and 5. There is no possible way that he can win. See, that last move sealed his fate. He gambled thinking that I would throw a 6, but I knew that I couldn't win by throwing a 6, but he did... now he's done. I don't care about the size of the stone that comes out at this point. I have a 5, 6 and my opponent has a 4, 5. I will win. I have to throw my 5 first because the best he can do is tie, no matter what. He hopes that I'll mess up and throw my 6 here, so he throws his 4 (his only chance). I win. Score 19-27.
Sixth, the 6 comes out. I have a 6 left my opponent has a 5. I win.

If my opponent would have played his 4 on the 4th stone... maybe I throw a 6 as he thought I might do. He would still have won. If you are in the lead and you and your opponent both have stones 4,5, and 6 left. It's probably better just to throw your 4. We would have tied, then throw the 6 and he would automatically win for going over 32 points. He had the lead, so even if we ended up with a stalemate he would have won.

Here's the different ways it could've have ended if my opponent played his 4 first:

I throw a 4,6, then 5 and he throws the same, we tie, but he still wins because he had more points.
I throw a 5. I win this round. Score 22-27. But now I have only a 4 and 6 left. My opponent has a 5 and 6. Stones 2 and 6 are left. When stone 2 drops, if my opponent drops his 6 and I throw a 4, he will win. If he drops his 6 and I drop my 6, we tie, but all those points go into the center and he will still win.
I throw a 6. I win this round. Score 23-27. And now, I'm in the predicament he was. (He wins)

There is a lot of logic involved in this game, as you can see there is a little bit of luck too.

If it's free, It's for me!

2007-11-15T17:54:00.000-08:00

The Medium is the Message: If It's Free, It's For Me (?)

That's been my motto ever since one of my good friends from way back used it first; yah, so, I'm a motto borrower. Here's a free site, and you can actually earn money playing it. It's by invite only, but it's free in-as-much as you get to play games and possibly win money. If it's for free it's for me, and if it's fun, it's for me too.

interested in an invite to play Moola and win money for FREE... check out this link:
http://joels-onlinestore.blogspot.com/

Anyone watching Football?

2007-11-12T17:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm talking about the NFL. I only caught the last few minutes of the Colts - Chargers game, but I was sure the Chargers were going to chalk up another loss, and the Colts were going to add another win to their record. I was at work, checking the scores keeping track of San Diego's 5 INT's and 23-0 score. And if you didn't watch the game, you're probably thinking, the Colts blew that big of a lead, no the Chargers did. I'm not a huge Colts fan, and I wanted them to have their success last year, but I wanted the Chargers to win this game. When I got home, I turned on the TV and the Chargers were only ahead by 2 points and I could only watch as the Colts make their final drive down to the 6 yard line, the weird thing was, I was rooting for them on this drive. What they were doing lining up on 4th and 1 with a few minutes left in the game down by 2 points, I guess you could try to draw a penalty and lose some more time off the clock, but I guess Tony Dungy didn't have much faith in the Indy Defense cause a sure field goal would have won the game (which may have not made it anyway). They tried to draw an encroachment penalty and they were called on a false start penalty because they had too many men moving that were trying to insinuate a snap. With the penalty they had no choice than to go for the field goal, which missed slightly to the right. They were brilliant in their defense, but only had 22 seconds left to attempt another drive, and that's when Peyton Manning threw his 6th INT of the night. It was almost pitiful to see the Chargers barely hold onto a 23 point lead like that, but even more pitiful to watch Vinatieri not be able to notch up a field goal from 29 yards out.

Then, you've got teams like the Vikings, who have all of one good offensive player, rookie Adrian Peterson, who notched up and NFL record of 296 yards in their victory of the Chargers last week. He goes down in the 3rd quarter, but they were already being shutout by the Green Bay Packers, but this pretty much ensured they would stay down; they'll probably be down for another game next week as Peterson is expected to be out for one more week, but it's not like they have a shot at the playoffs or anything, but it would be nice to see Adrian Peterson break some more records. Bret Favre was just ridiculous out there; he's averaging over 300 YPG this season and on track to pass Dan Marino in total career passing yards. Before Favre signed on for another season, I was sure it was time for him to retire, with two horrible seasons behind him. He came back and proved me wrong. Now the Packers are 8-1, and Favre is leading the league in passing yards... I guess I'll root for the geezer, I actually have his rookie card where he's wearing a Falcons jersey.

What's up with the 49ers? I know they suck, they've lost 6 straight games. They've got an astonishing defensive rookie LB Patrick Willis, who was leading the league in Tackles, and a decent CB Nate Clements, and an okay defensive unit. Their offense is just horrendous; last year Frank Gore averaged 100 YPG, notching up almost 1700 yards on the ground, and this year averaging 62.1 and hasn't reached 100 yards in a game yet. He's supposed to play against Seattle tomorrow in what I'm sure will be another loss for them. San Fran's offensive line just sucks, and this doesn't help out their passing game either; they are dead last with a little over 130 YPG through the air. That is horrible. Shaun Alexander isn't doing much better, even if he gets healthy he's only had two 100 yard games this season. Seattle has only won 1 out of their last 4 games... but I'm almost certain, they'll win this one, unless the 49ers pull something out of their butts. I love the 49ers and like the Seahawks, but I don't see the 49ers winning this game.

Kanye's West's mom dies at 57

2007-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=7054613e-ed4d-4e9b-9630-eeb1bab84c08&entry=index&sid=rss_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Can you believe that? I know there are risks in everything we do: from driving in your car, flying in an airplane, to just going to the doctors office, but it must create a lot of questions and wonders when it happens during a routine surgery that probably wasn't necessary. Risks are a part of everyday life, I have a buddy who got a staph infection that forced him out of the military from a dentist who didn't sterilize their tooth pique. One of my friend's daughters also got an infection from a nurse who didn't wash their hands prior to being handled. There are so many risks today that there is no possible way that we can figure them all out. But, I am sure that when something horrible like this happens we must be questioning what would drive someone to get plastic surgey. Then again, what drives people to do anything. There are always some sort of risk compared to the benefit, and we must outweight the risk to the gain and the probabilities of that risk occurring. I'm sure that the occurrences of death from plastic surgery are about as good odds as winning the lottery, but I'm thinking that this headline will make some celebrities think twice before going under the knife for the sake of their personal beauty.

Transformers

2007-11-05T14:38:00.001-08:00

I grew up watching Transformers, Thundercats, and He-Man, but unlike most of the world, I don't remember anything about those shows other than small bits of information. A few of my friends said, "Oh, they totally ruined Transformers..." blah, blah, blah. I don't remember any of that stuff, I guess it is because I lived in a time and a place where my parents forced me to play outside and get away from the television set. I could only watch 30 minutes of televsion a day, so I was lucky to see any one show on a given day. Needless to say, I pushed the movie off until the DVD came out, it would have been nice to watch in Hi-Def, but of course Paramount is not supporting Blu-ray, so that could not happen for me as I refuse to buy HD-DVD until they win or PS3's fall off the face of the earth. After all was finished, I thought the Transformers movie was great. It had a lot of action, was fun to watch, and kept me entertained. I guess if you're looking for originality in movies then Transformers was not for you, but if you just like to be entertained and enjoy a little comedy, action, and romance all put together into one fun movie, then you might like it.

What's with television shows these days?

2007-10-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

There are multiple shows on the air that are a great watch these days, but get horrible ratings. And they keep bringing shows on the air that just plain suck - "Cavemen" for instance. And how is it that, "Dancing with the Stars" is doing so well and "Chuck" is doing so bad? It doesn't make sense to me, but everyone has their own taste. Don't get me wrong, I watched a part of one season of "Dancing with the Stars", but you've seen one star dance, you've seen them all.

Maybe the issue is that there is no possible way to know what people are actually watching. Ratings are a mere statistical analysis of the 25,000 people selected to participate in the Neilsen ratings (www.neilsenmedia.com) that are selected to approximate the actual population in age, race, status, etc. That's right, this group of analysts proclaim that 7 Million viewers (random number) watched "My Name is Earl" last night compared to the 12 Million that watched "Cave Men." But, they only know for certain that a majority of the 25,000 people that have agreed to be monitored by the aforementioned research group were actually watching "Cavemen"... the statistics are just that, STATISTICS.

My First Opinion Post

2007-10-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

My family and I flew one of the smallest airlines we've ever been on; have you ever heard of Frontier Airlines? They were so small that the people who checked our bags in were also the people at the gate when we were boarding. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing as it just seemed like they worked in their own time and at their own pace, which was slow. I'll have to admit, though, the flight was rather enjoyable and the flight attendants were pretty pleasant. While my children were crying, one of the flight attendants was nice enough to purchase the in-flight movie for them, which calmed them down immediately, and seeing my frustration and pain he also gave me a Jack to go with my Coke. I also met some pretty cool people, or single-serving friends as they were called in the movie Fight Club, and we discussed things such as religion, sports, and life. Its awesome how much you can open up to someone you hardly know when flying on a plane.