i am a millennial. this is one of the labels for the generation (who hates being labeled) probably best described vaguely as being born between late 70’s and late 90’s. this seems to be the generation that everyone in america wants to figure out. i have identified a couple statements that describe how i approach the world around me, and i think some in my generation might agree with them. *

i prefer written communication. the implication is that i do whatever i can to say exactly what i mean, and i expect the same. mean what you say, or don’t mean anything that you say (for complete sarcasm: see Stephen Colbert’s book) i can handle either of those, but i am not good at translating whatever is in the middle - part lie, sometimes honest, mostly dramatic vacant language.
marriage works? most of our parents’ marriages ended up in divorce (i am a rare exception!). preachers do evil things that get exposed, and i grew up in a culture branded by broken promises. i watched words not translate into life. i have learned our obsession with security and sanitation is empty. the god of money is disappointing and boring. i noticed that hiding and faking it didn’t work for the generation(s) before me. if you need a good example of how our words have become meaningless just look at prayer. most of the phrases you and i use in prayer are cliche (see: [re]understanding prayer by Kyle Lake, the best book i have ever read! Thank you Tanya!). we use prayer for transitions and crowd control. also, what does it mean to have a “best friend”.

i am skeptical of all advertising. and everything is advertising.

The purpose of the vast majority of advertising today is not to inform consumers so they can make wise choices; instead, the intention is to persuade consumers to buy the advertised product, regardless of whether it will yield the satisfaction they have been led to expect. Much of today’s advertising is targeted at children, turning impressionable children into naive persuaders of parents. Most advertising today could be correctly labeled as “disinformation by design”. [from Sustainable Capitalism by John Ikerd]

most of the kids in my generation reject marketing. this doesn’t mean it doesn’t work; we just don’t like being brainwashed. i want to know: what do i really need and why? give me something useful and meaningful. i feel this most in the church. to ask “how can we get your generation to come to church?” is like asking “how can we get your generation to sing karaoke?” the flip side is that i like anti-marketing marketing (complete sarcasm: see Apple commercials)

in conclusion: (and application!)
- get a thesaurus and dictionary combination and use it. find the word that means what you want to say. if you can’t find a word that means exactly what you are trying to say use multiple words, or make up your own word.

- don’t “try” to reach me. don’t create another program for me or assume that i love the programs you already put on. please don’t get angry at me becasue i don’t understand why you are doing what you do. if you want to have anything to do with me i prefer a friendship with a real “no strings attached”. and i am good at smelling out the hidden agenda. save the money you would spend on marketing and use it to do something meaningful in the world. help someone. if we hear of it, we might be inspired to see more about the who, what and why you are. please spend the time to think through the why you are. if you try to fake an answer or it isn’t an inspiring answer i will be very disappointed.

church? just because we reject or question the modern church doesn’t mean we reject Jesus. you can’t get offended at our rejection of your advertising, programming, or the performance currently called church. it’s nothing personal, we just don’t feel right about it, so we probably won’t show up.

*i do not claim to be an expert on this subject in any sense or dimension, nor do i feel like i have exhausted the subject. i am most likely very wrong and wasted your time by even suggesting that you consider reading this. this is probably just a rambling post of complacency and cynicism. and sorry if uncapitalized words, bad grammar, or misspellings offend you. oh yeah, i don’t like fine print either!

20 years from now you will look back on your self today, and if you could say something to yourself you probably would say two things: “it gets better” and “brush your teeth.”

David is starting things early learning to climb the stool in the bathroom and chew on a wet toothbrush (which we hope and expect will eventually turn into brushing and caring for his teeth on a regular basis).

So our encouragement to you this season is don’t forget to brush… it’s just a good idea. I have found the best way to brush my teeth is with an electric tooth brush that has the two minute timer. but that’s just me.

See David climb the stool to brush on YouTube
Brushing Teeth set in Flickr
Brushing and Flossing: An Animated Demo

my christmasnewyearanniversarybirthday gift this year was a much needed upgrade to my sprint cell phone. my 2-year contact was expired, and that means big deals for naive unknowing consumers who are willing to sign yet another 2-year wemakemoneyandyouloseoutnomatterwhat contract.

i got the new UpStage phone (in black) which is a phone on one side and filps over to expose an mp3 player. it is super thin, and super small, and feels very fragile. Julie guesses i will break it in less than 3 months. i been extra careful to prove her wrong. i know i can last for 4 months at least.

it is an amazing piece of technology. really amazing. and if i can’t have an iPhone, it’s the next best thing (and much much cheaper for a new contract customer). the only thing i can say about this phone, that can make it possibly more functional than an iPhone is the size… it is considerably smaller (which can be worse in some cases… possibly my case).

now when you’ve upgraded to a new phone you have to ask yourself two questions:
1. how do i do what i want to do on this phone?
(what i did i do on my old phone? what do i need to get done or know how to do? what are the essential functions?)

2. what can this phone do that my other phone could not?
(what is something it does that i don’t know how to do? what is something i need to start doing? what new features will help me be more productive and efficient where i need it?)

i am still learning some of the features, and having fun experimenting and learning how to navigate a new tool. i have learned that i get a lot of energy from having to learn and adapt to new things.

UpStage on YouTube
UpStage C-Net Review
http://tryphone.com (online phone test-drive)

i have great memories being at the Kirkman’s house and playing “Fagen Scrabble” as i called it (if i remember right, they called it fast scrabble). It was a great game of speed, spelling, and fun.

i just found out that someone has made the game official, and marketed it as banagrams. during our anniversary date to olive garden and walking around the mall, i happened to see this game packaged in a cloth banana peal.

it’s a really simple game, and if you are bored of the typical scrabble this might be a nice alternative. all you really need is a set of scrabble letters, a table and the rules.

http://www.bananagrams-intl.com/instructions.asp