Wednesday. What kind of name is Wednesday anyway? One would think we could have been a little more creative with the name of a day that we are going to repeat once a week for the rest of our natural lives. And as much as I really hate to say this, we really bite as a creative species!
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Last Taco Tuesday of the Decade.
Given the fact that this is the last Taco Tuesday of the decade, I want you all to party hard with your favorite kind of Tacos and remember something very important: There are no such thing as a " Taco Checkpoints!" Happy Taco Tuesday!
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas Everybody!!!
By the way, did you know there is already a line of people outside of Wal-mart waiting to return gifts they haven't even opened yet?
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
How to score with Santa.
If you want a sure fire way of getting more presents from Santa this year, do what I'm going to do. Instead of leaving stale Christmas cookies like everybody else, leave fresh Tacos instead! (I'm going to score so big with this!) Happy Taco Tuesday!
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday Afternoon
Its Friday afternoon and my brain has started its weekend without me.
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A quick note
I'm tired but thank you for your patience during this down time. I promise to make it up to you.
- Posted front the Twilight Zone...you know, the one without the vampires in it.
- Posted front the Twilight Zone...you know, the one without the vampires in it.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Test
Testing new phone
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
To think, or not to think...that is the question.
When I do watch TV, other than watching my beloved Dallas Cowboys, all I seem to watch is the History Channel, the Food Network or the National Geographic Channel, or as they like to call it “Nat-Geo”. And I got to thinking as to why I only seem to gravitate to these channels. Am I getting older? Are my tastes changing? Am I now becoming too lazy to do some serious channel surfing?
Well, one thing that I do know is that I can not sit down and watch the mindless dribble that is on network TV. When I say “mindless dribble” I am speaking specifically to the area of Sitcoms. I’m sorry, I’m a writer. I’ve seen the material that is being passed along to the masses as “entertainment” and based on what I’ve seen; the entertainment industry is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in their efforts to put out what they are calling “quality” entertainment. Granted there are some very interesting drama shows out there, but for the most part, I can’t, for the life of me, sit down and watch network TV anymore.
Now, why do most people watch TV? The answer is that they want to be amused. Well, when you breakdown the word “amused” it goes something like this: “A” means, at least in the root of the word, “to not”. “Muse” means “to think.” So, when you are “Amused” you are “Not Thinking.” And isn’t that why we watch TV in the first place? We watch it so we don’t have to think. So that we don’t have to exert ourselves in order to become better people. We take the time to shut down our mental facilities and let somebody else do the thinking for us. Because, in case you haven’t noticed, it seems that the entertainment industry is setting trends that the rest of society blindly follows. TV has become our thinking process and our society has blindly buying into the media’s agenda instead of us thinking and acting upon our own. In fact, there are those that take what is said on TV as truth, i.e. the news, sitcom situations, even events on channels such as the History Channel, Nat-Geo and so forth.
The fact is that sometimes we spend so much time in front of our TV’s that we forget that we have an obligation to find out if what they are telling us is indeed truth. TV has a way of using what I call “assumptive language” in a way to get there point across. For example, Nat-Geo, when talking about how old the earth is, always says its 4.3 billion years old. And the way they say it, is as if it was a fact. Problem is, they are assuming, by faith, it is a fact because they espouse the evolutionary theory. There is no scientific fact for the theory of evolution. But if a creationist would to come up to them and say that the earth is about 7,000 years old, he’d be laughed at because they’d claim his statement was based on religious belief and not on scientific fact.
So, what am I saying? Simple; Do not believe everything you see on TV. Yes, there are some good shows on TV, but when you do watch TV, don’t check your brain at the door. Think before you believe. Find out to see if what they are saying is true. Do your homework. Who knows, you maybe spending more of your time “musing” vs. being “amused.”
Well, one thing that I do know is that I can not sit down and watch the mindless dribble that is on network TV. When I say “mindless dribble” I am speaking specifically to the area of Sitcoms. I’m sorry, I’m a writer. I’ve seen the material that is being passed along to the masses as “entertainment” and based on what I’ve seen; the entertainment industry is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in their efforts to put out what they are calling “quality” entertainment. Granted there are some very interesting drama shows out there, but for the most part, I can’t, for the life of me, sit down and watch network TV anymore.
Now, why do most people watch TV? The answer is that they want to be amused. Well, when you breakdown the word “amused” it goes something like this: “A” means, at least in the root of the word, “to not”. “Muse” means “to think.” So, when you are “Amused” you are “Not Thinking.” And isn’t that why we watch TV in the first place? We watch it so we don’t have to think. So that we don’t have to exert ourselves in order to become better people. We take the time to shut down our mental facilities and let somebody else do the thinking for us. Because, in case you haven’t noticed, it seems that the entertainment industry is setting trends that the rest of society blindly follows. TV has become our thinking process and our society has blindly buying into the media’s agenda instead of us thinking and acting upon our own. In fact, there are those that take what is said on TV as truth, i.e. the news, sitcom situations, even events on channels such as the History Channel, Nat-Geo and so forth.
The fact is that sometimes we spend so much time in front of our TV’s that we forget that we have an obligation to find out if what they are telling us is indeed truth. TV has a way of using what I call “assumptive language” in a way to get there point across. For example, Nat-Geo, when talking about how old the earth is, always says its 4.3 billion years old. And the way they say it, is as if it was a fact. Problem is, they are assuming, by faith, it is a fact because they espouse the evolutionary theory. There is no scientific fact for the theory of evolution. But if a creationist would to come up to them and say that the earth is about 7,000 years old, he’d be laughed at because they’d claim his statement was based on religious belief and not on scientific fact.
So, what am I saying? Simple; Do not believe everything you see on TV. Yes, there are some good shows on TV, but when you do watch TV, don’t check your brain at the door. Think before you believe. Find out to see if what they are saying is true. Do your homework. Who knows, you maybe spending more of your time “musing” vs. being “amused.”
Monday, December 7, 2009
Its Monday
Ok, other than Monday Night Football, can anybody explain to me what Mondays are good for?
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Gary Nickels
Writer, Speaker, Observationist & Bible Teacher
Sent from my Blackberry
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Random Acts of Kindness...Mixed with Insanity
In my family, we are not they lovey-dovey, mushy type of family that just goes around giving hugs and kisses to each other, (except me and my grandkids, but that is a different story).
So last night, just for fun, I sent out a text to all six of my kids the following message: “I’m very proud of you, I just wanted you to know that.” Then I sat back and waited to see what the response would be.
Sure enough, the expected response came back from all of the kids. Uh, gee Dad, thanks…are you ok? Is there something wrong? Are you sick? Did you go to the doctor’s and what did they say?
After reassuring them that their Dad was fine, that I wasn’t planning on dying anytime soon, nor was I planning on leaving the state in the middle of the night, that all I wanted them to know was that I was proud of them…that’s all. The beauty part of all this is that I know they are wondering what I’m up to. They are probably waiting for the other shoe to drop. Wondering what nefarious scheme that is up my notorious sleeve.
Well, guess what…there wasn’t an “evil” plan, but they don’t know that.
So, what am I getting at? Glad you asked. For fun, just go up to somebody in your family and tell them how much you appreciate them. Now, if they are like my kids, they will wonder either what is wrong with you, or, like my parents, wonder if you are going to try and borrow money from them. But what you are really doing is showing real appreciation for somebody in your life…and playing mind games with them at the same time.
Think of it this way…You’ll drive them nuts with your kindness.
So last night, just for fun, I sent out a text to all six of my kids the following message: “I’m very proud of you, I just wanted you to know that.” Then I sat back and waited to see what the response would be.
Sure enough, the expected response came back from all of the kids. Uh, gee Dad, thanks…are you ok? Is there something wrong? Are you sick? Did you go to the doctor’s and what did they say?
After reassuring them that their Dad was fine, that I wasn’t planning on dying anytime soon, nor was I planning on leaving the state in the middle of the night, that all I wanted them to know was that I was proud of them…that’s all. The beauty part of all this is that I know they are wondering what I’m up to. They are probably waiting for the other shoe to drop. Wondering what nefarious scheme that is up my notorious sleeve.
Well, guess what…there wasn’t an “evil” plan, but they don’t know that.
So, what am I getting at? Glad you asked. For fun, just go up to somebody in your family and tell them how much you appreciate them. Now, if they are like my kids, they will wonder either what is wrong with you, or, like my parents, wonder if you are going to try and borrow money from them. But what you are really doing is showing real appreciation for somebody in your life…and playing mind games with them at the same time.
Think of it this way…You’ll drive them nuts with your kindness.
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