Last year I purchased “You Need a Budget” (YNAB) and was very ambitious about entering all the data I could for as far back as I could and and drowned under the weight of the volume of the numbers. I could never get caught up to current and so gave up. This year I upgraded to the latest version of YNAB and I am back at it, but now I am only going back to the first of the year so that I have a hope of getting caught up.

We have way more outgoings this year with 2 car payments and a wee little one that we feel compelled to keep surrounded by battery operated plastic toys. Even with that I am hopeful that this is the year we get it under control. Wish us luck, pray for us; we need all the help we can get!

This is your life, are you who you want to be? – Jon Foreman

It hit me tonight, I am not who I want to be and I am guessing that you are not either. That is not a bad thing really because all it means is that we are still being formed, by God, by the dreams he put in us… We are complete in Christ but still becoming.

There is nothing broken here but there is change and if I can stop my mind racing for long enough I can see the beauty in knowing that I have not yet arrived.

So on and on you go, the seconds tick the time out. There’s so much left to know, and I’m on the road to find out. – Cat Stevens

We are staying at Bernadine’s Stillman Inn and so far we love it. Dave, the proprietor is very friendly making for a pleasant atmosphere.

Sadly, we cannot recommend Generals’ Restaurant at the DeSoto House Hotel. We picked because the website said there would be live music and unfortunately there was not. The wait staff was friendly but the food was average and when we are on vacation we want something a step above the ordinary and Generals’ just did not satisfy.

Here are some of the links that I looked at prior to choosing Galena:

http://www.galena.org/
http://www.galena.com/
http://www.galenachamber.com/

I’ll let you know if we like it or not.

Got it on Craig’s List:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/car/289106986.html

Wanna buy it?

To review, many people with small amounts of cash = happy mark listening to his vast music library made mobile. A good idea, no?

Update: Wait, I know, I will put a PayPal link on here on my blog so that you can donate! What a rockin’ idea. Thanks in advance for your generous support;)

Personally, I would be very upset with anyone who did this.

Brian McLaren has come out with a new book and it promises to be controversial. I do not know whether or not it will be an outright rejection of the traditional concept of hell but have a hard time believing that he will reject the possibility on an eternity seperated from God. We will just have to read and see.

Check out this introduction to the book.

Mark is looking out the window wistfully, almost dream like as the camera moves toward him. He becomes a aware of someone in the room with him and looks to the camera. He treats the camera as a person, not surprised to see you there standing there, he starts talking.

MARK

I am a dreamer… It is true, I come up with crazy ideas all the time. People who know me know when to just nod affirmatively and pat me on the head, saying, “Why that’s a wonderful idea Mark, you should do that.”

Most of my dreams are called affectionately (by me) my “million dollar ideas”. I truly have no idea how many of these that I have had. Whether it is selling Mexican corn-on-the-cob at the state fair -or- the “Fight the Power” mobile coffee shop -or- selling leather mugs with dragons embossed on them at the Ren. Fest. -or- rubber grommets for repairing shower curtains -or- biblical memory verses for the shower, I have had a million million dollar ideas that would really take off if I could just find the investors for them. We would all become rich… or at least thousandaires, with any one of these ground-breaking ideas.

Alas, sadly this is usually the point where the head patting comes in. It is my lot I suppose. It’s hard being an idea guy (dramatic pause and a sigh). People just are not visionary you see, they are far too comfortable in the critic’s chair.

(Mark walks over to his desk in what was the dining area and grabs a manuscript off his desk) But you know what? The dream just cannot stop dreaming; (Mark taps the manuscript with the back of his free hand) I have yet another idea and this one will prove all the nay-sayers wrong once and for all!

What is it this time, you ask? Well I cannot give away too many details, but let us just say that it is the beginnings of a screen play for a movie that will be the blockbuster of the year when it is released.

Now do not think of messing up my “do” and wipe that patronizing look off your face because this is the real deal… you will see, when I accept my Ocsar for best screenplay while your sitting on the couch in your jammies munching popcorn saying, ” I knew he could do it.”, then you will see.

(In the Schwarzenegger voice) Here me now, believe me later!

Mark smile’s as he sits down and open’s his manuscript, grabs a pen and start’s writing.

Thanks for the link goes to Messy Christian.

For the non-initiated, Gmail is an online email account being offered by Google to compete directly with Yahoo! and Hotmail. Geeks are all over it just because it’s google and it is offering so awesome search functions. The rest of us may just want to grab that vanity address that we have been denied by those other services for all those years. How does thecoolone@gmail.com sound to you?

The kingdom of God is not a product to be sold to people it is a life to be lived. That’s what struck me about a comment to the post by one Justin Baeder, concerning the marketing of our churches, where he says:

“Imagine a consultant offering the 1st-century Jerusalem church advice on how to reach more people, or clarify their mission, or target their demographic more precisely. I can’t.”

I look at the book of Acts as the descriptive application of the Jesus’ teaching by the disciples. So, when I say “the 1st-century church” I am summing up the sentiment of the book of Acts as a model of Christian life. So I find myself saying thinks like “Anything that draws us away from the model of the first century church can’t be good.”

Life is more complicated then that one statement can cover, but still I wonder, have we lost the mindset/heartset/worldview of the 1st-century church that was building the Kingdom back then, or have we just never had it in this modern/post-modern era.

Bobbie’s comment to Justin’s says it well:

“…somehow we have NO IDEA how that happens anymore. it’s a numbers game now, and we really think it’s our job to make the numbers grow. we can’t even imagine what it might look like anymore to have the holy spirit doing that for us… i just really think that as soon as it stopped being god’s job to increase the numbers and it started being ‘ours’ things got thrown off balance.”

Here, here Bobbie!

they tempted me with a cornucopia of close outs on a bunch of their independent releases and i was not strong enough to resist. so, i ordered 24 cd’s from them praying that they had gotten their act together. sure enough, the order has come in a day after shipped and a mere two business-days after I ordered ‘em, without a cd missing from the bunch. excellent customer service has indeed returned to my favorite provider of independent Christian music.

i just hope that they are doing ok. i have heard rumors of financial problems at the company. i really hope that is not the case as i have found that grassroots has been invaluable in offering regional, independent offerings of the singer/song writer variety. stuff you just cannot find anywhere else.

i am concerned though, why are they clearing out so much good music at such cheap prices? i am not complaining about the windfall to my personal collection but i am worried that this resource that i have used for something like 7 or 8 years now, will soon not be with us. will i be condemned to what gets spoon-fed from the man, corporate music? i sure hope not. at least we still have pastemusic.com. even so, long live grassrootsmusic.com and the independent, folksy music they stand for!

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i surprise myself with my own vanity sometimes. i mean really, i don’t log much and what i do log isn’t necessarily compelling to anyone but me, but there is still that part of me that wants to be recognized and acknowledged.

will anyone even read this post? who really cares? seriously, in the end this is mainly a cathartic action for me mixed with a bit of exhibitionism. It would be cool to have someone read and react to a entry but one would need an entry worth reacting too. so, i suppose i will just have to settle for the purging benefit this journal this journal allows me.

I did just check and if you do a google search for mark miron, this blog does come up as #1 on the list, so that’s a comfort. Anyone looking for mark miron will find this site. it’s like i’ve got a corner on the ‘mark miron’ market, so i’m like famous or something. it’s a long stretch but my ego likes it and that is good enough for now.

still, if you read this blog, comment. my ego will thank you… no, actually my ego (i must depersonalize at this point relegate my ego to the third person for reasons of shame) will probably bask in the recognition of it’s own importance for a moment and then ponder the next wonderfully insightful entry we can add to this blog, trolling for comments, so that the ego can bask again.

Here’s good idea, i’ll comment my own blog so that way when someone reads this they will be more like to respond and have a model for what a proper response could be. that’s it, people just need some guidance with this commenting thing, that’s all.