Rob Williams - Orangejack

SEO is a field I work in so I'm always curious as to how people find my websites. Tonight I was quite impressed looking at the site statistics on the orangejack blog. Apparently if you do a google search for "hog georgia peanuts news hogzilla", only 12 sites come up. I'm number 12.

I know this because someone did this search and visited my blog as a result.

So the lesson is if you can't remember to search for "orangejack blog", just search for "hog georgia peanuts news hogzilla", and you'll find me.

We play Cubicle Golf on occasion in our office during lunch or after 5:00 when it's pouring outside and no one want to go home. We're in the midst of a double-elimination tourney and I won my first game this week in the losers bracket. Sigh...but at least I advanced!

So last night Patricia and I went to Play It Again Sports and I found a cheap but good putter. Picked up 4 cheap golf balls too. Set me back about $12. But now I'm ready to go!

So today I've been putting around the house.

Some in my office will read this and know I just got a putter. Well, I have a message for them...

I'm comin' for you!

Saw Anchorman last night with my wife. It was just "okay" to me. I expected it to be silly, funny, and a bit crude (I'm realistic when seeing a Will Ferrell movie!). But it wasn't as funny or silly as I thought.

Christina Applegate did a great job. I didn't even recognize her at first.

I was impressed with Paul Rudd too. I didn't realize he was "Mike" on Friends until my wife pointed that out to me. Nice to see him doing other roles...he was pretty good.

Even Fred Willard was his usual funny self.

But the guy who stole the show was Steve Carell. Man that guy is so funny! Seeing him in the movie made up for everything. He's one of the funnier supporting comedians I've seen in a long time. Too bad the sitcom Come To Papa was cancelled...we won't be seeing him every week on TV like I hoped (and the show wasn't too bad).

Steve Carell rocks!

I'm always surprised at the different kinds of animals we have here in Orlando. Photo gallery of bear in a Longwood tree (subscription required...sorry).

It was a year ago that the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, Dr. Bill Bright, went home to be with his Maker. It was an incredible experience for those of us on staff with Campus Crusade when it happened.

Campus Crusade's magazine, Worldwide Challenge, wrote a great article on Dr. Bright's wife, Vonette Bright: One Year Later.

I'm so glad this idea of buing cable channels individually is getting some traction. I've been wanting the ability to purchase cable packages or the channels I want for years. I hate the idea of paying $50 for 80 channels, 20 of which I actually watch! They could have a basic news package (Weather Channel, ESPN, FOX News), a movie package (HBO, AMC, Turner Movies), etc. I know they are afraid some channels will go belly-up because we won't choose them. So package them with certain bundles.

What will probably happen is they'll create packages so that you'll end up having to purchase all 80 channels anyway for $80. But there will be some of us what would rather spend $40 for 50 channels if most of them are what we want!

But can we not call it cable "a la carte"? I hate that phrase. How about "Bundled Cable" or something like that?

Got this email last night...

-----Original Message-----
From: BREAKING NEWS [mailto:breakingnews@foxnews.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2004 11:52 PM
To: BREAKINGNEWS Subscribers
Subject: FNC Alert

JOHN KERRY GETS DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION

**Watch FOX News Channel or go to http://foxnews.com for more

Whew! I was hanging on the edge of my seat.

According to some, one of the largest hogs ever was killed in Georgia. They called him "Hogzilla".

I call him Boss Hog.

By 2008 more than 20% of all households will have one, up from 3% at the end of 2003.

I hope I'm one of them!

The great Smokey Robinson is releasing a gospel album this summer. He has always been one of my favorites from Mowtown. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles...and now he understands that name in a whole new meaning. It's like the group ABC once sang about him: "When Smokey sings I hear violins". He's just that good.

I hope his gospel sound doesn't move too far from his mowton roots. That would be a great CD.

What did we ever do to them? Well, they're mad and they're comin' for us all! First it was off the coast in Canada, then it was San Antonio.

Where's Ishmael when you need him?

Senator Kennedy's office was just wrong.

Apparently a suspicious package was mailed to Kennedy's office. So what did they do? Did they call security? No. They forwarded it to Senator Allen's office. Why Allen? He's the republican senator from Virginia. Kennedy's office saw the postmark was from Norfolk, VA, so they thought if anyone was going to potentially be harmed by a suspicious package, it should be a republican senator.

Well, at least when they forwarded it to Allen's office, at least they were kind enough to warn them that it was suspicious.

That's just wrong.

I've added some new links to some new blogs over in the right column. Be sure to check them all out!

Rick I've just met through the blogsphere.

e-vangelism.com is an old site that has been redone into a blog by Andrew.

Reality Blogs is a fun blog from my friend Steve about reality tv.

A new report by The Barna Group came out today that didn't surprise me too much, but it's an interesting read. According to the survey, most people don't want to call the US a "Christian Nation"...at least officially. Count me in that group. Meanwhile, most people don't want faith statements removed from the public like the 10 Commandments in court, "In God We Trust" and "One Nation Under God".

The study also found that evangelicals most wanted these things to stay while atheists mostly wanted them removed. Go figure.

It's still an interesting read.

I realize this is old news, but for some of you it may be new. Just wanted to give props to Clemson's coach Tommy Bowden for keeping his cool last year and leading us to a great end of the season. He's a man of faith, and I think he does the best he can at living it out well. He's a class act in my book. Lead us on again this year, Coach!

Our July ministry update is now available.

I'm not the best speller in the world. I'm pretty decent at typing, but sometimes my fingers get dyslexic on me. There is one word I can never type correctly and it's "because". Why? I have no idea. I know how to spell it, but my spellchecker gets it every time.

Also everyone I know named Chris gets typed as "Christ".

But the worst is when I misspell a word so badly that the spellchecker can't even figure out what the heck I'm trying to spell. Two examples of words I butcher: "maintenance" and "definitely". With maintenance, I usually butcher it so bad that I have to try misspelling it over and over because the spellchecker can't figure it out. How depressing. The trouble with "definitely" is I usually misspell it and it usually thinks I mean "defiantly". Boy that can get me in trouble. “Are you defiantly going to do that?”

Thankfully the spellchecker got this blog right. But I confess, I had to practice in Word and it took me three shots to get "maintenance" misspelled close enough for it to figure it out.

Are you kidding me? Donkey Wins Colorado Mayoral Election?

Here's the kicker though...he was re-elected!

I've always said if I had a donkey, I'd name him Odie. Then he'd be called Donkey Odie.

Today is the 52nd anniversary of Puerto Rico becoming a US Commonwealth. What does that really mean? Well, in an Orlando Sentinel article today they say: "Islanders are subject to federal law, but do not vote for president or pay federal income taxes. Their voice in Congress is limited to a single, nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives." Also, the US National Guard was called into PR this week to keep the homicide rate from climbing any higher (it's on pace to be the worst ever).

What I find interesting is that they brought the issue of making PR a state or not many times in the past...and it's pretty even in PR. But as Washington continues to look at the constitution, they realize that the US can't keep PR in this relationship too much longer (according to the article).

I know this comes up all the time, but something tells me there will be a change soon. How soon? As fast as Washington can make the change.

So don't hold your breath.

Man, I get home from church and the gym today and there's all sorts of breaking news all over!

Lance wins!
Ricky Williams quits!
Episode III named!

What a big morning it's been.

Lucas finally announced the name for Star Wars: Episode III yesterday. I'm just bummed I had to hear it from CNN instead of Star Wars first! I even get the Star Wars email. Oh well. So that completes the names of the movies:

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Episode IV: A New Hope
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi

Cool.

I've added a free program called Site Meter to my blog to see how many people are visiting. We'll see how it works out. My guess is hardly anyone is coming here on a regular basis. Maybe I'll be proven wrong.

So if no one reads by blog, will I still be heard?

Hear that? It's the sound of crickets.

Yesterday I was in a conversation with people about food. One person, who will remain nameless said that she would eat a PB&J sandwich any time of day. Even the goober grape junk too! Ugh.

So today I had myself a good PB&J. I admit I love them too. But my rule is that if you take a bite and you can still speak, you don't have enough PB on there.

And I still sing the Peanut Butter Jelly Time song when I'm about to eat my PB&J.

My wife thinks I'm crazy. She doesn't even like peanut butter!

I think she's the crazy one.

If you haven't read this report yet, you should.

6 minutes to become some of the best heros this country has ever known.

Up with democracy!

Down with 24 hour vote TV!

Yawn.

I am currently doing a quick survey on blogging and how it can be used for ministry. Would you please take a moment to fill out this survey? It'll be very quick. Thanks.

Because everybody's doing it!

And yes, if the entire internet jumped off a bridge I'd jump with it. Why not? You can trust everything you read on the Internet!

Some are saying it's an invasion of privacy. I call it cool!

A port in Athens was closed for Olympic security installations so that they could install an underwater monitoring system as part of an Olympic security network.

Can they also hire Aquaman?

Okay class, what do you do when you cross the street? Look both ways? Right! But what should you be looking for? A cop that might shoot you? Right again!

Today is the 35th anniversary of the first landing on the moon.

Or was it?

Now this is something I didn't need a study for!
Study: Fantasy sports sites addictive

See? It's not my fault!

This morning I woke up a few minutes before my alarm went off. Although usually it's because I just wake up, this morning it was because a huge clap of thunder woke me up. I don't know about you, but I think thunderstorms in the morning are cool, but strange.

So then my alarm radio came on. It was some horoscope man. I can't stand that stuff. So I turned him off and let God's alarm wake me.

But I'm sure the horoscope man already knew that I'd do that today.

If I had a nickel every time I washed clothes, well, I don't know how much I'd have. But today doing laundry I found a nickel in the dryer. Woo Hoo! It's like free money.

Of course it came from my pants and I'm trying not to remember I spent $0.95 so I could find that nickel.

I like free money.

There is a GREAT article in the Orlando Sentinel today from sports columnist Mike Bianchi. It's worth the read. Unfortunately, the Sentinel requires you to do a free subscription to read it. But here are parts of the article...

Winning isn't everything, but being a dad is
Published July 18, 2004

[says Coach Tony Dungy] "There are more important things than being a football coach. Like being a father." Coming from another coach, these words might seem contrived but not Tony Terrific. This is a man who, on the morning after being fired by the Buccaneers, was carpooling the neighborhood children to school. During one of the many head-coaching interviews Dungy had before finally being hired by the Bucs, an obsessive owner asked Dungy: "Is coaching your No. 1 passion?" Dungy's response: "I will try my hardest to win a Super Bowl, but it's not the most important thing. I will not sleep in the office and be here 24 hours a day."

...He recently became the national spokesperson for All Pro Dad, an organization that campaigns to help men become better husbands and fathers. "We endorse Gatorade and tennis shoes in pro sports," Dungy says. "We need to start endorsing fatherhood."

...Dungy is one of those rare coaches who actually puts the game in proper perspective. Sure, they all preach priorities, but none of them really has any. It's like Jimmy Johnson once said: "Coaches list priorities, and they always say religion first, then family, then football. And yet they work at football 15 hours a day, seven days a week. And they spend an hour a week at church and two hours with their family. That tells me football is first, and everything else is second."

I encourage you to read the entire article. Way to go, Coach Dungy.

This guy is just a nut. He wants to visit all 4,025 Starbucks stores in the US and 846 internationally. I think I've only been to 1 internationally and maybe 5-6 in the US.

He's gonna need all the caffeine to get to all these stores. I guess that makes him a coffee nut? Yeah, that was a bad joke. sorry.

I'd rather go to Barnies Coffee anyway.

Because I know you're all just dying to know...

Michael Phelps will enter five individual events and three relays at the Athens Olympics in his quest to equal or surpass Mark Spitz's record haul of seven gold medals at the 1972 Games in Munich. He'll swim the 200m freestyle, the 100m and 200m butterfly and 200m and 400m individual medleys, the 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m medley relays.

The kid is 19.

Nobody really likes those things. Why do people have them anyway? It's a little weird to me to see little gnomes, cement squirrels and bunnies sitting in the yard.

Apparently neither does a Labrador retriever in McLean, VA.

Good dog.

The BCS announced today changes to it's formula. Thank goodness! I hated the way they did it. It was it's own poll! I've been saying they should just take the human polls, weight them as an average, add that to the computer average, and let that be the ranking. Why did it take so long? At least they got something closer.

From what I read, I think I like it.

But I reserve the right to change my mind.

	I'm Qui-Gon Jinn, which Jedi Knight are you???
Take the Jedi Personality Quiz at MHoNiP

Today marks the official date of our working with Campus Crusade for Christ, International. Our official first day with CCCI was July 15, 1996. These past 8 years have been up and down with plenty of twists and turns, but it's been great. What an adventure we've been on when God calls you to follow with all you have.

Thank you, Lord, for your leadership and provision.

This morning I awoke from a nightmare. It startled me out of bed about 15 minutes before my alarm went off. The nightmare? Draft day in my fantasy football league had snuck up on me. Before I realized it, it was my pick and I had no idea who I was going to pick. I was scrambling to find all my resources and couldn't! Then my 2 minutes were up and the computer made a dumb pick for me! ARGH! What a nightmare!

I can't wait for football to start. There was a commercial on the local AM sports station announcing that "Football Friday" starts again July 30. Oh baby! The sounds and talk of football are so fun!

June, July, August, and Football are my 4 favorite months!

This is just cool! Toshiba to Unveil TV-Capable Laptop: "Toshiba Corp. plans to announce a new laptop model next week that allows users to watch TV on it without having to boot up the computer's Windows operating system"

I wonder if I can get one for work. I'd be "working" from home a lot! Espcially during March Maddness!

What a great birthday to celebrate today. Krispy Kreme is 67 today.

Best Doughnuts Ever!

I remember once some co-workers were talking about the first time they ever had a Krispy Kreme. I don't remember mine because that's all I thought a doughnut was! I remember my first Dunkin' Doughnut though. Growing up, I thought doughnuts came in 2 varieties: Krispy Kreme and Sweet 16. Remember those? Man I could down a whole bag of Sweet 16's, and a whole box of Krispy Kreme's!

One time my wife and I were driving past a Krispy Kreme and the "Hot Now" sign was on. Like moths to a flame, we went inside. But we only got 6: one each now, one each when we got home, one each in the morning. Well, none of them made it home.

Happy Birthday KK! May your Kreme always be Krispy!

Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Never mind.

Have you seen this guy? Man! This guy is rockin' that show. I'm fascinated by him. Ken Jennings has won over $920,000 and has been on for over a month. I'm glad Jeopardy dropped that rule where you could only win 5 games max. I wonder what the record would be before Ken got there.

All that said, I could beat him.

Okay, maybe not. But I bet he doesn't blog! Ha!

Today is 7/11, so that means it's the birthday of 7-Eleven. Although I'm almost never a patron of your stores, you are still an icon.

Happy Birthday, 7-Eleven!

Man, I can't wait for the Olympics. Especially the swimming events. Patricia and I love to watch it. She even said the other day that she can't wait either and "it makes swimming cool again every 4 years"! She's right! I love that it's back this summer. And have you heard about Michael Phelps? Man, this kid is awesome. I was reading today about how he's doing in the trials right now: "Phelps entered six individual events at the American trials with an eye toward breaking Spitz's record from the 1972 Munich Games...The 19-year-old from Baltimore also hopes to swim on all three relay teams in Athens, giving him up to nine events to chase down Spitz...Phelps holds three world records (200 butterfly, 200 and 400 individual medley) and the second-fastest times ever in the 100 fly and 200 back...He has turned in eight of the top nine times in history, including the world record of 1 minute, 44.06 seconds. Phelps holds the American record, nearly 2 seconds slower at 1:45.99."

Wow. This is going to be a fun Olympics!

I know some people aren't too excited about the new Star Wars DVDs, but I am. Love Star Wars and even with the edits in it, I'm excited! I've just always loved the series...even the prequels. It continues the story, and for that reason, I like them. They actually complete the story. Watching the original three, you'd think the overall story is about Luke, the good guy, overcoming Darth Vadar, the bad guy so good wins over evil. That's just partial. The full story is about the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Without the prequals, you really wouldn't realize that.

This is the best documentary available. What? You don't believe me? How does each movie start then? "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...". That means it happened, right? Everyone should stock up on these type of historical DVD's.

This whole thing about the American flag being flown at half-staff is bugging me. Not that it's at half-staff...that I agree with. But it seems a lot of people aren't getting it.

When former President Reagan died, the flag was supposed to be at half-staff for 30 days. That meant on July 3 it should go back up. There's an official document on the White House website where President Bush says, "it is hereby ordered that the flag of the United States shall be displayed at full-staff...beginning July 3, 2004."

Yet that's not the case everywhere. On July 4, almost everywhere I drove by had it at half-staff. Today is July 8. The Post Office and Fire Station still have it at half-staff, where restaurants have it full. I know they can lower it for a state mourning, but I haven’t heard of anything.

Why can’t there be a website that will have the official "flag status" so everyone can know? This bugs me.

One cool thing I learned researching this today though is on Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon and then it is "raised briskly" to the top of the staff until sunset to honor the nation's war heroes. That’s really cool. You know, I got a chill when I read that. I got a chill when I wrote it. There's just something about that visual: honor and remembrance for those who protected our nation then raising it briskly to the top to show our strength as a nation. That really pumps me up.

Maybe that's why I'm upset that people can't seem to get this flag-flying thing right.

Okay, so two Sand Hill Cranes are standing in a field minding their own business. Suddenly a flock of wild turkey charges the cranes. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, huh? Nope. That’s what I saw this morning on the way into work. At least that’s what I think I thought I saw. I couldn’t pull over to see what happened. What a funny sight. I didn’t realize turkey were so territorial.

Speaking of territorial, I remember the coolest “animal territorial” scene I’ve ever witnessed. It was a couple years ago. There’s this large pond and there was probably a 4 foot gator sunning himself on one bank. Then there was another gator, probably about 5 feet long sunning himself on another bank of the same pond. The 5 foot gator slid his way down into the pond and started swimming over towards the 4 foot gator. Then all of a sudden the large gator came charging out of the pond scaring the smaller one up the bank, over the road, and down into the other pond. The large gator then took that spot and sunned himself there for hours.

Even seen a mocking bird try to catch a small lizard or bug to eat? Very entertaining if you like watching a bird jump around like a rabid monkey. Ever seen a turkey fly? Seen it twice, and it ain’t pretty. Most clumsy thing I ever saw trying to fly.

Snakes freak me out…that and large bugs. Yeah, I’m a guy, but I don’t like ‘em. Neither did Indiana Jones. Well, at least he didn’t like the snakes. But he’s a hero, so he’d have to be able to deal with at least one of those pests, right? I’ve had to catch or kill large bugs and I hate it. Had to chase off a few snakes too. Gives me the heebie-jeebies every time.

Animals. What funny and entertaining things.

This weekend I went to the local Lowe's hardware store. My wife and I have a running joke that “the truck goes to Home Depot”. This weekend, it was Lowe’s instead. Oh, my truck? It’s a ’96 Nissan Pickup…and it’s red!

So anyway, I went to Lowe’s this weekend. I pulled up into the parking lot and parked. And what to my wandering eyes should appear? 5 other red pickup trucks! And they were all parked together. I found it quite humorous. I parked beside a red Ford. Across from me was a red Dodge. On the other side of me was a red Toyota. There were two other red pickups that I couldn’t tell what they were.

So I guess others feel the same way…the truck goes to the hardware store!