Futurama: Yivo

Ever tell a joke that no one got?  The joke is funny, but so esoteric that if flies over everyone’s heads.  Well, that’s where my joke begins!

They say a joke isn’t funny if you have to explain it.  Ok, I’ll buy that.  Nonetheless, I’m going to nurse this joke along, in hopes someone will appreciate it.

Yesterday, in a discussion with a friend, I mentioned a quote I substantially agreed with that is attributed to Steve Jobs.  My comment was, “It’s about time someone notable pointed that out.”  Here’s an excerpt from the story:

“After a big public announcement of the sort Apple had this week for the iPad CEO Steve Jobs often takes time in the day or two afterwards to have a Town Hall at One Infinite Loop, making himself available for questions from employees bold enough to stand up and take one right between the eyes.

This time, the big topics included Google and Adobe — no surprises there. Google recently unveiled its own Android-powered handset, the Nexus One, whose release Jan. 5 prompted Jobs to perhaps over-react by announcing on the same day that the iTunes store had served up three billion apps and that “… we see no signs of the competition catching up any time soon.” Apple’s billionth iPhone app download was greeted with great fanfare, but the two billionth not so much, so it felt a tad like Jobs was feeling some heat…

Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press.

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: ‘It’s [bull-dung].’ Audience roars.”

That final quote was the crux of my conversation with my friend.  Now don’t get me wrong, Google is a great company.  But their motto is distinctly marketing.  The truth is they are now a corporate behemoth with information greed beyond imagination.  They are Big Brother.  They want to reach their tentacles into every 1 and 0 bit of all data, private or public, in existence and use it for monetary gain.

Ok, onto the joke…

There is a Futurama movie called The Beast With A Billion Backs.  For those of you that haven’t seen it, here is a plot summary, tweaked from IMDB:

“The Planet Express crew must work to fix rips between their universe and another inhabited by a planet-sized, gazillion tentacled alien which soon takes over the Earth by attaching its tentacles to everyone. Yivo first attaches himself to Fry, who is broken hearted from a recent break-up with his girlfriend.  After coming under his spell, Yivo uses his ability to control Fry to command an entire religion that takes over the Earth. Yivo convinces the inhabitants of Earth to abandon their universe to come live in a pseudo-heaven, leaving the robots of the world to inherit the planet.”

Starting to see where this is going?

I brought Yivo up to my friend in our discussion about Google.  (Had to explain the reference to him.)  I don’t think I need to elaborate much more here.  Anyway, I talked to my daughter about it and she created the image below for me.

Spin Cycle

I’ve never been much for spinning rides. My kids like this “Crazy Surf” ride that is essentially a row of seats that goes round and round via a giant lever. Makes me dizzy just watching them. Right now, life kind of feels like that ride. Wheeee!

Change is necessary, but it’s no fun when the wheels are spinning in place. I’ve got managers redefining my objectives daily, a tornado of personal financial issues to manage, and sanity to maintain in the midst of it all. So far, so good… but man I want off this ride!

Laughter is the best medicine, only it’s pretty hard to laugh when you’re on the operating table. You have to surrender yourself to the skill and mercy of others until it’s over. I feel like I’m holding my breath, trying to get back to the surface for air. (Gurgle, gurgle). I can’t wait to get back into the sun and just relax and play. It’s been a long time since I felt relaxed. Somehow, even under pressure, I think it must still be possible– without chemical assistance– to let go a little and smile.

Occasionally, I’ll wash a load of clothes, and because I’m in a hurry to get it into the dryer, I end up waiting impatiently at the final spin cycle, saying, “Come on, come on. Finish!” It’s not a cycle you should cut short, unless you don’t mind drying a 200 lb. load over the course of a few hours. Life’s spin cycles also have to run their course. Since they are a regular part of the journey, it would be a shame to spend all those times in a semi-catatonic state.

So here’s to drama! Woohoo! Let’s all scream like Lieutenant Dan, “Bring it on!” Then “Be still” and know that God is God.

(I didn’t slap the “Control Teaching” title on that… I was just interested in the clip and found it on YouTube.)

Switchfoot: I Dare You To Move

I just love these guys.

Flipping The Funk

I’m not sure who reads my posts.  I’ve been lax about posting for the last couple of weeks.  It’s just not there.  Call it writer’s block, post-holiday fatigue, whatever.  As I look around, I see a lot of people in a January funk.  2009 was rough.  It’s interesting to observe.

As adults, when we observe children we can often readily identify cause and effect, like “he’s whiney because he’s tired” or “she’s acting up because she wants attention.”  It’s a bit more difficult to figure out adults; but really, I think we often have the same feelings caused by the same effects.  We just arrive via a more intricate route and deal with how we feel through more complex behaviors.

A friend recently told me an analogy he heard in college.  Each of us is like a person wearing two t-shirts with writing on the front and back.  The front of the outer shirt can be read by the wearer and by others.  It represents the things you know about yourself that others also know.  The wearer can pull his collar out and peek at the front of the inner shirt, but no one else can see what it says.  This represents things you know about yourself that no one else knows.  The back of the outer shirt can be read by others but not the wearer.  These are the things others know about you that you don’t know about you.  No one but God can read the back of the inner shirt.  These are the things only he knows about you.

Pulling Out of the Funk

Listen

When we’re not feeling ourselves, I think we can benefit from others who care about us and can tell us some of the stuff on the back of our shirts.  They have a vantage point we don’t.  It’s equally good to go before God in prayer.  He knows things none of us know.  Both can remind us of the things we should know and believe in about ourselves, but for some reason come to doubt.

Look

Another big help in pulling out of a funk is to have something positive to look forward to.  It can make your whole day, week, month, or even year brighter.  It’s why holidays are so cool.  When there’s no sign of sunshine in the forecast, it gets depressing.  Love is sunshine.  Giving it away will brighten up any day.  Receiving it makes you want to splash in puddles instead of dreading them soaking your feet.  Look forward to something good.

Let Go and Leap

The Eagles classic line “Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy” must resonate with practically everyone on the planet.  We can use our powers for good, but when negativity creeps in we can also spend a whole lot of time shoveling dirt that just falls right back into the hole.  It gets us nowhere.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

We have to direct our thinking, let go of the garbage, and lean into the positive and productive.  Wallowing just leaves us living in mud.  What a lot of fun that is.  Of course life is no fairytale. It is what it is, and that’s not all unicorns and moonbeams.   The question is how we choose to engage the frontier before us.  When the wind is in our faces we still have to press through it because the sun will keep rising and setting either way.  In order to find what is true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy we have to actively seek it.

I’m going to work on applying this to my “Jan Funk.”

On the Precipice: Follow-Up 2

This is follow-up 2 to this post: http://climbingupblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/on-the-precipice/.

When I wrote the original post, I wasn’t kidding about being on the edge and about to fall off.  I wrote another post on my personal financial nightmare.  I’ve been spiraling down into a financial abyss for about 7 months.  I had no concept of what to do about it.  Up until about a month ago, I was caught in the avalanche and couldn’t tell what direction was up.

I can’t talk about the details much, except to say that amazing things happened.  Things I never expected.  I was just trying to come up with a plan to keep from going bankrupt.  God sent a finance guy with firsthand knowledge of coping with the situation I’m in.  He had ideas.  It was eye-opening.  The next thing was getting it through mediation.  It seemed very rational and positive to me, but I honestly had no idea if rationality was in play.  Well, much to my surprise and relief, the proposal was accepted.

Now I am looking at a manageable financial future that guarantees my daughter’s schooling, consolidates all the debt, and allows me to keep my home.  I’m blown away.  I still have to qualify for the loan, so it’s not a done deal, but there’s light coming from the end of the tunnel.  Praise God!

I am also thrilled that God is working powerfully to help a family member in poverty.  That is still in motion, but looks to be life-changing.

My friend who is estranged from his kids is still struggling.  I continue to pray for him.

One family I know is making ends meet and hasn’t lost their home.  Others I mentioned remain in dire circumstances.