Wednesday, June 16, 2010

News, Irony, Friends, & Tennis Shoes

I'm not one for books, although when I do read them I rarely regret it. I read a snipit from "Outliers" where they talked about how this scientist did a study of thousands of younger kids/adults to find who had the highest IQ's. The theory was that these people would become...you know, the people everyone knows. So they tracked these people into their older age and guess what the result was? You guessed wrong. They found that the results (career-wise) were the same as if a random sample from that same population had been selected. The moral of the story is that IQ is like height in basketball. As long as you are tall enough to participate (e.g., 6 to 7 feet) you have a shot at success. If you are competent and can do pretty okay in college you probably have just as good a shot as the next guy. There is a lot more that goes into success than IQ.

This was suprising because I know my IQ is off the charts and I thought I had an advantage this whole time. Damn.

Oh yeah, so since I don't read many books I read the news like crazy. Why? Short and to the point. Tell me what I need to know and stop wasting my time. Every once in a while I will read a story that makes me smile a little (ever so slightly) because of the irony involved. A story recently reminded me of one I saw 364 days ago. Both Angel Moroni and a Jesus statue struck by lightning.






















Either:

God is not all-powerful and could not prevent this because he does not have control over the elements

He does have control over the elements but lets little things like this slip by because he realizes that it's okay to laugh at ourselves a little bit

He wants to test our commitment in light of this counter-intuitive occurrence

He didn't like the monuments

He was watching the World Cup

or...

or...

Also, that story about that Colorado guy who moved to Pakistan to try and catch Osama. He was carrying a sword and some christian books. His brother (a doctor) insists that he is not crazy and that he grew a beard and wears a robe so that he can blend right in. In fact, he "blended in so well that, unlike our military, he could walk around willy nilly."

Willy Nilly.



(this image came up when I googled "willy nilly")


Facebook. I whittled my friends down to 100. That seems like a lot. I consider myself a quality over quantity kind of guy. If you are one of my good friends - you really know it. I will tell you right now - I like you. We are friends. But Facebook is a different animal. Friends on Facebook generally fall into the following categories:

Good Friend (the few as previously mentioned)

Old good friends (we don't talk much, but I used to like you - so even though we haven't spoken in YEARS I'm sure we could pick it up anytime)

Family and cousins

People I know I will run into again someday and so I have to keep them on there- It's not worth that corner of the eye, "I thought I knew you," look.

100 is a good number. There is a waiting list, I just don't want to crack 100.

I really hope my tennis shoes last the summer. JWeb and I have had some fiesty matches and they look to be on their way out. I just don't want to buy a new pair just to burn them out in 2 months. you know what I mean?

Next post topics:
-new job
-new apartment search
-ford focus 100k club
-Charlevoix & King James
-1.5 years of marriage (between 1 & 2 years) to dear Jenny

Remind me.

3 comments:

Janessa said...

haha oh I love this. That comment about Outliers makes me feel more hopeful about my future. Also, I deleted some "friends" on facebook..but then I saw them in person, old boyfriends and such. In my head I was thinking, "He knows..he knows I deleted him on facebook". I nearly had an anxiety attack. I am looking forward to the blog post for dear Jenny the most.

Janessa said...

P.S. I like the new layout. It looks real nice.

Also, maybe we should look at the lightning strike as a sign from the universe just saying that we're all a bunch of crazies!

Unknown said...

Good post Aaron, I always enjoy your stuff. Thanks for sharing!