godthoughts.net

Last year, my picks were horrible. This year, I did a little better.

In the first round, out of 32 games, I picked 26 correct winners. I missed Siena over Ohio State and Cleveland State over Wake Forest, big time. In the West region I was perfect.

In the second round, out of 16 games, I picked 15 correct winners. I thought I was going on a roll.

But then, we went into the Sweet 16, with 8 games to pick winners for. Ugh.
I picked Louisville correctly, but did not expect Michigan State to beat Kansas = 1 for 2
UConn over Purdue, but I had Memphis over Missouri and was wrong = 1 for 2
My sentimental pick of Gonzaga over UNC wasn’t the best and I missed it. I despise OU but figured they would beat Syracuse and they did = 1 for 2
In the East region, I expected Duke to beat Villanova (wrong!) and had Xavier over Pitt, also wrong, so = 0 for 2
Out of 8 games, I only picked 3 correct winners.

So the Elite 8 is Louisville and Mich State - I have Louisville winning.
UConn vs. Missouri - I have UConn winning
Villanova vs. Pitt - I had Pitt winning so that is 0 for 1
I had OU over Gonzaga, but since UNC is there instead of Gonzaga, I have to remain true to my original pick of OU, although I think now that they are playing UNC, they will lose. We’ll see.

So, my original Final Four, picked at the start of the tournament, were Lousiville, UConn, Duke, and OU.
Now that some of those are not in it, I still think UConn will win over Lousiville (or whoever), and if UNC beats OU, then UNC will beat Villanova to play UConn in the Final. With my original pick of UConn winning it all.

Ah, March Madness!

Check out my new book of photography images from Israel!

Artistic Essen…

By John A. Page

Book Preview

Absolutely Pathetic.

AIG, which got bailed out with $180 BILLION of taxpayer money just to exist/stay afloat, just handed out $165 Million in bonuses.  Do they not get how totally inappropriate that is, not to mention simply wrong?!  They wouldn’t even be in business without a bailout.  And if the bonuses were to “keep and attract talent,” (which is a lame argument since if they were that talented they wouldn’t have gotten the company into such a financial mess, so they don’t need to be kept/attracted), that is illogical considering that the American taxpayers/Federal government own a good chunk of the company now.

Un-Believable.  It’s like they have no clue. At. All.  See this story for more on this.

The economic situation may not be so bad after all.  Until recently, you could buy a song off of iTunes, or you could own a share of Citigroup.  Buy a coffee or own part of Bank of America.  Get a burger or use that money to buy a share of General Electric.

If you have any extra money, it appears that now would be the time to buy some stock.  It will go up at some point, and at these prices, one might find a good deal!  It just seems so ridiculously low for a share of stock that it makes sense to buy even a few shares at least.

At the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem

Courtesy of the March, 2009 issue of Christianity Today, some interesting stats for you to chew on:

67% - Americans who say religion is losing its influence on American life.

50% - Americans who said this in April, 2005.

24% - Americans who said this in December, 2001.

Nearly 8 years has had quite an effect on how people view religion’s influence on daily life. What does this mean for churches, or for individual followers of Christ?  What do you make of this?

Throughout the Holy Land, but particularly in Jerusalem, dichotomy permeates.  A Muslim woman in full garb browsing at a street vendor selling lingerie, as an Hasidic Jew walks by.  Standing in a Catholic church as a Protestant Christian group sings praises to Jesus, while the Muslim call to prayer blares through the open door, in the middle of a Jewish country.  The Dome of the Rock sitting on top of what was the old Temple while Orthodox Jews pray fervently just below it, while being watched by people of all different backgrounds.  And on it goes.

To live there I think one must simply make peace with such dichotomy and paradox and cross pollination of images and experiences.  Below are just a couple pictures.  I will say this:  Scripture is coming more alive now that I’ve been where it happened (or even where it was thought to have happened in some cases).