Life’s a game – Tag you are it.

I don’t really think of life as a game but we certainly can have fun & play games as part of our life.

One of the blessings and curses of the INTERNET is the ability to easily send things to many people and from this was born the email chain letter. Some of these are obvious scams, some are nuisances and some can be interesting. No matter how interesting they are it has been my general principle to ignore these things and I have made it a point not to add to people’s information overload. I have almost always rejected the plea to forward them to the four or 10 or 100 of my best friends.

If it was something that I found interesting and thought might interest someone else I have removed the “forward or else” or ”forward and get rich” part of the message and sent the body to a few folks who I thought might be interested.

I say all this to explain that I’m (sort of ) breaking that rule in to-day’s post.

One of the popular email chain’s is to play tag -- in some fashion -- the person tagged has to supply some information and respond to the one who tagged them and then tag some others.

The math of this and the 5 degrees of separation rules suggest

a) if this was followed pretty soon every person on the INTERNET would have been tagged at least once and
b) you would likely be tagged many times and run out of people to tag.

(You know I can just hear Wilma saying – there he goes again analyzing everything to death—why don’t you just get on with life Charlie!!!)

Anyhow – as I mentioned last post, I was ”passively” tagged by Bobby Cohoon in his blog last week (by that I mean he didn’t get in my face by sending me an email –he left it there for me to find when I came by) and so I’m going to do the same thing and see who I hear from.

Similarly in October Glenn Zeigler "tagged" me on Berean Spirit and I’ve been “it” sincer then and it’s about time I tagged someone else ...

I like this approach ( instead of using email to get in someone’s face) and so I'm posting my responses here (and for Glenn on the Berean list). I believe that those I've "tagged" are looking at the blog fairly regularly. To the “tagees”- respond if you wish and tag othersor not- its your choice.

If you do choose torespond, you can do so in the comments or by sending me an email – I only ask that you give permission for me to post your responses if you do respond.

I’ll do it Bobby’s tag first .

Here are the rules:
1) Grab the book closest to you
2) Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3) Post the text of the following three sentences
4) Name the author and book title
5) Tag three people to do the same.

1) This was a bit of a challenge because I was in my “office: -- sitting on a chair in the living room with the laptop and I didn’t think there were any books close by. I had gone looking at the pile on my bedside table and picked up Philip Yancy’s “Where is God when it hurts?” but as I came back I realized that there was a book on the coffee table. Kevin & Sarah gave it to me for Christmas,

2) page 123 is a picture with the following caption “Honeywell Model 316 Kitchen Computer” The description is on page 122 and the fourth sentence of the description says “The H316 came with just 4K of memory”

3) Sentences 5, 6 (there is no 7th) are “Not a single person ordered a Kitchen computer from Neiman-Marcus, which isn’t surprising. After all, who wants a 68kg (150 lb) monstrosity in the in the middle of the kitchen, when a stack of recipe cards could do more, take up less space and cost about 25 cents (vs. the US$10,600 price tag for the Model 316)?

4) It is called “The computer” and is an illustrated history of computing by Mark Frauenfelder.

5) I think I’ll tag Wilma Lansdell, Roger Lansdell and Art Ford

Now for the longstanding tag from Glenn

Things you may not have known about me.....and may not care!

A) Four jobs I have had in the past:
1. Gas pump jockey (for my parents as a youngster)
2. Field hand - cutting, baling and putting hay bales into the mow
3. Grounds crew - mowing grass and cleanup at Abiliee Christian )
4. Crane driver in a steel mill (actually worked as a "hooker" (Yes I've heard all the jokes about this job title) I attached the hooks on the crane cable to ladles but got to drive it when the regular guy was on break.

B) Four movies I would watch over and over: This is a tough one - I like a lot of movies

1. The passion of Christ (although I'd wouldn't want to do it to often -- it might desensitize me to the reality of how brutal his death was) (interestingly I'd also like to include Mel Gibson's early movies -Mad Max and Thunder Dome? -- who could forget Tina Turner belting out "What's love got to do with it?)
2. Dancing with Wolves (or almost anything with Kevin Costner)
3. Cascablanca (and the Bogie Hebburn one on a tugboat - I forget the name)
4. McClintock -- Linda & I still get a kick and can get a laugh out of repeating the chief's line at the end of the big fight scene "Whiskey gone - we go home now") (of course I could likely watch any of "the Duke's" movies over and over

Of course there's a gadzillion other movies -- Dr.Zhivago, any of the Jack Ryan movies starting with Hunt for Red October , Die Hard, Lethal Weapon series and the list could goon. -

Just a small addition -- Ones I'd never watch (and certainly not twice are the modern horror moves - the Halloween. Scream genre although Victor Price in the Pit & the Pendulum is one I could watch again and again. (Enough - just shows you I have broad likes and have few "all time favorites"

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Thessalon, Ontario
2. Abilene TX
3. Sarnia, ON
4. Cleveland, OH

D) Four T.V. shows I love to watch:
1. Numb3rs 2. CSI (any and all)
3. American Idol (just to see Simon's reaction to the really bad ones' - why do they apply?)
4. Andy Griffith show (Don't we wish we had writers to figure out how to deal with all of life's problems)

E) Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Jarabocoa -DR
2. 6 Flags- St. Louis MO (and at least a half a dozen other theme parks in Florida, Ohio and Ontario)
3. Phoeniz AZ
4. Pascacoula MS (well not really a vacation but wouldn't have trade it for anything else)

F) Web sites I visit frequently:
1. Algoma University www.algomau.ca (for email)
2. John Dobb's"Out Here Hope remains" http://johndobbs.wordpress.com/ and several other blogs - Dee Andrews, Bobby Valentine, Bobby Cohoon are near the top of my hit parade.
3. Berean Spirit (Yahoo groups)
4. Google www.google.ca

G) Four of my favorite foods
1. Pizza (bacon, sausage & mushroom)
2. Turkey Dinner with all the fixins'
3. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream
4. Steak from the grill with baked potatoes and corn on the cob

H) Four places I would like to be right now:
1. Heaven
2. Pascagoula, MS (for the God Thirst project)
3. with my children & grandchildren (which is 3 places at the sametime)
4. anywhere warm with a "surf & sand" beach and a mountain nearby

I) Four friends I think will respond: 1. Leona Devin 2. Myra Tallman 3. Maxine Bringleson 4. Russ Ward

RETURN DIRECTIONS: Now, here's what you're supposed to do... and, while its your choice it can be fun,

Copy my response into a new email, Hit forward, delete my answers and type in your answers.

Then send this to the people you want to tag and COPY the person (me) who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about those who know you.

Remember it is your choice whether to respond and whether to tag others BUT I would really like to hear from you.

God Bless
Charlie.