TV Tracking

Alright, I said I would keep track for one week, so for Wednesday, 11/4/09 to 11/11/09, here's my rundown:

-1 hour of TV shows (11/5/09)

-5 hours of sports (a Suns game and some football on 11/8/09)

-6.5 hours on the computer (mostly Hulu)

-3 hours of movies (one full movie and the second half of another)

So, for one week, I watched 15.5 hours of TV. It doesn't seem like much, but when you really thinkg about it, I spent more than half a day watching TV in a one-week span. So, how'd you do this week?

TV: America's Babysitter

I'm still putting together my next series of posts on what the Bible teaches about work and rest, but I just had to post this startling news bit featured in the November 2nd edition of the Plugged-In Online newsletter:

"Children's television viewing is at an eight-year-high, according to the Nielsen Company's latest statistical parsing of Americans' TV habits. Kids ages 2 to 5 spend 32 hours a week parked in front of the tube, while 6- to 11-year-olds watch slightly less (28 hours). [mediapost.com, 10/26/09 stats]"

There are 168 hours in a week. According to this stat, on AVERAGE (meaning some kids view more, and some people view less), kids ages 2 to 5 are spending 19% of their time watching TV. That's nearly 1/5th of their time, and that includes the time they spend sleeping. 6 to 11 year olds are spending only slightly less at about 17% of their time, or roughly 1/6th. Just think about that for a bit. The leading reason why the 6 to 11 year olds spend less time watching TV? They go to school. That's it.

Go ahead and ponder that for a bit. Now, how much time do YOU spend watching TV? How about your kids? I challenge you to keep track of how much TV you watch this next week, then take a look at how much time was spent watching TV (no, I don't think watching TV is by default just "wasting time", but when done to excess, that's EXACTLY what it becomes). I'll do the same and report back next Tuesday.

I'm not dead yet

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still here. I'm still putting together the posts on what the Bible teaches about work and how our culture goes against so much of it.

Oh yeah, and today's my 30th birthday. They say the mind is the first to go.

TST: Take a Break!

The Bible tells us to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:15-17), so I'm going to be posting tips every Tuesday on things you can do to save time. Unlike most resources, we all get the same amount of time, but we have to decide how we're going to spend it. If you have anything that you do to save time that you'd like to share, just let me know and I'll add them to the list.


This weeks tip might seem contrary to the theme of Time Saving Tuesdays, but I think you'll find it fits in nicely: Take a break.

Recent studies have found that people that take regular breaks and/or naps perform better while working. People that do not take breaks start to break down and underperform due to burnout and exhaustion. I've got plenty of material below for your reading pleasure.


First, the New York Times did a study of 61 people that found that those taking a 2-hour nap did "significantly" better at repeating verbal, perception, and motor-skill tests from that morning than those given caffeine or a placebo (article summary here, full paper study here). What we tend to do is use caffeine as a substitute for rest, and our bodies weren't designed for that (yes, this is an instance of the pot calling the kettle black).

Second, Lisa Belkin with the New York Times (hmm . . . maybe the writers at the NYT are trying to tell their bosses something) writes here in response to the recent surveys that have found that the average American workers wastes 2 hours per day at work on the Internet. However, instead of taking the road of "see how technology is tainting us", she instead talks about how taking breaks helps us get things done (she also talks about what workers used to waste time doing before the Internet).

Third, you can read a nice summary of recent research in regards to the benefits of napping provided here by the Ririan Project. They do a good job of summing it all up, so instead of just reposting what they've already written, I'll just send you there. Plus, it's in Top 10 style, which is always nice.

There are two major problem with taking breaks and naps. The first is people abusing it (I've considered picking up smoking just so I can have twice as many breaks). The second is overcoming the desire to stay on break when you get back to work. Well, Glen over at LifeDev had a good post here (via Lifehacker) with a tip he uses to get out of the rut: get ready for your next task BEFORE you take your break, so that when you come back, you can get right back into it.

Are you a perfectionist and need to know how to optimize your naps? Well, have I got some stuff for you! First, you can view this chart by the Boston Globe which summarizes the how's, when's, and why's on taking a nap. It's a handy chart you can print out if you really want to. Prefer text to graphics? The Guardian takes those charts and graphics and turns them into text here (via Lifehacker).

Stay tuned, because later this week I'll have a post on what the Bible says about taking a break.

Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy

Here's a video that made the rounds a few months back that really speaks to the American mindset in regards to technologoy. Enjoy, and yes, I'll have some more posts in the coming days.

Oh yeah, and if you watched the first video posted, I apologize, they changed the video from the address I pulled it from, so this one is verified as correct.

Everything is so amazing and nobody is happy... from fbg00 on Vimeo.

Ask the Readers: Clean Comedy

I'm putting together a post about clean comedy, and I want to know where you turn for clean comedy. Do you have certain movies or TV shows you watch that are clean? Maybe there are certain stand-up comedians you like that are clean. Let me know via email (timpenick@gmail.com) or by commenting on this post. I'll take what I have and what I get from the readership and put up a big post about it in the next week or so.

TST: Just Say No

The Bible tells us to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:15-17), so I'm going to be posting tips every Tuesday on things you can do to save time. Unlike most resources, we all get the same amount of time, but we have to decide how we're going to spend it. If you have anything that you do to save time that you'd like to share, just let me know and I'll add them to the list.


Today's tip is pretty simple: learn to say "No".

How many times have you felt overwhelmed? So much to do, so little time. We all have a finite amount of time. There are exactly 24 hours in a day, no matter who we are or what day it is. We, as Christians, tend to MAKE ourselves too busy. We miss out on blessings because we have no time for them.


I am speaking from experience. At one time in our lives, Clarinda and I were WAY too busy, even though the things we were too busy doing were good things to do. We taught the High School Sunday School class, Varsity Awana on Wednesdays, and we both worked in Awana on Thursdays as well (Clarinda was the Cubbies director at the time, and I was the club-wide Game Director). I was attending ASU full time, and Clarinda was working part-time for the Arizona Republic. We were on the Awana Ministry Board for the state of Arizona, and we attending almost every single state-wide event, from Bible Quizzing to Olympics (now AwanaGames) to Basic Training to Conference, and everything in between. We also ran the youth at church, so we had at least one youth activity a month that we had to plan and advertise. We had a family function at least one Saturday a month (lots of birthdays on Clarinda's side of the family). I was a trustee at church, as well as the Church Secretary and Contributions Secretary (I kept track of the giving for tax purposes). On top of all that, we had two kids. We were doing lots of good things, but we were too busy.


What happened? I drifted away from God. I was so busy teaching that I didn't spend any time learning. I was too busy working to have a prayer life. I didn't have time to read the Bible because I had too much reading to do for school. And because of that, I let sin into my life, and it didn't really bother me (at the time). My busy-ness had given Satan a foothold in my life. At first I didn't even notice, but my ignorance eventually led to indiscretions. I just plain didn't care that I wasn't living for God. People all around me thought I was living a great life, but I had fallen away.


We have to learn to say "No". Just because a need exists doesn't mean you have to be the one to fill it. The caveat however is that you have to take an honest look at your life and decide. People tend to use this principle as an excuse to do nothing for God. That's not what I'm saying you should do. God wants us all to serve Him. What we need to avoid is doing too much, which cuts down on the effectiveness of it all. It's better to do a couple things really well than a lot of things poorly. So whenever a need arises, take an honest look at your life, and if you can fill that need, do it! However, if you can't, it's much better to say "no" and leave the opportunity for someone else than to overwhelm yourself and do the job poorly. Trust me, I know.