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.

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.

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.

TST: Watch It Online

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.

Another great way to save time on your TV watching is watching shows online. There are several websites that allow you to watch TV (every network offers this service for most of their shows), but the biggest by far is Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/).

Hulu is a website owned and run by the networks NBC and Fox, and just recently added Disney (they own ESPN and ABC also), so they have 3 of the 4 major TV networks on Hulu (CBS is the lone hold-out at this point).

Hulu will list a program the day after it airs in most cases (the show House, for example, is posted 8 days after it airs). Hulu then only shows one commercial per commercial break instead of the regular slew. That saves you time, but watching online also can save you money. If you only have a show or two that you really want to watch from cable TV, check to see if Hulu offers it. We cancelled our cable subscription when we discovered we could watch our shows on Hulu for free (we purchased a program called PlayOn that lets you stream Hulu shows to an Xbox 360).

Hulu also offers a selection of movies and documentaries. Most of the movies are mainstream (and most of those are older movies), but they do have some indies and foreign films. A few weeks back I watched Ghostbusters again for free thanks to Hulu.

So, check out Hulu and see how it can save you both time AND money.

TST: Use a Reader

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 to use an RSS Reader to surf the Internet with more speed and precision. I personally use Google Reader (www.google.com/reader).



An RSS reader (a.k.a. Atom or Feed Reader) takes info from a website and plugs it into individual articles that are easy to read and quick to skim through.


For example, I have subscribed to several blogs (you can see part of my Blogroll on the right sidebar). Whenever a post is made to one of those blogs, Google Reader creates it into a new article to read. After it's been read, it no longer shows up on my list to read. Google Reader uses the same Read/Unread system that most email services do, except that Google Reader will hide the articles once they are "Read". This means that whenever I log in to Google Reader, I am guaranteed to only be reading and perusing articles I haven't read before.


An RSS Reader is NOT only for reading blogs. Any popular website will have an RSS feed as well, such as USAToday (broken into the different sections of the paper), Amazon (for Gold Box Deals), and ESPN (broken down by authors and/or sports). That means that whenever one of those websites posts are article I haven't read yet, I get a copy in Google Reader.


How does this save time? For one, I don't have to visit through every one of those websites every day looking for stuff I haven't read before. Instead of having to click on a bookmark for each individual blog, news site, or whatever, I can just go to Google Reader and get it all at one time.


It also saves me time because I now have more precision in my web browsing. If I want to read Sports, I click on my Sports label in Google Reader, and I only get websites that I have labeled as Sports. If I don't have time to read all the articles on Deals, I just click on Deals and then mark them all as Read.


As far as RSS Readers go, I highly recommend Google Reader because it's web based, so you can log into it from anywhere (and you aren't taking up more space on your hard drive). They also let you Share articles, which you can have linked to your Facebook account (or friends using Google Reader) and they all see the article too. If none of your friends use Google Reader, there's also an option to email the article to them, which links directly to your Google Contacts. Very handy.


If you'd like more information on RSS feeds, I recommend visiting the Google Reader website (www.google.com/reader), which obviously concentrates on Google Reader itself, but also has good information on RSS and Atom feeds in general.

TST: Follow the Rules!

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 a great way to save time when it comes to email. And the tip is to use Rules.

Every email client and most online webmail services offer a feature called Rules. You create a Rule and set parameters for email, and when you receive or send an email that meets those parameters, the Rule does whatever you tell it to do to that email. That means YOU don't have to do it, which helps save time.

One example of a good rule was sent in by reader Mandy. Mandy receives emails from Borders that have coupons. She has set up a rule that whenver these emails come in, the email is sent to her Borders folder and marked as read. This keeps her Inbox clean, and then, whenever she needs her Borders coupons, she just goes to her Borders folder and can check out the latest coupons. She can also easily delete older emails that contain expired coupons. So, instead of trying to keep an excess number of emails in her Inbox, Mandy uses rules to help cut down on clutter.

I use rules both at work (I use Microsoft Outlook) and for my personal email (I use Gmail, a web-based email service). At work, I have emails from certain departments or that contain certain words in the subject that go straight to my Deleted Items folder. I don't need to see those emails, so I get rid of them without ever having to touch them. This works well for work since I can't just Unsubscribe from those emails.

At home, I keep most of my emails sorted by subjects and/or who sent them. For example, I have a folder entitled "Clarinda" for all my emails from my lovely bride. Whenever I get an email from Clarinda, Gmail automatically labels it as "Clarinda". That way I can keep her stuff sorted and easy to find.

You can use Rules to do LOTS of stuff. Take a look at what your email client has for Rules and play around with them. They are pretty straightforward to set up, so don't be afraid to use them. You'll find you spend less time having to wade through useless emails and performing menial tasks if you use Rules to do it all for you.

TST: Just Record It!

Today we're going to be starting a weekly series call Time Saver Tuesdays, or TST (guess which day of the week I'll be posting these). 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 to record those shows you want to watch. Use that DVR, DVD-R, or VCR (yes, I know people that still use a VCR) and record the shows. This'll save you loads of time. First off, you get to skip the commercials. Did you know that the average 1-hour show is really only 42 minutes long? That means that roughly every time you watch an hour-long show on TV, 1/3 of your time is spent watching commercials.

Second, you are now free from the time constraint of having to sit down and watch a show at a specific time. You don't have to be at home in front of the TV every Wednesay from 8:00 - 9:00 PM watching LOST (yes, I like LOST). You can watch it later and be able to pause it when life happens (phone rings, kid gets sick, etc). Clarinda and I have gotten into arguements because I want to get home and watch LOST and she wants to keep socializing with people after Wednesday night service. Come on lady, something deep and unexplainable is probably happening right now on ABC! You have to ask yourself (like I had to), which is more valuable: watching TV or building relationships (if only I had other friends who liked/watched LOST, then I could do both!)?

Finally, you can avoid the biggest time kill of all when it comes to TV: watching the NEXT show too. TV executives know that you are most likely to watch a TV show that abuts a show you are already watching, so they advertise the shows that are on immediately before and after. So, while watching an 8:00 show, the commercials are mostly concentrating on the show coming up next (9:00), with a slight mixture of the show that was just on as well (7:00). Yes, they advertise other shows too, but their biggest concern is getting you hooked on the following show so you stay tuned into their channel. This is the most noticeable during the beginning of a season because they want to get you hooked early on. If you record the show and watch it later, you won't run the risk of watching the next show as well.