Spheres of Influence

Went to a wedding party last night and I was fascinated by the different circles of friends my friend had made. During the party representatives from each group of friends was asked to give a short speech. It was a very interesting mix of people and I was somewhat surprised at the number of friends that my friend had built around him. Actually I was impressed by how many people this guy really had made a lasting impression on. I was also struck by the diversity of his circles of influence. There were work friends, college friends, manga friends, baseball friends, chorus friends, drinking friends, and us his church friends. Lots of circles, lots of friends, and a network of people rivaling facebook.

Also just a few weeks my good friend Susan left on her final journey. Over and over the thing that was said about her was how many lives she touched. She had an amazing network of friends, from all around the world. From what I hear the funeral was a celebration of over 400 people in attendance, and spoke of the influence that she had on so many people.

So where am I going with this, well it started me thinking, "How big is my circle of friends, and how expansive are my spheres of influence?" Let's see, what is a good measure, my facebook friends perhaps? Well I don't think I have a great number of these, 266, but compared to the average which is 130, maybe I don't fair too bad. If I had a wedding party (this is just imaginary of course) how many people could I get to come. I probably would be pleasantly surprised by the numbers but I think most people would come more out of utter surprise. And what about a funeral, how many people would show up for that? As I get older I find that building friendships and relationships is very different from 30 years ago. But just because it is different from years ago, I still feel that developing friendships and nurturing relationships is one of the most important things I can be doing. As people reflected on my friend Susan's life, the overwhelming response was that she was a friend to almost any and all. She was interested in peoples lives remembered things about people, shared in their interests and was genuine with them.

I do have a good circle of friends but what am I doing to expand that? How many people are going to be influenced by mine? How broad and far reaching are my circles of influence going to be? What should I be doing to make more of a difference, or is what I'm doing enough? I think I have a lot of questions and maybe not a lot of answers, but I hope that I can be a genuine friend to as many people as God puts in my path. When I boil it all down I think that this should probably be one of our main goals. We are called to share God's love, what better way than to be a genuine friend.

iPad, It's Here! Well almost.

Been waiting to see if the rumors would come true and it was verified last night when I got to e-mails from Apple verifying the release of the iPad. An old from college Nick Gerlich had this to say about it on his blog.

The iPad is basically an iPhone on steroids. It is combination e-reader, netbook and iPod, all with the touchscreen usability we have all come to love (or loathe) as iPhone users. It will be available in 3 storage configurations, as well as with or without AT&T 3G wireless connectivity. With an entry level price of $499, it is decidedly a lot pricier than simple netbooks on the PC platform (starting at $300), but its coolness quotient is up in the stars.

Go ahead and read the rest of what he says at GNU/Medialab. He has a better way of putting it down in words than me.

Tai Yaki

On the way home from church today I made a stop in Shibuya. On the way back to the station I saw this interesting store selling taiyaki, which is a traditional Japanese bean paste filled pastry. Well this store has gone "international" you might say. Instead of the traditional bean paste they have substituted:

• Cheese Curry dog (India)
• German Potato
• Italian (have no idea of the contents but it looked pretty good)
• Sweet Potato (America not sure what the connection is)
• Caramel & Almond (France)
• Chocolate & Custard (Belgium)

Had I not just eaten and there hadn't been a huge line I would have loved to try one of them.

If your interested check out their web site, Tai Yaki.

Pant's on the Ground ballad

Like Simon said I think someone is going to make a hit out of this song. I don't think this is it but it is pretty funny. Love the ending.


And now I see that "'Pants on the Ground' Singer Larry Platt Offered Record Deal"

And if your looking for a t-shirt, try this on for size.

Pant's on the Ground

I hope someone makes this song into a hit.