How the actions of this poor widow challenges a slightly irreverant, Linux-using, business school educated Christian. And his money.
Hayley and I succumbed to peer pressure this weekend. Our friends, namely Jon and Andrew, have been raving about the video game Rock Band for months. I’ve gotten more peer pressure to buy Rock Band than I’ve received back in school to smoke or drink. But that’s probably just of testament to the geekiness [...]
Posted on February 26th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, diary worthy | 10 Comments »
Sometime during the Cold War, communist Russia created a video of America and released it as negative propaganda. This video depicted the ugly side of America — poverty, homelessness, and anything else unpleasant that they could portray. It backfired. Why? Because America had overweight homeless people.
“America is so rich,” reasoned the [...]
Posted on February 20th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: economic theory | 4 Comments »
My neighbor is fat. Yes, there are a lot of nicer words: overweight, round, obese, heavy, and so forth. But really, the word “fat” is the most fitting. She’s about 5′9, 300 lbs, and horribly out of shape. It takes her twenty minutes to climb up the ten steps to her front door.
Don’t get me [...]
Posted on February 18th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: economic theory | 8 Comments »
Back in October, 2007, I began this experiment. I set aside $10. Each time I encountered someone on the street who asked for money, I gave him a dollar. I didn’t like giving to beggars. And my hypothesis was that I’d feel happier about giving towards the end of this experience.
The Raw Data
These are [...]
Posted on February 11th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: charitable | 3 Comments »
Today is Super Tuesday; I did my civic duty and voted. Today is also Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras — my last opportunity to gorge myself on High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) before my Lenten sacrifice begins.
Here’s one HFCS laden product that I won’t be eating over the next several weeks: W Ketchup. Created during [...]
Posted on February 5th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition | 5 Comments »
This week marks the beginning of Lent, the traditional 40+ days of penance that spans between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Good Catholics and Christians everywhere are scrambling to find that modern-day sacrifice that would please God. Traditional Catholics embrace prayer, fasting, and charity to the poor.
Protestants like myself are wimpier… well.. let’s call it [...]
Posted on February 4th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition | 8 Comments »