This Thing Really IS Accurate...

the Adventurer


you chose AX - your Enneagram type is SEVEN.

"I am happy and open to new things"

Adventurers are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

• Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.
  
• Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.
  
• Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.
  
• Don't try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.
  
• Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.
  
• Don't tell me what to do.

What I Like About Being a Seven

• being optimistic and not letting life's troubles get me down
  
• being spontaneous and free-spirited
  
• being outspoken and outrageous. It's part of the fun.
  
• being generous and trying to make the world a better place
  
• having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures
  
• having such varied interests and abilities

What's Hard About Being a Seven

• not having enough time to do all the things I want
  
• not completing things I start
  
• not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career
  
• having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies
  
• feeling confined when I'm in a one-to-one relationship

Sevens as Children Often

• are action oriented and adventuresome
  
• drum up excitement
  
• prefer being with other children to being alone
  
• finesse their way around adults
  
• dream of the freedom they'll have when they grow up

Sevens as Parents

• are often enthusiastic and generous
  
• want their children to be exposed to many adventures in life
  
• may be too busy with their own activities to be attentive

A Pronouncement

You simply have not lived until you've listened to an enormous, dreadlocked, black cajun accordion player perform a zydeco version of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman"... in French.
If you ever get the chance to see C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, I highly recommend it.

Speechless

I don't know how he found it, but my good friend Dan just sent me the following link:

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=eca154e1-542d-4dc1-9703-dd5938ec33f6&f=06/64

I really don't want to make fun of Mr. T - mostly because he knows all, sees all, and would probably come to crush me - but also because he has always seemed to be such a genuinely good guy. This circa-1987 video, however, is just crying out for derision.

Watch the clip, then share your favorite memories from the 1980s in the comments.

Lord, I was Born a Ramblin' Man...

I realize that I am not posting very frequently these days. This frustrates me, probably far more than it frustrates any of you out there reading my thoughts. Blogging has been a fantastic way for me to process things about which I'm thinking, to bounce ideas off of people. Unfortunately, my time constraints have been such lately that this avenue just hasn't been easily available to me. I hope to do better.

Over the next few weeks I'll be doing a lot of travelling. I love going places, even if it's for work. On Monday I'll be flying to Tulsa to speak with a minister whose church may be condemned for a Home Depot. The following week I'll be going to New Orleans to hear from people faced with the prospect that their city won't let them rebuild - instead it intends to give their property away to commercial developers to create the "new" New Orleans. Then I'll be flying to Texas (with Tiger) to see one of my best friends for a couple of days. And in April I'll spend a week in North Carolina, speaking to people about the importance and constitutionality of school choice.

In honor of these adventures, I present an appropriate piece by Billy Collins, one of my favorite modern poets:

Passengers
by Billy Collins

At the gate, I sit in a row of blue seats
with the possible company of my death,
this sprawling miscellany of people—
carry-on bags and paperbacks—
that could be gathered in a flash
into a band of pilgrims on the last open road.
Not that I think if our plane crumpled into a mountain
we would all ascend together,
holding hands like a ring of skydivers,
into a sudden gasp of brightness,
or that there would be some common place
for us to reunite to jubilize the moment,
some spaceless, pillarless Greece
where we could, at the count of three,
toss our ashes into the sunny air.
It's just that the way that man has his briefcase
so carefully arranged,
the way that girl is cooling her tea,
and the flow of the comb that woman
passes through her daughter's hair...
and when you consider the altitude,
the secret parts of the engines,
and all the hard water and the deep canyons below...
well, I just think it would be good if one of us
maybe stood up and said a few words,
or, so as not to involve the police,
at least quietly wrote something down.

Cuteness Galore

In this post, I play the role of the absurdly proud uncle. Cuteness lies ahead:


This is my little sister's baby, Abbie, sleeping with my favorite puppy dog, Shamus. Darlin', no?

Last weekend Tiger and I got to drive down and visit AC, Len, the baby, and the dog. It was a fantastic afternoon!



This is Bethany's son, Isaac Levi. Otherwise known as "Shmoo". Ain't he handsome? Bethany sent another picture with Isaac and his big brother, Elijah, bathing together. It's cute and all, but I figured I'd let the kids reach puberty before they have to deal with their family members showing everyone pictures of them naked in the bathtub.




This is another pic of Abbie, all bundled up and ready to go somewhere. Is there anything cuter than a baby wrapped up so that all you can see is their face and the pacifier crammed in their mouth? Well, maybe that pic of the puppy with a broken leg. But that's about it.











And to the right is a picture of Sweetbaby's lil' one, Sweetpea. James reports that Joshua David is more and more like him every day, which I can only assume means that he sleeps a good twelve hours and is rapidly developing an appreciation for barbeque ribs.




Oh, and if you ever do something really stupid and tick off your wife or girlfriend, I highly recommend that you immediately email them a copy of this picture of a Jedi Hamster. How can she be mad when she's looking at a picture of a hamster holding a mini-lightsaber?