This is from an MSNBC article on China’s reaction to the new Guns and Roses album, “In an article Monday headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."

I had high hopes for the Top Secret plan to use Axel Rose to topple the Chinese Government, but it looks like that is all up in smoke now.  It is all up to Lindsay Lohan now.  Godspeed Lindsay, Godspeed.

Every now and again I have these burst of organizational inspiration.  They generally come when my life is spinning out of control and I feel the need to grab the reigns with at least a symbolic gesture.  Every time this happens I come up with new methodologies for living or techniques for bringing order to the chaos.  As time passes, many of these ideas fall by the way side because they are more complex than they need to be or because the idea just does not fix a problem that is great enough to warrant the extra effort.  BUT,  some of those ideas carry on and continue in my arsenal after they have proved effective.  By far, one of the greatest things I have ever done in this area is sock management.

My family has a "sock basket" that all socks go into to be sorted.  This basket is always full and an inordinate amount of time is spent rustling through this basket look for a matching pair.  This is almost always when someone is late for school or work and it causes a great deal of frustration.  I was part of this menagerie until I got smart.  A man needs only 2 kinds of socks for daily use: black socks and white socks.   If you are a soldier, you also need green socks, so most men need 2 kinds and some men need 3.  Anyway...  One day I threw away every sock that I owned and bought a large package of identical white socks and a large package of identical black socks.  I then roll each sock individually in a style that I learned in Basic Training.  To do this you... 1. lay out the sock flat  2.  Roll it up tightly like a Little Debbie Swiss Cake (starting at the toe) 3. Roll the upper few inches of the sock around the rest of the sock.  I never have to worry about matching socks.  I never worry about a sock that goes missing for a period of time.  I never have to root through that confounded sock basket!  Then every 6 months or so, I throw all of my socks away and start over again.  I also do the same thing with my white t-shirts and underwear. 

I recently dumped the sock basket onto the table, covered it in lighter fluid and burnt it in the grill out back.  I mistakenly thought that this would encourage my family to follow suit on my technique.  I was wrong.  The little sock basket has been replaced by one of the regular laundry baskets and it is larger and fuller than ever!   When I asked my daughter (K) to follow my lead she said, "But Dad,  I like pretty socks..."   I suppose that there is no arguing with that kind of girl logic.  There is also no good way to roll women's and girl's underwear.  I have given up on that project.   I must be content with my personal items being managed in this way because training women to do something with their panties other than shoving them into an amorphous drawer full of sundries is futile.  And another thing: Why do women's shirts button backwards?   It is maddening.

In a bizarre turn of events an investigation team has concluded that the Iron carrier Edmund Fitzgerald did not sink due to the November 10, 1975 storm that was previously blamed for her disappearance.  Lead investigator, Roger M. Cook said "I am shocked at the daring displayed by the Somali pirates in their hijacking of a The Fitz."  It is unclear how the Somalis were able to sail the vessel to the open waters of the Atlantic, but Cook went on further to say, "...they (the Somalis) are tricky like that."  

Back in the eighties and nineties I was exposed to several time management techniques that had an emphasis on priority making.  Anyone who has read Steven Covey or used a Franklin Planner knows that priority setting is a central component to their systems.   One of the reasons that I have gone down the GTD path is that it never ask me to prioritize my projects and task with an A, B or C.   GTD reflects the way my mind works.  I cannot program my brain to think in terms of priorities and I suspect that many other people cannot either.  While driving in the car today I heard the perfect song to illustrate the way most people really think.   It is one of the greatest songs ever,  Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell.

The song is about a man who works the telephone lines in the wide open expanse of the Midwestern plains.  As he is driving along he is thinking about his job, "Lookin' in the sun for another overload." But intermittently his mind moves to a love that is either lost or far away, "I hear you singing in the wire. I can hear you thru the whine."  Back and forth the lineman's mind wanders from the most mundane, "And if it snows that stretch down south,won't ever stand the strain."  to the most deeply reflective, "And I need you more than want you. And I want you for all time."  (This is one of the best song lines ever written).   How should the Wichita Lineman prioritize the stretch of line down south and his love for the girl?   This guy has to make sure the lines stay up and he needs to love the girl.  His brain just cannot assign an A, B or C to these parts of his life and neither could I. 

Picking up milk from the store may sound unimportant compared to writing a thesis, but somehow they both pop into my head with equal force if neither are accomplished.  As a church pastor,  I have never been able to keep my "job" confined to  9a to 5p Monday through Friday (I had a church member that insisted that Sunday was not considered a workday for me!) and why should I?   I certainly did not stop being a husband or father during those times that I was doing pastoral things.   I stopped trying to compartmentalize my life a long time ago so why should my organizational system force me to prioritize all of these different responsibilities in my life?   They ALL have to get done one way or another.

I am not saying that getting milk is more important than the love that I have for my wife, but rather I want to work intuitively through out my day.  GTD allows me to put the "cranking widgets" items into the GTD system so my mind is more free to think about the deeper things of life.  This is why "Figuring out the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ" is never going to find its way on to my projects list and I will never schedule "Love my wife."   My short term memory cannot prioritize those things correctly, so I let the system take care of the mundane task for me.  In this way my mind is free to really delve into the real priorities of life.

Now some of you hardcore GTDers might ask, "What is the NEXT ACTION on the Wichita Lineman's lost love?"   Let's not push the analogy too far...

The United States Government is about to sink untold billions into an industry that will not sell me the car that I want.  I like to put pencil to paper and work out the numbers on my transportation options and the Ford Fiesta Diesel passes the mustard for my family's needs.  This car gets 62.5 MPG on the highway on diesel!  "But Diesel is more expensive!"  many people will tell you, but is it twice as expensive? Right now diesel is 50% higher than gasoline and the differential is bound to close soon.  Diesel, by their nature are also more durable due to the heavy duty construction and the lubricating value of the fuel itself.

I own a 2002 Ford Explorer that is fantastic.  I get 18 to 23 MPG in my Explorer, but if you factor in the fact that I have 6 passengers (and often 7) then the gas mileage on the Explorer is not that bad.  With a large family I need something larger than average, but 90% of the miles that we drive are with 4 or less passengers, so a second car that is an econo-box makes financial sense.  My round trip (with in and around mileage) for a drill weekend is about 600 miles.  If I had the Ford Fiesta Diesel this would work out to be about $28 dollars in fuel cost at today's prices.  My Saab convertible makes the same trip on about $50 dollars worth of fuel.  The Explorer would take closer to $70 for the same trip (at today's prices which are surely not going to last!)  When diesel gets closer to Gasoline (and is sometimes cheaper) this differential grows even more.

BUT,  The Big Three Automakers will not sell us cars that they already sell around the world.  It is their belief that we will not buy these kind of cars.  These are the same three companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy.  Lee Iacocca saved and transformed Chrysler in the early 80s by quickly retooling to build cars that people wanted to buy.  Is there a Lee Iacocca visionary in GM right now that will use the government investment wisely or will it be more of the same.   One of my favorite cars of all time was my Gold 1983 Horizon with a 2.2 and 35 mpg.  I spent very little for it, got great gas mileage and literally drove the wheels off of it (it has 294,000 miles when they towed it away). 

Of course, the biggest problem with the Big Three is the UAW.  The fact is that Honda and Toyota do not have to deal with the UAW and The Big Three have legacy cost that are eating them alive.   If the UAW does not make serious concessions, then they are going to kill their golden goose.  This whole situation seems like a crisis in the making.  No real innovation sitting in our driveways (sure, they have cool things at the car show!), poor management, cannibalistic unions,  and an economic recession are taking their toll.  Part of me wants these companies to just fail, but the harm to the nation,if that happens, is too great.  I just hope the car companies do not start the "It is patriotic to but an American car" ads like they had in the late 70's and early 80's.  The patriotic thing to do is build a great car that everyone wants to buy! 

All summer long I was subjected to an endless stream of PowerPoint Presentations that were usually no more than the standard outline form projected on the screen with ACU print backgrounds to make sure you remember that you are in the Army.   This experience has led me to question the purpose and execution of PowerPoints.  If a slide presentation is mind numbingly boring, is it really accomplishing what it is intended for: Education?   That is a pretty easy question to answer in my mind. 

It seems as though presenters use the PowerPoints slides to bolster their lack of preparation (In the Army its often a case of "Give me your flash drive, you have a class to teach in an hour) or or poor presentation skills.  One would think that the Chaplain School would have a good supply of those who can get before crowd and bring a message, but I believe the that Chaplains do not bring their pulpit skills into the presentations that they are making.  This is probably due to some imaginary and unconscious  division that we sometimes make between secular and sacred communications. 

On my plate right now I have several presentation projects on the horizon of both small and large proportions.   I have a suicide prevention briefing to do on the next drill weekend and I can say that the suicide training that we received at CH-BOLC was the worst four hours I had ever experienced in a classroom.  This is an important topic and it deserves to be taught with some real consideration for effectiveness.   The second project is the "How to Avoid marrying a JERK"  seminar that I have planned for spring.  Dr. John Van Epp developed the material and has an effective presentation style that is comfortable and disarming, but this skill masks over the somewhat lackluster PowerPoint slides that come with the teaching materials.   If that PowerPoint is combined with a less skillful presenter, then there is an audience out there that is in for a world of hurt.

Right now there seems to be a convergence of disciplines in my life that is pointing toward the solution.   First of all, my New Testament professor, Jonathan Pennington,  has a refreshing narrative/storytelling focus to the study of the Gospels that has been beneficial to my understanding of the Gospels. The often times speculative "behind the text" analysis of the scriptures leaves me cold.  I have also found a website that talks about using storytelling techniques to create your presentations.  I hope that a Narrative technique,  the use of my pulpit skills and a minimalist approach to slide creation will go along way in creating presentations that pop instead of sink.  Despite accusations to the contrary, I don't do this sort of thing just to hear myself talk.

Request #1

I am putting together a set of worship materials for military worship services.  There are are all kinds of free bibles in the KJV (or NIV) that I can get, but I use the ESV to preach and teach.  I would like to have a set of about 30 ESV paperback bibles that I can ruggedize with 100 MPH Tape and take with me from unit to unit.    This gives me an opportunity to put a solid translation in their hands and everyone knows how annoying it is to have a different translation than the preacher.

I am asking that you consider purchasing a paperback ESV Bble from this link and send it to my address:

J Kent Kroencke

107 Fenley Ave.  APT K3

Louisville, KY 40207

 

Request #2

I am also trying to develop a hymnal that I can put together.  This is a difficult project and I would like to hear the input of my readers.  There are several factors that have to be taken into account.

1.  There are Christians of various denominations in military worship services.

2.  There are Christians of various ethnic background in military worship services .  For example, a Caucasian church usually worships much differently than an African American church.

3.  The songs should be able to be sung A Cappella sing instruments and musicians care often in short supply.

4  The songs should be of a timeless nature and well tested theologically.  I have seen modern praise music totally fall flat in a field environment because it is too hard to sing and has an appeal limited to evangelical types.  I have observed that worship that is closer to being liturgical in nature is the most effective worship in this context since it grounds the experience in something well known "from back home."  You cannot underestimate the power of the familiar to a soldier plucked from his home and put in the desert.  

Put your thinking caps on and send your recommendations to  jkroencke@msn.com

1.  He has an inordinate fear of elves

2.  When ever he hears the phrase "even more so" he compulsively says "ruvydumso" in his head and even out loud at times.

3.  He likes any song with a "Whoooo Hooooo" in it.  For example,  Midnight Train to Georgia or Song #2 by Blur. 

4. J must have his t-shirts and underwear rolled military style in his dresser drawer to feel as if his world is under control.

5.  J was once kicked off the Guitar Hero display at Wal-Mart by store employees so an eight year old could have a turn.  This is turn prompted his wife to buy the game for Christmas so she would stop being embarrassed.

6.  J rubs his toes on a blanket he has had for 38 years.

7.  He gave himself carpel tunnel by playing pinball too much in College and still has shooting pains in his hands now and again.

8.  J cannot preach with his glasses on.

9.  He thinks that the hatchback is the ultimate form for a car.

10.  He has had a recurring dream that he was operating an underground ring of pizza makers that always gets raided by fascist government storm troopers in a twisted dystopia.  He always escapes to make more pizzas, but just barely.