100,000: the number of spam comments caught by akismet on my blog since i installed it last october.
12: the number of planes i’ll be on between last monday and this coming tuesday night (an 8 day stretch).
1: the number of nights in my own bed during that same 8 day stretch.
350+: the number of blogs linking to this one in the last 6 mos, according to technorati. apparently, confession is good for the blog, as that number has grown by almost 50 in the last two weeks alone (which also means it will drop by almost 50 in exactly 6 months).
7: books read in the last week. that’s pretty uncommon for me.
2500: visitors to ysmarko last wednesday’; an all-time high (higher, by 700, than the previous high, which was the day we announced zondervan’s purchase of ys). apparently, sending out an email to 30,000 youth workers that starts with “we really screwed up” gets click-throughs.
2: hours it took me to drive what should have been a 10 minute drive from the st. louis airport to my hotel yesterday afternoon, due to the fact that i went the wrong way on the I-70, headed in rush-hour traffice into downtown st. louis, drove around downtown before realizing i was supposed to be in downtown st. charles (20 – 30 minutes west), accidentally crossing the mississippi into what i think was illinois, and getting in rush hour traffice heading out of st. louis on my way to st. charles.
3: rental cars
30: hours spent in intentional silence this week (not counting sleep, or other “accidental” silences); 23 hours monday 1pm through tuesday noon, and 7 hours wednesday 10am – 5pm.
2700: number of junior highers at the “jh believe” event i’m here in st. louis to speak at. we’re in an arena, and it feels wonderfully intimate, and the kids were totally engaged last night. lots of fun.
2: weeks until my whole family goes to new zealand for 2 1/2 weeks. we’re pumped.
5: cities i’ll be in prior to new zealand, not counting layover airports, home (san diego), or st. louis (which i’m currently in). they are: detroit, grand rapids, orlando, bath (ny), and nyc.
The number of books you read always leaves me in awe. I am a slow reader and have a lifelong list of books I want to read. These days I barely get through the books for my courses.
Yeah, I’m not a big fan of driving in St. Louis. Particularly the on ramps, where they give you less than 50 feet to accelerate from 15 mph to match the interstate traffic.
But how did you get downtown? That took some really bad wrong turns (and completely ignoring directions such as east and west). I can think of two ways that you could have done it, and both completely convince me that I will never go on a drive where you are navigating! :)
jeff, that’s hilarious. well, it IS unlike me. my 9 year old son even said, “dad, you never get lost — how did you do this!?” well, i just hadn’t looked at the directions i’d printed out. i knew i was staying at an embassy suites next to “the convention center”, but that the event was actually at an arena a couple miles away. i glanced at the map the rental guy gave me, and saw the st. louis convention center and some arena, downtown. and, then, in all my trips to st. louis (for NYWC and such), i’ve always gone east. so i just hopped on the east 70 without thinking. didn’t even think about the face that st. charles is actually WEST of the airport!
Well, I’m glad you got there safe. If you were actually on the other side of the river, time-wise you were almost halfway to my place from St. Charles.
Looking forward to hearing you in NZ (at easter camp) :D I can’t wait
HA! And you made fun of me for getting lost in Cincy! This weekend was AWESOME…all I have to say is , “POLO!!!!!”
Marko, if confession is good for the soul than I must confess that I struggle with jealousy when I read something like this. I love to travel and wish we could do an incredible vacation like that. We can’t even afford to do a vacation where we drive 5 hours away. Makes me want to find ways to start a speaking ministry and start getting known (obviously for the wrong reasons here). I’m also jealous of getting that much time to read or even to have time in silence (I know that I could if I worked at it though). I’m sure there are things that stink about it, but you are blessed by a great job. Blessings, ~Howie
accidental silence – love that!
reading this exhausts me, i bet you’re pulling for may – how wise your counsel was in giving you this break, i don’t think anyone could survive this kind of schedule and keep from breaking physically, emotionally or spiritually. you’re in my prayers!
I apologize about my jealousy comment. I prayed today about our car situation (my car broke down recently and we’re down to one car) and after church today someone handed us a check to buy this used car I’ve been looking at. God works in awesome ways (even when we’re not aware) and when we compare, we can get caught up in the deadly sin of envy. And obviously anyone in America is blessed beyond compare to the horrors that are going on in places like Darfur. Anyhow, please forgive me! Blessings on your wonderful ministry. Looking forward to seeing you at Believe in Anderson, Indiana on April 20-21.
You will actually be in at least 6 cities since Believe, Orlando, is actually in Kissimmee, but the airport is in Orlando. Not sure if you are counting those kind of duplications, but just more insanity for an already insane schedule.
And now you know why you are cutting back on travel time in the future. Man … my wife would kill me!