1. His hair.



2. His car. Dude is a professional athlete, making millions in salary, plus endorsements, but he drives a Kia. Why? Because he doesn't need a fancy car. A Kia seemed good to him.

3. He's super fast.

4. He hits REALLY hard


5. He's a Pittsburgh Steeler.

6. He never lifts a weight over 15lbs. Sure, he trains really hard, but its all speed, flexibility, and repetition. He believes this sort of training is more conducive to football then lifting weights. I'm not going to argue with him.

7. He's anti-Gatorade. He thinks water is better for you and Gatorade is all marketing.


8. He's a spiritual guy.

9. He's Samoan. I don't know why I like that, but its cool.

10. He's not even that into football. Well, he likes playing, but he doesn't watch it at all. I guess we are different in that way, but I appreciate that he is interested in other things.

1. Lot's of "dark heroes," i.e good guys that do bad things or bad guys that do good things (well, guys and girls actually, even if it is guys in most cases). Really, there's only one completely good guy in the whole thing, and his contemporaries thought he was a bad guy.

2. The language. It was written, mostly, in Hebrew and Koine Greek. Both are relatively simple, for ancient languages. The Greek used was not literary (Attic) Greek, the language of the marketplace, which means that it was written to cross languages and cultures.

3. It surprises me. Still. Even after reading it as much as I have, the Bible still kicks my ass. Martin Luther used to call scripture, "my enemy," because he said, "it destroys me."

4. It's an underdog story. The younger brother gets the inheritance. The slaves get land of their own. The Romans get beat, non-violently at that! Remember the term "David and Goliath story" comes from a book that is full of David and Goliath stories.

5. It's honest about where it comes from. For example, there are four different accounts of Jesus' life, and while they DO converge, they DON'T completely line up. Rather than just pick one, and "get the story straight," early Christians included all four in the Bible, because all four had value. Some thing with other sections of the book (actually, the Bible is better described as a library than a book, but I digress . . .)

6. It reads well. The church has tried to ruin this, by chopping the stories up, or always skipping ahead to its favorite parts, but exodus is exciting! So is Mark. Esther is regarded as great literature by plenty of people who could care less about whether the Bible is "God's Word" or not.

7. It reads even better in community. It raises questions that have to be discussed. It's a "book club" kinda book. (Instead of a book you club people with, which is how it often gets used!).

8. It really does show me God. Sometimes its easy, other times its hard, but God is revealed in that book.

9. It also shows me humanity. No where is it clearer how dumb/selfish/stubborn we can be, but also what God can do with stupid humans like us. It's a pretty good mirror

10. It's got a happy ending. (like this list, I hope). Despite other interpretations that have become popular in recent years, the Bible isn't about how sinners finally get their comeuppance. The Bible is a love story, and thus it ends with a wedding. Humanity and God are made one again, and there's no more death or pain or sickness. Is there judgment? Yes, but that is second to last. The story ends well (and many would argue [using the Bible no less] that it ends well for everybody, not just Christians).

Next: 10 things I like about Troy Polamalu, unless somebody makes a better suggestion.

Felly reminded me of a favorite song. Enjoy. well, only if you like Steelers football. You see, we have a great player named Troy Polamalu. Some people (even some tv announcers) have a hard time saying his name. The twin muppets get it right.

Today they are giving test drives of scion cars, with $15 SPoT coffee gift certificates.

I am happy to get $15 of free stuff (and a t-shirt to boot), but the whole experience made me less likely to buy a scion (and I liked the brand before today!). The reasons I am disappointed are that the new models are bigger, and that they are trying SO hard to be cool. I really would rather buy a car than an "image," especially when the image that they seem to be selling is "poser."

But go and drive the car by the blockbuster on Elmwood and get the free stuff anyway.

1. It exposes me to new music that I like, something I desperately need.

2. It's free, the best cost ever.

3. I love to give a quick "thumbs up," when really good music plays, like Derek Webb.

4. I get to feel a sense of indignation when it plays something lousy, and I give it a thumbs down.

5. The thumbs down kills the song playing, and it moves on to something else.

6. It showed me "Omar and the Howlers," who I had never heard before, but sound pretty good.

7. It sounds good on my new speakers, complete with a subwoofer, all of which came to me in a yard sale.

8. Thanks to those amazing tubes of the internets, its available at home and work and wherever else.

9. It gives me the satisfaction of being a part of a musical genome project, or something like that.

10. I think I can listen to what my friends like, too--but I haven't checked that out yet.