Thoughts about Nothing*com

Watch this performance and then read more after the jump

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As I sit here in Starbucks working away, I have witnessed several things:

• When I walked in I started talking to a youth pastor friend of mine for a while (love when that happens)
• I witnessed 2 Bible studies
• I talked to the senior minister of the church I attend as he worked on his sermon

Now I do not know about you, but there is something about starbucks that draws every christian and their mom to this place. Maybe it is because the coffee has been blessed by the Pope or something, but this is the place to be if you are a Christian.

I wonder, why do Christians love Starbucks so much?

(I hope Leonard Sweet reads this, he wrote a little book about this)

*kyle

Well the winner of the first annual thoughts about nothing superbowl competition is….

Marshall Jones Jr.

In a very close second place is….

Zac Cross

Not only did they both predict the winner and MVP, they also were very close to the right score, posted on their own blogs about the competition, tweeted and followed, commented on other blogs, and even had a friendly competition. Marshall edged Zac out by a couple of points in the end.

So Marshall send email me you mailing address: kyle@thoughtsaboutnothing.com
and I will send over your winning prizes very soon.

Zac, for finishing so close and all the hard work you have done, I want to give you some free music. Send me an email: kyle@thoughtsaboutnothing.com and I will get that right to you.

Thanks for all that competed.
I am bummed the Colts lost, but excited for Drew Brees and the city of New Orleans.

To the STL Rams, next year is our year.

The super bowl is over and the Saints have surprised a lot of us. Not only was the biggest disappointment Peyton Mannings performance, but the commercials were a huge let down. It seemed that every commercial was reaching for a laugh. They were more concerned with being clever then they were telling you about their product. To put that all together I think these brands missed a major opportunity to do one of two things. First, connect with people online through talking about their twitter accounts. It would have literally taken 5 seconds at the end to say “come and chat with us on twitter” or “find other great deals on our twitter account.” Instead not mention of twitter or social networking. The Second thing that I think brands missed out on was the chance to do good with their money. These commercials that were terribly produced, that were reaching for laughs could have easily have taken that money, given it to Shaun King and let him do some good work in Haiti. Instead they tried to get you to buy a product. I can tell you now I would have thought more of coca cola if they would have done that then show a stupid commercial with the Simpsons.

Along with a great game I also had the privilege of watching the game with over 400 people. How you might ask? Through the wonderful world of twitter. This was a great experience. Not only did we discuss the game we also discussed commercials. It felt like we were in a giant room have one big fun conversation. Loved how it was very natural that we would all navigate to twitter and discuss what we were watching. I have seen this several times with conferences, award shows, and sometimes at church. I think this is a really cool thing that is happening. A chance for people to connect through a very simple tool. Maybe the church could learn a thing or two about that.

If you are like me and would like some more conversation about the commercials and the branding mistakes check out these links:
-Gary Vaynerchuk talks about the mistakes brands made here and here
-Brandbowl2010.com is an awesome site. Gives a twitter rank for all the brands
-watch all the super bowl commercials here

What was your reaction to the Game and the Commercials?

*kyle

It is that time again…the time were millions of pounds of food will be consumed and record amount of TV’s will be sold. It is SuperBowl time. What better way to celebrate and look forward to the big day then to have a little competition.
Here is what we got going here on Thoughts about Nothing, a competition to see who can predict the winner and come closest to the score.

Not only will you be required to pick the winning team but also will need to come closest to the score.
-You will get 5 points for predicting the team that wins
-You will 30 points for predicting the correct score
-You will get 15 points for being within a field goal (3 points off) of the correct score
-You will get 5 points for being within a touchdown (7 points off) of the correct score
(I will tally the final score and then tally your prediction to figure this out)

Comments will be open up until Sunday at 5pm central standard time.

Now this is difficult, I mean to predict a score of something is so unpredictable and unstable is very difficult. So I have decided to even the playing field and little bit.
Here are some options to get you some “points.”

You can do one or all of the following:
-(2 Points) Tweet out this competition saying: “@kylelreed is having a superbowl contest come and predict the winner and walk away a winner http://tinyurl.com/y95fzg9
-(5 Points) Subscribe to this blog in your googlereader and tell me about it on twitter @kylelreed click here to subscribe
-(4 points) pick the MVP of the superbowl (minus 2 points if you pick Peyton Manning and he wins the MVP)
-(10 points) If you write a guest post for Thoughts About Nothing dealing the issue of Mentoring or Twitter and Community
-(1 Million Points) if you give me a ticket to the superbowl
-(20 points) If you blog about this contest and link back to this contest
-(2 points) if you follow me on twitter and tell me about it @kylelreed
-(5 points) if you leave a comment on my sisters blog here or my dads blog here (do both and I will give you 10)

So you can do all of these or just one.
These points will go to your final score.
Like if you do three of these and get lets say 9 points then that will go to your final score of prediction.

Here is an example and my pick:
Colts win
Final score: 31-24 Colts
Bonus Points: MVP Peyton Manning.

You want to know what you are playing for?
Glad you asked…
You are playing for a surprise goody bag from Thoughts about Nothing aka me (kyle)
This will include a couple books, gift cards, and some candy.

The winner will be announced on Monday.
Lets make this awesome and fun.

Get your predictions in now

*kyle

I really do not know where this came from. Maybe it was because I was reading Proverbs 31 the other day and started thinking about girls (unlike any other time really). Here is what I started to think about….

If you are engaged and break it off,
is that the same as divorce?

What do you think. Give me an honest answer, and a well thought of answer.

*kyle

Last night as I was going to bed I pulled back the covers and this is what I found.

I never really understood the statement about how God opens doors. What doors? Like a literal door, or a figurative door? Will I know that it is a door? These are just a couple of the questions that confuse me about this statement.

God opens and Closes doors

We all say this, well at least we have all heard this statement. It is christianiese that encompasses every opportunity that we receive. In other words, it is a yes or a no. I think one of the reasons I never understood this statement was because I was not looking for the doors, I was creating my own. Instead of waiting for the door to be open I was just going threw the wall to get where I needed to be. That all changed once I become an unemployed guy waiting on God’s timing.

Patience was never a virtue of mine. So when I hear statements like God will open a door for you and close the ones that you do not need to enter I get a little frustrated, mainly because it is not in my timing.

Today I realized the timing of God. It is funny, chaotic, unexpected, and yet perfect. Do not ask me how it works or for that matter if you can predict when it will come. All I know is that over the last 8 months God has been opening doors that I did not see. Today, He made it obvious. I often wonder where I would be if I was not faithful to the little doors that He opened in the past. You know, those little opportunities that you get that seem promising, but lead to just a one time thing? Have you ever wondered what opportunities, or for this post sake, what doors you missed?

I think the more we try and get ahead of God the farther behind we become.

Today is a day to share your story. To share any story, but to share with this community and opportunity that you have had that God made a way. This can be a time of encouragement both to readers and to yourself, it can be a therapeutic time of confessing, or it can be a good story of laughter. All I ask is that you share…

Here is one from me called “I should have”

Now it is your turn…

Share a story about how God has open or closed doors for you?

*kyle