Merry Christmas 2009!

The Christmas season...is a joyous time. It's when the family gets together and decorates a tree, gathers near a fire to roast chestnuts, and simply enjoy each other's company. But most importantly, it's a time to give to one another and to honor God's Son.

We want to wish you a very merry Christmas here at Zoodle, and also remind everyone to keep Christ in Christmas. Maybe we should even remind everyone to keep Christmas in Christmas. All this Happy Holidays stuff is really driving me nuts; remember that Jesus was born, and we celebrate His birthday tomorrow!

Unfortunately, this year hasn't brought us too much snow in Tacoma. Oh well. That's not going to stop the spirit of the season!

Zoodle's 1 year Anniversary

Has it been one year already? Well, considering exactly 365 days have passed since the blog's debut post, I guess that would make today its first year anniversary. I think now would be a good time to reflect on Zoodle's progress thus far...

1. We've managed to keep writing faithfully and not abandoning Zoodle altogether in the first place. It's an all-too-common tragedy that many-a-blog faces wherein an author becomes either too busy or lazy to write (or in this case, "zoodle"): we've managed to stay out of this rut! Let's hope it stays that way.

2. We've found our blog's color and themes that work and have stuck with them. Experimenting is always a good idea, but the switch from rainbow-colored letters in our logo to straight orange was definitely an improvement! Also the light green, orange and blue colors do well to give Zoodle its authentic edge.

3. We've added additional authors to write posts. Having five authors has made Zoodle all the more interesting and unique. I believe it's probably the most significant step this blog has taken to date. What's better than a person pursuing something thoughtfully? Several persons pursuing something thoughtfully!

4. The zoodle characters (creatures?) have given our blog a personality. Not only have they inspired the Resighk Man and The Incredible KayNein stories, but the zoodles have served as a vehicle for some of our posts of satire, and our innovation proclamation. How do you think Zoodle Inc. got started, anyway?

5. Zoodle has been read by a vast variety of audiences, from the indicative inquisitive individual, to the searching sheet-music specimen. An article from this blog has even been read aloud in a high school classroom. Many of these recipients have even contacted us!

Hmm. So it seems this humble blog-the project that started a year ago-has turned out to be adequately decent. Of course it has many more roads to travel before it becomes amazing, but as long as we stay true to the generic theme of Zoodle, and follow the points of the innovation proclamation, perhaps one day this blog will be extraordinary!!

I guess you could say this is the first post of Zoodle's second generation. Wouldn't it be cool if I linked an annual post once every year to the year prior? Well, I guess we'll see what happens next year. For now, we wish you an upcoming Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

What defines a "Good Band?"

Now, I'm going to start this by stating that I understand Music is a very frequented topic on Zoodle. In fact, it's probably one of the most consistent themes used on this blog! But that's not a bad thing in the least, since music is a heavily inspiring element. Depending on the song, music helps inspire one to Zoodle! In fact, just now I'm listening to a great classic by Dream Theater...

I felt moved to write on this subject just now because earlier I was having an online conversation with a friend about a particular band (Which will not be named) that I don't particularly like, but has a large fan base. I remarked that I found it weird they could be so popular, because in my opinion, they weren't anything special! Just a bland type of band...and I thought to myself, "What does it take to be a good band?" In the conversation, I listed a few qualities that I didn't think the band had, and my friend said they didn't need that to be a good bad.

When I hadn't thought deeply about it, I sort of assumed the qualities for being a "good" band, were to be Beautiful, have Appealing Sound, Exciting, Poetic, Unique, and/or overall talent. Some of those are a given, (Have appealing sound, talent) but not everyone cares for Exciting, or Poetic. So it comes down to pure opinion at this point, but can anything truly be judged from pure opinion?

I don't really have a solid conclusion for this one, I'm hoping some people can help me out! Post your ideas below!

Merry Christmas!

Hot Chocolate!

What is better than a big, steaming mug of hot chocolate on a frigidly cold day? Um, not much. Today I was sitting in the big blue recliner chair in my living room, curled up with a blanket--and holding my hot chocolate. Outside the wind was biting, the trees were bare of all leaves, and it was so cold it can't even snow. Yeah, it's cold out there! But there I sat, all warmed up, observing the arctic world outside, and it was glorious.

Hot chocolate is perfect for warming up--both your insides and your hands, and it is so easy to prepare: "just add water!" So, right now as you are reading this, if you are cold, go fix yourself a cup of cocoa. It'll help, I promise!