Dave MaGee's Wisdom for the People

Top 20 Boy Baby Names of 2011

Dave MaGee — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:27:04 +0000

Top 20 Boy Baby Names of 2011 – source Social Security Administration

1. Jacob
2. Mason
3. William
4. Jayden
5. Noah
6. Michael
7. Ethan
8. Alexander
9. Aiden
10. Daniel
11. Anthony
12. Matthew
13. Elijah
14. Joshua
15. Liam
16. Andrew
17. James
18. David
19. Benjamin
20. Logan

Top 20 Girl Baby Names of 2011

Dave MaGee — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:26:30 +0000

Top 20 Girl Baby Names of 2011 – source Social Security Administration

1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava
6. Emily
7. Abigail
8. Madison
9. Mia
10. Chloe
11. Elizabeth
12. Ella
13. Addison
14. Natalie
15. Lily
16. Grace
17. Samantha
18. Avery
19. Sofia
20. Aubrey

The Ten Largest U.S. Christian Churches/Bodies in 2010

Dave MaGee — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:37:03 +0000

The Ten Largest U.S. Christian Churches/Bodies in 2010, according to the 2012 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches

1. The Catholic Church – 68.2 million, down 0.44%
2. Southern Baptist Convention – 16.1 million, down 0.15%
3. The United Methodist Church – 7.7 million, down 1.22%
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – 6.2 million, up 1.62%
5. The Church of God in Christ – 5.5 million, no update
6. National Baptist Convention, USA – 5.2 million, up 3.95%
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – 4.3 million, down 5.9%
8. National Baptist Convention of America – 3.5 million, no update
9. Assemblies of God – 3.03 million, up 3.99%
10. Presbyterian Church (USA) – 2.7 million, down 3.42%

The Holy Land

Dave MaGee — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:41:58 +0000

In February I had a chance to go on a ten day trip to Israel with a group from the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, led by Pastor Adam Hamilton. We stayed in Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, and Jerusalem and traced the timeline of Jesus life and ministry. It was truly an amazing experience – as one of our guides said they hoped that just as each of us probably read “pop-up books” as a kid, now hopefully the Bible could even more come to life for each of us. I’ll try to post some of my Israel pics over the next week or so.

The Emperor of all Maladies

Dave MaGee — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:37:19 +0000

I recently finished reading the book: The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

It was a fascinating book tracing the history of cancer as we know it. It showed the various treatments that have evolved over the centuries and the research behind the scenes. Near the end of the book it also did an excellent job of presenting a basic scientific presentation of how and what causes cancer in cells and how that process works.

While the book was long and perhaps a little too historical/scientific for some, overall I would recommend it for anyone wanting a thorough understanding of the history of cancer and what has led to where we are today in treating and understanding it.

Musician of the Month Idea

Dave MaGee — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:47:39 +0000

I have around 5000 songs on my Ipod, and so often I’ll be scanning through my Ipod feeling like I have all this good music that I don’t listen to near enough.

So what I decided to for 2012 is do a “Musician/Band of the Month” focus, where I’ll intentionally try to listen to all of the songs I have on my Ipod by a specific artist in a given month, changing bands each month. That’ll also inspire me to go to Itunes and look up the band to see if they have any songs/cds that I haven’t purchased that I wish I had.

I mentioned this idea to several people who all said they might try it themselves, so I thought I’d share it with the blog world. Enjoy!

My Year 2011 in Sports

Dave MaGee — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:36:56 +0000

At the end of each year I reflect on the year in sports, or more specifically what sporting events I attended or otherwise found personally significant. When I first thought back at 2011 I felt like quantity-wise I really hadn’t attended that many events, but quality-wise it had to be one of my best sports years yet.

In April I went to the NCAA basketball Final Four in Houston and got to see all 3 of the Final Four games featuring UConn, Kentucky, Butler, and VCU. my first Final Four ever. Lived in Connecticut as a kid so sort of enjoyed seeing them win.

In July I went to the College Baseball World Series in Omaha for the first time and as an added bonus got to see my undergrad alma mater Vanderbilt play and win against North Carolina.

In October I got to go to game 2 of the baseball World Series in St. Louis (also for the first time) and see the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in an exciting come from behind win. Formerly lived in Dallas so that was sweet even if the overall series outcome wasn’t so great.

Those three events were all certainly “bucket list” type events for a big sports fan like me. Other than those I attended a couple Kansas City Royals baseball games, and certainly hope to attend a lot more this season. I also went to a Sporting KC Major League Soccer game in the new Livestrong Park this past year, and definitely plan to go back. I also got to see (on tv) the Dallas Mavericks win their first NBA championship, and the Mavs are one of my two favorite NBA teams, so that was a highlight.

All things considered, 2011 was a pretty great sports year for me, and 2012 may have to go the quantity over quality route to try to match up.

2011 Pizza Consumption – Final Total!

Dave MaGee — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:40:41 +0000

For my regular blog readers, you may recall that I decided to count how many times I eat pizza in 2011. Well the final totals are in!

I had pizza 17 times in December, which was the highest of any month. A combination of a week-long vacation plus Christmas break really bumped the total. I assume it’s normal for most people to consume high volumes of pizza in their free time?

That brings me to a total of 130 times for the year of 2011. That means I ate pizza 35.6% of days in 2011. I’m sure that was the most I ate any food this past year, and am glad I tracked this. It really was a mix of ordered pizzas, pizza buffets, and frozen/microwave pizzas I “made” at home. Hopefully I can eat pizza a third of the time for the rest of my life.

For all who kept up with this I thank you for following. For all who were disappointed that my 2011 blogging had a strong focus on pizza, I promise more variety in my blog in 2012!

Top Ten Movies of 2011 (by earnings)

Dave MaGee — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:44:47 +0000

Top Ten Box Office Movies of 2011, as found in the Kansas City Star

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2
2. Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon
3. Twilight: Breaking Dawn
4. The Hangover Part II
5. Pirates of the Caribbean 4
6. Fast Five
7. Cars 2
8. Thor
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
10. Captain America

Lots of sequels and superheroes, not a lot of thoughtful dramas, not judging, just saying…

November Pizza Consumption

Dave MaGee — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:21:41 +0000

Better late than never…

For my regular blog readers, you may recall that I decided to count how many times I eat pizza in 2011.

I had pizza 11 times in November. Someone should invent a turkey stuffed with pizza for Thanksgiving.

That brings me to a total of 113 times so far the first eleven months of this year.

My end of year total post will be much more timely, should be right around January 1st or 2nd.