Note: Wes’ video is not up on the Concoxions YouTube page (e-mailing videos can be tricky at times), but you can find it on his on YouTube page. For other videos from Concoxions – including future installments of “Story of My Life” – check out our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/concoxions.

Today is the 106th birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel. You and I know him better as Dr. Seuss, author and illustrator of many a wonderful children’s book. So it is the perfect day for us here at Top Ten Tuesday to celebrate his birthday by looking at ten of his greatest works. And in Dr. Seuss’s honor it will be in rhyme (though without the meter and with rather lame rhyming). Feel free to share your favorite Seuss work in the comments below. Here’s your Top Ten.

10. And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry St (1937)
To see where it began, take a look
At the good Dr. Seuss’s very first book
It’s the story of Marco and Mulberry Street
And one’s imagination and it’s actually quite neat
Over 20 different publishers gave the book a pass
The titular street is found in Doc’s hometown: Springfield, Mass.

9. I Wish That I Had Duck Feet (1965)
Duck Feet is one of the books Seuss wrote not drew
You can tell it’s still him for he left a small clue
Duck Feet’s author is Theo. LeSieg and Theo. is for
Seuss’ real first name which is truly Theodor
The last name might be LeSieg when read forwards
But you’ll find real surname Geisel when it’s backwards

8. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (1960)
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Boy, girl, friends, pets (includes fish)
Folks like how easy it is to spoof
Its title so simple, like a dog can woof
Example: I once saw a Hootie tee that had a bunch o’ fish
It read: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blow Fish

7. If I Ran the Zoo (1950)
A favorite Seuss book of mine is If I Ran the Zoo
The story of the imaginative, young Gerald McGrew
McGrew found normal zoo critters quite plain
So he thought up new ones bizarre and insane
In anapestic tetrameter this fun tale is written
It’s Seuss’s usual verse type with which we’re quite smitten

6. The Butter Battle Book (1984)
The Doc’s books could provide commentary so social
On issues in which Seuss thought it good to be vocal
Butter Battle seems like a silly tale of Yooks and Zooks
Yet it’s also a warning about the danger of nukes
The Seussical arms race in a war based on toast
Reminds us that life (theirs and ours) matters most

5. Horton Hears a Who! (1954)
Recently a movie starring Ace Ventura and Michael Scott
Horton’s an elephant whom knows what he’s got
Geisel used the story of protecting the creatures named Who
To resolve animosity t’wards Japanese caused by World War Two
In Horton’s first book, his time on a egg was spent
And we learned that an elephant is faithful, one hundred percent!

4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957)
Sing along: “You’re a mean one, Mister Grinch”
But that’s just cause his grinch heart’s barely an inch
Seuss wrote a holiday tale ’bout how our nation
Has plunged Christmastime into commercialization
The cartoon’s a classic, this can’t be denied
But if you say the movie is great, I’ll say you lied

3. The Cat in the Hat (1957)
The Cat was born from a magazine called Life
Containing an article about children’s reading strife:
Reading primers should have drawings fun and so vibrant
Like Dr. Seuss’s work, full of excitement
The Doc responded to the article’s educational plea
With two hundred and thirty-six distinct words of educational glee

2. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990)
The last book published in Seuss’s life as a rule
Is often given as a gift for graduates from school
This wonderful book sends you out into life
Prepared to face joy, sorrow, happiness, and strife
It asks the question of whether indeed you will succeed
The answer is” Yes! (98 and 3/4% guaranteed)”

1. Green Eggs and Ham (1960)
Sam I Am, Sam I Am
That persistent hero of Green Eggs and Ham
He came as a result of a friendly little bet
A chum believed that Dr. Seuss couldn’t get
A book using words of only fifty
But Seuss got the cash with his vocab so thrifty

For more videos from Concoxions – including future installments of “Story of My Life” – check out our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/concoxions.

For more videos from Concoxions – including future installments of “Story of My Life” – check out our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/concoxions.

There are about 5 days left in Vancouver’s Winter Olympic Games. Even though the winter games is considered to be the scrawny weaker sibling to the summer Olympics, I have to admit that the past 10 or 11 days have been pretty awesome. There have been so many great moments: Shaun White defying gravity in the half-pipe, Lindsay Vonn winning gold with a gimp shin, the Cold War being restarted by men’s figure skating, and the U.S. ice hockey team’s upset of Canada, which led to our northern neighbors becoming our 51st state (okay, I made up the very last part). I have even found myself getting into curling. Yes the 2010 Olympics have been awesome, but that doesn’t mean that they could be more awesome. Top Ten Tuesday is here to help. Here are our ideas – new events, changes to current events, broadcasting ideas – to make 2014 Winter Olympics give the summer games a run for its money. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below. Here’s your Top Ten.

10. Dear NBC, chill it with the ice skating events
The United States hockey team defeated Canada in Olympic competition for the first time since 1960. The Americans’ historic upset clinched the #1 seed in the Olympic ice hockey tournament; all of this one day shy of the 30th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. So what was on NBC? Ice dancing. Not only that but ice dancing in which a couple of Brits stomped all over Johnny Cash’s memory by dressing up as hillbillies and skating to “I’ve Been Everywhere”. Look, I understand that ice skating events bring in the ratings, but you’ve got to throw more of a bone to the other events. The Olympic motto is “Swifter, Higher, Stronger” not “Sparkly, Pretty, Twirly.”

9. Ice Dance-Off
The ice skating events are not going anywhere, but that doesn’t mean can’t spice things up. To differentiate ice dancing (an event whose presence in the Olympics I don’t completely understand) from the other ice skating events, make it like a 1950s style dance-off; last pair standing wins. Every single pair out on the ice at the same time. If you skate into each other and fall down, you’re out. The judges whittle it down to two pairs and they have a dance-off. Ice break dancing would totally be allowed.

8. Know your judges
I went twitter fishing (twishing?) this morning for ideas to improve the Olympics and got several ideas; interestingly all of them had to do with making ice skating events more entertaining. My dad Bill Cox suggested that all judged competitions (primarily ice skating, but this could include ski jumping, etc.) be officiated by Simon, Paula, Randy, and Judge Judy. While I’m not sure I want to give any of those individuals more fame and exposure, we should know who our judges are. These men and women determine the gold medal winners. A little background would be nice. And maybe the judges should be famous Olympians of yore.

7. Are you not entertained?
Jayne Hendry suggested we give it the old Roman Colosseum treatment and add lions and tigers to the rink for ice dancing. I’m intrigued. And before you think that’s terribly mean to the ice dancers, I feel like lions and tigers wouldn’t really be able to get enough traction on ice to chase the dancers down. It would definitely increase the street cred of ice dancing. “Oh, you’re a downhill skier? I’m just an ice dancer . . . that cheats death every time I’m on the rink by dodging lions and tigers.”

6. Ice Skating Biathlon
My brother Taylor Cox suggested we do an ice skating biathlon and give the skaters rifles. Now before you freak out about World War III breaking out between an international assortment of sequined skaters, the idea presents an interesting challenge. After they do all that spinning and twirling, could they hit some targets with a rifle? It’s like dizzy bat with guns (maybe that’s not a good argument). Why not let that be another segment of the judging. Is that really that much more strange than the regular biathlon?

5. Side bets to make things more interesting
Nearly every year the mayors of the two cities represented in the Super Bowl make some sort of bet. Often the loser has to send some kind of local delicacy to the winner or maybe the loser has to wear the winning team’s jersey to a public function. Why don’t the different heads of state make fun side bets for the games. I joked about us winning Canada as a 51st state when the U.S. won the hockey game and that’s going a bit over the line. But what about making Vladimir Putin do the “USA! USA!” chant next time he appears before the United Nations because the U.S. won men’s figure skating? Or President Obama doing his next press conference in a Viking helmet because a Norwegian beat out an American in the men’s Super-G? The possibilities are endless. People would be glued to their TVs for the women’s pursuit biathlon to see whether the Norwegian Prime Minister has to do an imitation of the Swedish Chef at the next state dinner. At least, I would. Oh, and if I mysteriously vanish, the picture of Putin in the Uncle Sam hat is probably why.

4. More snowboarding
In a very short time, snowboarding – through both the halfpipe and the boardercross competitions – has become one of the most popular events at the Winter Olympics. There is a such a thing as too much of a good thing, but there is at least one more snowboarding competition that should be added to the mix: slopestyle. In slopestyle, a boarder goes down the slope and does tricks off a variety of obstacles down the hill. It’s similar to the entertaining freestyle skiing but with even more tricks coming down the slope.

3. Rethink the luge and bobsled
The tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili the day before the games began should force Olympic officials to rethink the philosophy of the sport. Luge and bobsled tracks should stop getting faster and faster. But how do you keep the excitement of the event without ramping up the speed? Race multiple sleds at one time. Short-track speed skating, snowboard cross, and ski cross have shown how much more intense the races can be when individuals are racing against one another instead of a clock. What if you had four tracks of identical length side by side? The intensity would increase tenfold and you would automatically know your winner at the end of the last race instead of waiting through ten or twelve time trials.

2. Fit as many people as possible in every heat of short track speed skating
I don’t know if you have watched any short track (it’s the event with Apolo Ohno in it), but it easily one of the most exciting events at the Olympics. The reason? Crashes and wipeouts are almost guaranteed. It’s like roller derby out there and the races are typically so close that it’s usually anyone’s to win. The only thing that would make it better is to up the number in each heat from four to six or even eight. More people, more madness, more skill needed to take the gold (a little more luck too).

1. Make snowball fighting an Olympic event
How would snowball fighting work? Two teams line up, each with a flag to defend and the object to bring the other team’s flag back to your side. There are seven five minute rounds. If you get hit by a snowball (a judge will make sure it stays legit), you’re out for 30 seconds and then can come back in afterwards. There are various obstacles and barricades on each side to shield the players. If no one captures the flag in the five minute rounds, the round is a draw. If the score is tied after the seven rounds, we go to an un-timed sudden death round; first team to capture the flag wins all. Awesomeness personified in an Olympic event.

For more videos from Concoxions – including future installments of “Story of My Life” – check out our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/concoxions.

I’ve gone to circuses, carnivals, ice shows, etc. for as long as I can remember.  That’s not too unusual. What’s a little more unusual is that my dad worked for all of the above.  While in the army, Dad was stationed in Sarasota, FL where part of his responsibility was selling army surplus equipment.  Some of his biggest customers were circuses and carnivals that winter quartered in the Sarasota area.  He developed a strong interest in the fascinating world of traveling entertainment businesses.  After the army, Dad worked for our local newspaper, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, for a while before deciding to take a year off to do public relations work for either a carnival or circus. This was before my time, so I’m not sure of all the details.

As the saying goes, Dad got “sawdust in his shoes” and never came back to the Herald-Journal.  (Ironically I worked there many years later as a staff sports writer.)  Over the years he did public relations, marketing, and all kinds of press work for some of the country’s largest carnivals, circuses (including Ringling), ice shows, and random tours featuring TV stars like The Lone Ranger and Lassie.  As a boy it was fun shaking hands (paws?) with Lassie and getting a silver bullet from The Lone Ranger.

Dad eventually narrowed down his work to carnivals.  For many years, in addition to his public relations work, dad worked in top management positions with the country’s largest shows.  Somewhere along the way he also started Cox Amusements as a side-line family business.  I know it sounds a little strange, but I really did start working with Cox Amusements when I was about five years old.  I put myself through Furman with the money I made as manager of Cox Amusements (after many years of working for nothing). Those years of loading and unloading trucks and trailers and figuring out how to set things up and make them work are still serving me well in our ministry with Concoxions.  I’ve never denied that I also have sawdust in my shoes.  It doesn’t happen nearly enough, but I love to be around carnivals and circuses.

Dad died March 2, 1989 at the age of 69.  Last night I realized that tomorrow would have been his 90th birthday.  Most of the thousands of people at the Bi-Lo Center tomorrow won’t even know that they’re attending a serendipitous birthday party for a very special man.

Happy birthday, Dad. I miss you.

So back to that evening. I was looking at different non-profit organizations online. I had just been reading a book about making your life and interesting story and I wanted more of that. I came across Bloodwater Mission’s website. They are a wonderful organization that helps provide clean water for people in Africa and is also working to alleviate HIV/AIDS. I saw that they had these campaigns and one stuck out to me. 2 Weeks of Sacrifice. The concept is that for two weeks you drink water only. You save the money you don’t spend on other beverages and donate to this organization.  I e-mailed this to our campus minister and asked if we could do it with BCM here. He loved it, it was presented at a leadership and now we are in our first day of the 2 weeks.

I’m already really excited about this. One of the coolest parts about it is that it acts as a reminder to pray for those that a) don’t have access to clean water, b) have to walk miles to get clean water, and c) don’t have the luxury of drinking anything other than water. We are so incredibly blessed to be able to walk to our sink, turn on the faucet, and have clean, safe water. We bathe in clean, safe water. We was our dishes and clothes in clean, safe water. Water is essential to life. You can live longer without eating than you can without water (I know, I’m taking biology!). But what if it’s making you sick? What if water is literally killing you?

Already today, on this first day, I’ve prayed a lot more than I do in a normal morning. And this hasn’t been easy and won’t be easy. I drink coffee everyday. I looooove coffee (Yes, the excessive o’s are appropriate here). I was up late last night studying and this morning was wanting a cup of coffee so badly and was tempted to start complaining immediately. But then God quickly reminded me that coffee is a luxury and I’m incredibly blessed to live the life that I live. I’ve had many moments like this today and fully expect to keep having them for the next two weeks.

I often get frustrated that I have all these responsibilities and can’t just leave and go help people and I feel so helpless sometimes. But I can give money and I can pray. And God uses that. If you feel called or inspired or a tapping on your heart or anything, please check out Bloodwater Mission and consider making a sacrifice to help these beautiful, capable people. They have to worry about so much. We can help take one of those worries away. And know that this isn’t the only organization helping people. I encourage to look around and see how you can meet the needs of your neighbors, near and far.

Top Ten Tuesday obviously didn’t happen yesterday. The reason is we were out conducting interviews for this summer’s Seesalt staff. To make it up, we’re giving you a follow-up to one of our more popular top ten lists of this past fall: Famous Dogs. Obviously these dogs are slightly less famous. So without further ado, since we’re already a day late, here’s your Top Ten.

10. Air Bud
Air Bud was a 1997 movie about golden retriever that played basketball. I didn’t see it and cannot comment on its quality. But it seems someone likes the dog since it begat 4 sequels. Each had a different sport and puntastic name: Golden Receiver (football), World Pup (soccer), Seventh Inning Fetch (baseball), Air Bud Spikes Back (beach volleyball). There have been also been 4 movies about the sport-playing canine’s puppy offspring (which if the commercials are to be believed are pretty terrible movies). I doubt that they have stopped milking this franchise and wouldn’t be surprised to see Air Bud: Tae Kwon Dog coming Direct-to-DVD sometime soon.

9. Beethoven
Lots of movie dogs on this list. Beethoven is the St. Bernard that rose to fame in his self-titled 1992 movie. There have also been a slew of sequels dedicated to the big slobbering dog (most of them direct-to-video): Beethoven’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and in a literal break from tradition,Beethoven’s Big Break. Big Break is purportedly the “real” story of how Beethoven became a star. I sort of imagine this movie happened as a result of a Hollywood meeting in which someone said, “Origin stories are real hot right now: Batman, James Bond, Spider-Man. What if we did one of those . . . but with Beethoven?” And the sad thing is that hypothetical Hollywood exec will make more money in a year than I will in my lifetime.

8. 101 Dalmatians
We don’t know the names of all 101, but here are 17 of them: Pongo, Perdita (the parents), Lucky, Thunder, Rolly, Patch, Pepper, Dipstick, Penny, Cadpig, Freckles, Purdy, Wizzer, Jewel, Two-Tone, Fidget, and Spotty. In the original 1961 movie there were 3,308 spots amongst the 101 dalmatians. Pongo has 72 spots, Perdita has 68, and each puppy has 32. Apparently the folks at Disney don’t believe in the uniqueness of every child.

7. Barkley
He doesn’t appear that often anymore, but Barkley was the giant orange and white dog muppet that all the kids played with on Sesame Street. His original name was actually Woof-Woof but was changed to Barkley after a popular vote. The enormous canine was originally supposed to be an acrobatic ape, which raises the question of how you intend for something to be an acrobatic ape and end up with a giant dog.

6. Astro
Astro is the beloved pup of the Jetsons. Allegedly because this is the future, dogs have apparently developed enough to where they can speak rudimentary English (however, Scooby-Doo, another Hanna-Barbera creation, could speak rudimentary English as well and he lived in the 70s). Regardless, Astro belongs to the pantheon of all-star dogs.

5. Odie
Jon Arbuckle’s dimwitted dog is a loyal fellow. He puts up with a lot of junk from Garfield and yet they are still the best of friends. Like Snoopy, Odie is a beagle and just like his comic strip counterpart does not resemble a beagle at all. At first, Odie wasn’t Jon’s dog but belonged to Jon’s roommate Lyman. Yeah, I didn’t know Jon had a roommate or that there were people named Lyman. But then Lyman disappeared and the yellow beagle belonged to Jon.

4. Gromit
If you don’t know who Gromit is then you should. The claymation dog belongs to Wallace and is perhaps one of the most intelligent canines out there. He doesn’t talk but he reads, knits, cooks, listens to Bach, knows his way around electronics equipment, and can pilot a plane. NASA even named one of its prototype Mars explorer robots after Gromit. Get to know this dog. And yes, I am now planning to teach my dog Obie how to cook.

3. Uga/Smokey
Many a college football team have real live dogs as their beloved mascot. Perhaps it is just because I live in the South, but I believe Uga and Smokey, Georgia’s and Tennessee’s dogs respectively, are the kings of the doggie mascots. Each school has over a half-century’s worth of history with canines. The Volunteers have had Smokeys since 1953 and the current bluetick coonhound is Smokey IX. The Bulldogs have had 7 Uga’s thus far (you can go to a Wikipedia page to find the winning percentages of each). Uga VII died of heart failure during the 2009 season and a replacement dog – Russ, the half-brother of Uga VII – presided over the last two games of the season. Uga VIII will be selected before this coming fall.

2. Underdog
“There’s no need to fear. Underdog is here!” What’s better than a dog? A dog with superpowers. Underdog was Shoeshine Boy’s alter ego. His Lois Lane was Sweet Polly Purebred. He has superpowers similar to Superman: flight, super strength, invulnerability, x-ray vision, etc. However, to maintain his powers he had to take an Underdog Energy Vitamin Pill, which probably gave birth to baseball’s steroid era. That shadiness is why he is #2 and another superdog is takes the top spot.

1. Krypto the Super-Dog
Superman’s super-powered dog. Boom. No one on this list can come close to that.