Hope

Today is Martin Luther King Day, 2011. I have the day off, but after waking up around 5, I knew that I would not be sleeping in today. There had been a couple of posting ideas brewing in my head last week so, I’ll try and share one of them today and another later.

The first thought came from “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” from Romans chapter five.

I have several close friends who have gone through some really difficult times. Because I love them, it hurts to see them go through this. I want to say something, anything, but I feel awkward so I often remain quiet and simply listen. I really have no idea how it feels for them right now. But, I have had two dark periods in my life so, even though I do not know how they feel, I am familiar with how suffering hurts.

I think that Paul, the author of the verse, is encouraging us to look beyond our current state to what comes after. Because even though right now it is hurting both physically and mentally, God will redeem this by producing within us something that otherwise would not have been possible: a new character – a new us.

This would not be the path I would chose. But this does not mean that God cannot redeem this path of suffering, hurt and loss and exchange the ashes for beauty.

This gives me hope.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope" – Dr. Martin Luther King.

Accountability

“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

Ronald Regan

Will the real Jesus please stand up?

“We have come so far from reflecting the rebel Jesus in our art and cultural engagement that we do not recognize Him when He surfaces. I still wrestle with the fact that Jesus hung out with prostitutes not simply to tell them what they were doing wrong, but to love them where they were. He was in the world, and His agenda was to love. He was not looking for reasons to be offended. He was not looking for reasons to stay home, safely out of harm’s way. We weren’t set apart in order to live apart. We were called God’s own so we could confidently go into the world.”

Dan Haseltine
Jars of Clay

Quote

“It doesn’t take a majority to prevail, but rather a tireless minority keen to set brushfires in the minds of their neighbors”

Samuel Adams

Church Member or Disciple?

Last month I was going to lunch when a question formulated in my mind: Do I really love God more than my wife and two daughters?
Since it was only me in the car, I was truthful – no. After I realized that I had not been stuck by lightning, there was a sense of “release.” For once, I was being honest with myself (and with all of you). God already knew the answer prior to asking.
This did, however, present an interesting problem, because all of a sudden I could see the wall that had been separating me from God. It was as if He was asking “I bet you didn’t see that before?”
The first sermon of the year hit me square in the chest – it was from Luke 14:26 – “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Those are red-letter words, which means this was Christ speaking to those in the large crowds who were following him. Maybe he was saying it to thin them out a bit. In the context, hate/love is a literal device to contrast two extremes, not a commandment.
The timing of this message was not coincidental.
In closing, I have noticed a few of my friends choosing words for their new year. Not a resolution, but a word that will guide and direct their choices and behaviors throughout the year. I have found my word. For 2011, I choose “Disciple.”

After the Holidays

Cindy asked if I had experienced any of the post holiday “let down.” She was asking this as we brought the boxes down from the attic, took down and repackaged the decorations.

I realized that just two weeks ago was what I remember was a “day of business.” A day that was filled with violin recital, a birthday party, a jazz gig, a cable installation and looking at lights. The week before was Christmas and we were on the cusp of a major snow fall. All of last week was filled with family guest and parties. I was off last week and I had successfully achieved a state of “what day is it anyways” mentality.

Now, with guest are gone and decorations removed, routine is about to reinsert itself back into life. Today I think I do have just a twinge of the post season blues, but there is also nervous anticipation about what 2011 will bring.

I feel ready to jump back into the work fray. I am purposefully intending to bring a better work/life balance this year. Also, I propose to better my craft. Who knows where this will lead?

Welcome 2011

Even though the Gamecocks did not pull out a victory on New Year Eve’s Chic-Fil-a Bowl, we had a great evening shared with friends and family.

Both girls went to a church lock-in and had a blast. Although I would have loved to sleep-in this morning, I am so appreciative of the many chaperones who helped make this event possible.

The lock-in makes for a new years tradition: instead of black eyed peas and collards, we lay low and sleep.

Nine more months until College Football starts…

Closing out 2010

Hi there, it’s me.

I find it funny to look at my last post that was about being able to post again…and here I am, six months later. I could not even scratch up an additional post while on vacation. Go figure. I think that it is really a statement about being busy.

For me, I feel that I killed my blog when I tried to turn it away from why I started it anyways – a way for me to journal what is going on in my life. I over reached.

I also put more time into my Facebook social life. It is far easier to come up with a snarky status than it is to write a post.

In closing out the year, I did complete reading/listening to the Bible with Daily Audio Bible. The Old Testament had a big impact on me, especially the minor prophets. I look forward to continuing the journey tomorrow morning.

Life seems to be moving so quickly that sometimes it is all I can do just to catch my breath. For 2011, I would like to be more responsive and less reactive. This applies not only to my relationships with my wife and kids, but also to my work. I want to apologize less for verbally throwing up on the people who mean the most to me. I would like to be proactive instead of being a procrastinator.

That’s about it.

Ah…to post again!

It seems like a long time since December of 2009. Only what, six months ago? And here I am, June 2010. Last time, I found something inside that really got me writing about our trip through Financial Peace and many of the lessons that we had learned.

Now, I am sitting outside on my camping lot in Myrtle Beach, SC. This week, I brought my family to Pirateland Campground, a location that played prominently in my childhood. And now, I get to share this with my kids.

I will ask them “hey, go see if that bridge is still there” or “go out on the beach and see if a creek separates this campground from the next” and off they go on some mission. I’ll tell them stories of how the old pool use to have a diving board and was much deeper.

Spending time with your family is important. Making memories even more so.

24N24 – Completed

My initial Season 1 viewing schedule was wrong, and I noticed it when I finished my first disc a little before 3:00 am. Each disc was nearly three hours long, and with six discs, the total time was closer to eighteen hours than the original sixteen that I had anticipated.

I changed the plan to watch two discs in three viewings with a two hour break after disc two and a four hour break between disc disc four and and five.

I got home from work about 6:30 and went straight to bed. I was afraid that I would not get any shut eye, but amazingly, I did. Cindy woke me at 11:40 when the alarm clock went off.

The six hours was a lot easier than I thought. Maybe it was the anticipation of knowing that I had a whole day ahead of me and this was just the beginning.

At 6:00, I took my first two hour “sync break.” The show was already at 08:00. During the break, I made breakfast for my family and saw them off for their weekend trip.

The next six hours was considerably more difficult and I felt my head nodding from time to time. I ran out to grab some take out lunch and finished up before three.

During my second break, I had the opportunity to go and congratulation a friend of mine for graduating Regent Law school. By that time, I think I had a thousand yard stare. On the way back, I stopped in a very busy Starbucks for a venti Ice Coffee. No sleeping during the breaks.

The final six hours started at six. By this time, I was ahead of the 24 time (which was now at 16:00), and so it was catching up to me, instead of the other way around. This was by design so that I could conclude the show at midnight. I took a quick “sync break” before the last episode so that I stated at 23:19 and ended right on time.

What was it like watching an entire season of 24 in one day? When watching them on broadcast TV, I often lost details of story arcs because the time compression is so tight. A minor character is introduced who suddenly disappears and three weeks later, you are trying to remember what happened to them. In the continuous viewing mode, the story makes a lot more sense. However, it also servers to point out that the show does not really happen in “real-time.”

For example, at 18:59, Jack and Walsh are in an empty field walking down a hill. When 19:00 starts, a shot of the sun establishes that it is going down, and we pick up with Jack and Walsh now walking in darkness. So, between 18:59 and 19:00 we completely skipped dusk – it was as if someone had flipped a switch.

It also seemed that the writers had trouble knowing what to do with Jack’s wife and daughter once they were rescued at noon. They go to a safe house, which is compromised, the mom gets amnesia and thinks that the daughter is dead and both characters wonder around for the next several episodes. Once the Palmer story resolved around the 21:00 mark, it seemed like there was some difficulty knowing how to keep him around for the next several hours.

I think that one 24N24 is enough for me. It is something that I can now scratch off my bucket list.

Old Man Hip

I am looking forward to my 42 revolution around the sun. 42 is one of those numbers that, well, make certain geeks snicker: after all, we know it to be the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything.

Now, if only we knew the question.

The problem is that the body does not quite have the same resiliency as it did, say, 41 years ago. I have some issues with my left hip that adds just a little pain to about anything that involves moving.

I went to my first physical therapy session, an evaluation of what was going on. It always takes me a little while to warm up to someone, but, getting to know someone while they are touching you doesn’t help.

Luckily, I survived with my dignity intact, but with some astute observations made that I was not aware of: my posture is horrible. I always thought I had relatively good posture (didn’t we learn this in marching band?). I suppose sitting in front of a computer 60 – 75% of the day does not help. In my heart of hearts, I know the issue with my hip will heal; I just need to be patient with the process.

What do I want for my birthday? Simple – A homemade sheet cake that has the words “Don’t Panic” written in big, friendly letters.

That, and maybe a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.

24N24

On May 8th, Cindy, Katie and Megan will be out for the weekend, so I will have the ranch all to myself. What to do?

I have always wanted to do a 24N24 marathon – watch one season of 24 in a day. I would choose a day, and then begin watching a season and start the marathon at the same time that the show begins.

Using my trusty IMDB, the seasons of 24 start in the following hours:

Day 1	12:00 AM
Day 2	8:00 AM
Day 3	1:00 PM
Day 4	7:00 AM
Day 5	7:00 AM
Day 6	6:00 AM
Day 7	8:00 AM
Day 8	4:00PM

I think Day 8 is safely out, as it is the current season and will not be completed until May 24th. And because of the nature of the Marathon, I think I will rule out Day 3.

What scares me about the ones that are starting after 6:00 AM is going through the night without nodding off and falling asleep. I think that I would have enough momentum to go from 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM, and the 9:00 PM back to 12:00 AM seems doable.

Day 1 it is.

The next thing to consider is the timing. On broadcast TV, the episodes are 1 hour with commercials. On DVD, they are about 40 minutes. 40 * 24 = 960/60 = 16 hours. That takes 8 hours off of the marathon. If I started at midnight, I would finish around 4:00 pm.

But, is that in “the spirit” of a 24N24? There would be something cool about start at 12:00 and finishing the next day at 12:00!

Since the actual viewing time is 16 hours, I’ve broken that down into four blocks. I worked out the start and finish of the season matches up with the show and placed in 8 hours worth of breaks (Food, get out of the house, cat nap, etc.)

So, here is my initial schedule:

Again, I am taking anyone who wishes to sponsor me with caffeine products (coffee, five hour energy) and if you want to drop by and watch a block or two (or three or four) feel free!!

Perseverance

This morning, I woke up at 6:30. Cindy and Katie were getting ready to head off to Suffolk with the Ponies and Megan was still fast asleep.

Time to get up.

I went downstairs and made some coffee and remembered what had come from Amazon the day before: my blue ray version of Lord of the Rings. Not the Peter Jackson version, but the Ralph Bakshi animated film.

For me, this film holds a special place. I discovered LOTR in high school, and this film was something that I longed to see, but, it mostly showed at midnight movies. By today’s standards, the animation is not clean, but, put it in the context of 1978, the animation was absolutely fluid thanks to roto-scoping.

Coming in just over two hours, the film ends at roughly the same point as Jackson’s Two Towers. There was never a second film. I wonder if one was ever seriously planned?

The jewel of this disc, however, is the documentary. It is really neat to get into the head of an artist who was trying to do something that we take for granted today – make animation for adults.

One quote that Bakshi made was

Perseverance is something you get if you are doing something you truly love. And perseverance is something you don’t have if you don’t care about what you are doing.

This speaks to me, as I am realizing how much I want to truly understand and create via computer programming. It is almost like I had been in a fog for years where I was focused on the delivery, but not the craft. I had fallen into taking short cuts and bad practices and had done it so often that the end justified the means.

Over a year ago, I stepped away from a management gig because I wanted to program. But, I did not want to write software in the same way that I was previously. I challenged myself to learn and grow. You know what? There are a lot of talented people out there who share much of what they know and who can teach you new ways of doing things.

You have to just invest the time. Find your passion, and persevere! Don’t ask to be taught, go and learn!

As J.P would say: “Develop with Passion!”

Tolerance is a cop out.

A friend of mine shared an incident where his son shared certain cornerstones of the Christian faith with a friend at school. When my friend received the phone call, the word “tolerance” came up.

My friend responded with “Tolerance is a cop out.”

Crickets on the other side of the phone.

He went on to explain “Tolerance means that I can tolerate what you say, but still hate your guts.” Jesus’ teachings went way beyond tolerance. He instructed us to “Love our Neighbors in the very same way we love ourselves.”

Strive to move beyond tolerating your neighbor: love ‘em.

An American Hero

I apologize for reposting this obituary, but this hits really close to home.

Navy SEAL Chief (SOC) Adam Brown was killed in action in Komar Province, Afghanistan on March 16, 2010.  In true “Adam Brown Style” he died a true hero, placing himself in the line of fire to protect other members of his unit.  Adam’s Special Ops Assault Team was assaulting an enemy compound, an operation Adam had performed many times.  The U.S. Forces were engaging the enemy in a fire fight, when a portion of the U.S. soldiers were pinned down by very heavy fire from the enemy compound.   In an effort to protect his men, Adam charged the enemy and was firing on the enemy from a better vantage point, drawing fire away from his pinned down comrades.  His selfless action relieved the fire on his men, but it unfortunately resulted in Adam being struck by enemy fire.  One other member of the American Team was wounded, but Adam’s heroic action saved the other men.  The enemy compound was captured and all enemy combatants were killed in the action.

 

Adam was a 12 year veteran of the United States Navy, with several tours of duty overseas.  He is survived by his wife and two children.

Source

I first met Adam when he and his wife took our Financial Peace class. He was a small group leader and a shining light of Jesus on his team.

My heart aches over this.

Embarrassing Moment

I like to take a break at lunch and get away from the office. For several years, I have scooted over to the nearby Barnes and Nobles to enjoy a cup of coffee and a quick read.

What irritates me, however, is people who talk loudly on cell phones. It never fails that when I score a comfy chair, someone in the chair next to me makes a call and talks. Sure, it’s America, and I take the high road and just grin and bear it.

(I am very tempted to get another chair and sit directly in front of them and stare slightly to their left…when they ask what, I’ll just say “I’m thinking”).

Today I brought my laptop into the cafe and pulled out my ear plugs. Believe it or not, my favorite white noise is bird song. So, plugging in, I lost myself in nature’s melody.

But something was wrong, it was really soft, so I turned it up. still a little soft…oh there it is…another volume control on the media player. There we go…cranked up nice and high.

I dig into whatever I was reading and about ten or fifteen minutes pass by when I feel a tap at my shoulder. Looking up, I see my good friend and co-worker Laura pointing at the volume control. I take my earphones out to say “Hi” when I realize that I had plugged my earbuds into the microphone jack.

Who is the obnoxious guy now!?

The Card Game

I watched The Card Game on Netflix Watch Now last night. If you do not subscribe to Netflix, you should! Subscribe to their lowest tier and you get access to thousands of movies (and growing) that is available to stream directly to your computer.

Want to watch it on your TV? Then pick up a Roku Movie Player.

The Documentary

This past week, we had our “Dumping Debt” lesson in FPU, so this documentary really had resonance.  Here are some things you may not know about banking practices:

1. Free Checking – Once upon a time, you paid for checking. Then, they came up with the idea of “Free Checking.” By now, you should realize that nothing is “Free” – they moved the fee. Where did it go? Over draft fees. Before “Free Checking” if you bounced a check, you not only paid the bounced check fee, but you had to go contact the merchant and clear everything up. With Over Draft protection, they will cover you up to three of five hundred dollars. This “loan” is not labeled a loan, but a convenience – therefore it does not fall under the truth in lending terms. The rate on the overdraft convenience is 460%. Very competitive with Pay Day Loans.

2. Over Draft Protection – Was the banks response to Pay Day Loan industry, whom they were failing to compete with.

3. Prioritized Clearance – The bank uses sophisticated software that will clear high charges first in order to drain your account. If you go into overdraft, that same software will start to clear out the lesser charges next. This way, you can pay $50.00 for a $4.00 coffee.

4. 0% Credit Cards – Like Free Checking, 0% Credit Cards and No Annual Fees is another gimmick. However, Credit Cards are far less regulated than banks. They simply moved the annual fee to another fee structure.

4. What is my Interest – The founder of Providian, when presented with a credit card offer, admitted that he could not tell what his actual interest rating would be after the introductory period.

5. Universal Default – If you are late on a bill unrelated to your credit card, your credit card holder can raise your rates. Its called Universal Default.

6. Adjusting Loan Limits – Credit Card Companies can adjust your credit card limits and reset their terms – just because.

7. It hurts the poor – This really got me – those who are able to take advantage of credit cards are doing so at the expense of those living close to the edge. The reason that the product exists is to make money for the company. Those who are poor or living close to the edge are being raped by these companies. I agree, they should not be using them, but, that’s another subject. I might write more about this.

8. Congress’ Legislation did not go far enough – To put it bluntly, I side with Chris Dodd on this one –The Obama Administration did not want to do anything that would hurt the soundness of the banking industry. The banking industry is built on top of fees and until that is regulated that industry will continue to screw the consumer.

9. Housing – The reason that we are in the economic situation has a lot to do with the housing market. Did you know that people were refinancing their homes with sub-prime mortgages to pay off their credit cards just to go and run them up again?

But What about the Free Market?

I believe in the free market and capitalism and generally think that regulation is a bad thing. Most of the times, the Market will adjust and drive out the things that are harmful.

Not so in this case. In this case, the banks have done a good job at marketing their product. What other product do you approach with bended knee? Oh please, please give me credit.

The component of Capitalism that is missing from this formula is Moral Restraint (again, I need to write on this too).

This American Way of using Debt is unsustainable by the consumer. At least, that’s what I found to be true for me.

That’s why I quit. I am out. It’s not a win-win game, and don’t tell me about your Free Points and Air Miles that you get.

It’s a game of they win, you loose. I am not going to play their game. I quit. I am out.

The borrower is slave to the lender. – Proverbs 22:7.

Creating a Budget, Part 3

This is a series for creating a budget using Google Docs. Part One and Part Two describe creating a basic budget form.

In Part Two, we completed our Google Document Budget Spreadsheet. Now, you should test out the formulas that we entered and make sure that everything is working.

Go ahead, take some time to fill in the numbers. Don’t worry, if this is your first budget, it will not be accurate for about the first three months. After that, budgeting becomes second nature.

Allocating Your Income

Congratulations! You have just completed your first Zero Based Budget! You have spent EVERY penny on paper, on purpose before the month has begun. You want to do this every month. Cindy and I recommend that you start about mid-month so that you can forecast all of the monthly variables (such as Valentine’s Days, birthdays and kids needing clothing).

Next, we want to allocate your income over the next month. Life would be simple if we could get one paycheck at the start of the month and we could execute on the budget, but most of us get paid on a varying cycle.

In my household, we have only one regular income, which occurs bi-weekly. The biggest category on my budget is the mortgage. If I pay for my mortgage out of one paycheck, it will leave very little left over for other necessities, so, I am going to take half out of each paycheck.

With your Spreadsheet open, we are going to add to our column headers:

I have added a Pay Date, an Income and an Allocated Column. The Income Column and the Allocated Column are going to save the same purposes as cells B2 and C2.

Next, just like in the budget side, we are going to merge cells. However, instead of two columns, we are going to merge three:

Finally, we are going to add a formula to the allocated cell at F2: E2 -SUM(D3:D26).

Note: When you merge cells, you address the values in formulas using the left most cell. That is why we use SUM(D3:D26) instead of SUM(F3:F26).

Complete the new columns by adding formatting to the headers. If you have any other income that occurs on other dates, add another set of columns.

I copied and pasted the columns from D – F, but I had to re-enter the formula because the cell references where not correct. Make sure you enter some values to test that the Allocated values are working correctly.

Making Sure it all Adds Up

The last thing that I want to add to this are columns that will help me to determine that I have allocated everything correctly.

The formula for the first row is as follows: =B3-SUM(D3:G3). To translate what this is doing: subtract the value of cell B3 from the Sum of Cells D3 and G3 (technically, this says to sum all cells between D3 and G3). I am going to place this formula into cell J3 and then will copy this all the way down to my last category:

I’ve also created a header.

Now the completed spreadsheet looks like this:

Just a note – I do not use Google Docs for my spreadsheet – I use Excel. I have found that entering formulas into Google and copying cells is not as forgiving as Excel, but, as a free alternative, Google Docs is pretty good.

I hope that this series helps you get a very simple way of creating a zero based budget and allocation plan.

Picasa 3.6.0: Coolest Thing I Have Seen Today

If you are like me, you have tons of electronic photos that you have been snapping for the last 10 – 15 years. Do you use a photo organizer?

If you don’t, give Picasa (from Google) a try.

I opened up Picasa looking for a “photo stitching” tool to help me with my Panoramic photos. There wasn’t one, but, I was prompted to update the software.

Following the software, I noticed my hard-drive spinning, and Picasa was stating that it was “scanning.” However, the “scanning” was under a new tab labeled “people.”

Picasa was scanning our photos looking for faces. Once you tag a few faces, it starts to build an album.

And it really works…notice how it is accurately picking out my daughter even at different ages in her life:

Now, that is cool!

Christmas 2010 Challenge

Today is January 29th, 2010. By now, you should be getting your credit card statements from last month’s Christmas extravaganza. Time to pay the piper, right.

Here is my Christmas 2010 Challenge: Ditch the Credit Cards and pay Christmas 2010 in cash!

Go Green! Choose Paper over Plastic!

This year, Christmas comes in December. That gives you about 11 months to figure out how much you want to spend next year and then save for that amount.

And…the best part of all, no piper to pay in January 2011!!