Mid-Week Happenings

I was hoping that by Thursday, the Crud would have left my system. Unfortunately, I can not report that to be the case. In fact, the congestion has now entered into my chest, and I can breathe easier, but, I am coughing now.

Got the pool pump running and vacuumed out. Threw some shock in and will take a water sample over to "Polynesian Pools" to see what else needs to happen. Apparently, I can not get the automated pool vacuum hooked into the side of the pool. I am not sure if there was a connector that was removed when the "Pool Guyz" closed the pool in december.

Last night, our small group had a cook out over at Pete’s house. Pete is a great guy and a really deep thinker. He has encouraged me greatly in spending more time reading God’s word. Getting together is a lot of fun, and I am looking to our retreat in two weeks. The fellowship was tainted by the thoughts that Cindy and I had to leave early to make orchestra rehearsal. We had seven trombones and one trumpet. It seems like we have feast or famine (and yes, we have woodwinds and strings). Seven trombones was an unusual turnout. There was one guest and six members were in attendance. There will be more trumpets at the service than at the rehearsal.

Diving In

Ok, I can’t wait any longer! Last October, we had a pool installed. For a brief time, it was this shell that was in the ground, soon to be surrounded by cement. The backyard was completely wrecked, but Mr. Harris and his Sons (and a tractor) got it looking great in no time. Then, we had to winterize and cover up the pool. Before you knew it, Spring had arrived. The grass seeds planted last year are growing like wild. I have over seeded some more just for good measure, but I’ve been eyeing the pool cover. When to take it off? Yesterday, I could stand it no longer, and off it came. Let the summer come quickly!

Define: Star Trek V Effect.

Star Trek V Effect: When a bad movie is made up of cool scenes strung together by a bad script. The movie is rendered far more enjoyable when it is viewed in segments rather than the intended linear progression.

Time Change Week Blues

This past week, my body’s internal alarm clock did not agree with the time change. Mix in to that the additional daylight and I had a recipe for getting worn out. By Thursday, I was drifting in and out during work. I couldn’t wait to get home. That joy evaporated when the door knob going into the house from the garage decided to die. It just turned and turned, but no door ever opened. This is a testimony to how tired I was: my first reaction to Cindy was “call a locksmith.” Sure I was going to pay for the service, but I did not want to deal with it.

Also, this past week, we had a guest staying at our house, Paul Geishan. When I was stationed at Kadena AB, Okinawa, Cindy taught at Okinawa Christian Schools. Paul was a missionary in Okinawa, and the superintendent of the schools. Now, he and his family are based in Atlanta and serves with the Association of Christian Schools International. As part of that ACSI, he visits member schools, and this week, he was visiting schools here in Hampton Roads. He graciously accepted our invitation to spend the week with us. So much fun re-connecting with a precious part of our past! It really is a testament to God how he will continue to weave people in and out of your life for the purposes of his Kingdom.

By Friday, I was already dressed and ready to go into work. I was still tired, my head and eyes were already hurting. Add on that dinner at Red Robin included a free “tower of onion rings,” which was quite tasty, but I paid for it later. I went back and forth with Cindy about going into to work. In the end, I called in: our release had hit code freeze on Wednesday and the QA environment had already been configured. Team Members were branching source safe and getting the next release development environment configured, so we were in a good position. I logged into the VPN and talked to the developers and the project co-coordinator in New Jersey (I love my IM). All that was left to do was wait for the locksmith.

Katie had fallen off her horse at riding lessons, and came home with a limp. According her trainer, eighteen more falls and she is a true horse-woman. I really do admire Katie’s attitude about the whole affair. She told me how there was wind, birds and jet noises and that was what must have spooked Domino. The rest of the day, she took it easy. Together, Katie, Megan and I made progress on Kameo.

Buck Rodgers vs. Captain Kirk

I am currently watching Buck Rodgers on DVD: Pure 70's Cheese. After 4 discs, however, it has become pure brain candy. I notice that Buck has some similarities with my childhood hero Captain James T. Kirk.

1) Both fly cool looking space ships - The Enterprise will always be the best capital ship ever, but, the Earth Defense Force starfighter ranks up there next to the X-Wing and the Colonial Viper.

2) Inevitably, clothing gets torn - The writers seem to go out of their way to get Buck and Kirk into a situation where their torso is shown. Which leads to...

3) Both men are always, inexplicably, "oiled up." Its obviously supposed to be sweat, so, maybe they just have oily skin.

4) They surround themselves with capable friends: Kirk has Spock and McCoy; Buck has Wilma Deering and Dr. Huer. In addition, Buck has a robot name Twiki who says cool things like "Bidi Bidi Bidi"

5) Whether its the 23rd Century, or the 25th Century, there's a lady at every starport. Both Buck and Kirk are quite the ladies man.

Science Study Proves that God Does not Answer Prayer

The John Templeton Foundation will be publishing an article in the American Heart Journal that that intercessory prayer has "no effect."

Ok, does anyone else think this has to be some kind of joke? They actually spent 2.5 million dollars for this? Who provided the funding is what I would like to know. When I read that the same prayer was recited for two weeks by several groups, I immediately thought of Matthew 6:7

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

As Stan the Man would say, "Nuff Said"

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt
Jan. 3, 1919

Too Much Love

Just reviewing some of my last few posts and have noticed that I overuse the word Love. Not that too much love is a bad thing. According to Webster (1828), love is "in a general sense to be pleased with; to regard with affection, on account of some qualities which excite pleasing sensations or desire of gratification."

"I Love Fridays"
"I love.. Tivo."
"I do love this [Tivo]."
"Don’t you love... a good week at work?"
"I love parody songs."

Webster continues, "we love whatever gives us pleasure and delight, whether animal or intellectual." So, it is true, I find pleasure in Fridays, because my family has scheduled date night. Tivo delights me because I can remove Ryan Seacreast.

A lawyer once asked a Jesus, "which is the great commandment in the law?" I have a commentary on this verse that explains how the Jews had divided the law up into "greater" and "lesser" laws, but I like to keep it simple. Why? Because Christ's answer was simple: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The lawyer was thinking about this complex system of sacrifices, offerings, circumcisions, washings etc. But Christ was thinking of the ten commandments. If you love the Lord with all thy heart, the first five commandments will be covered. If you love your neighbor as yourself, the bottom five come naturally.

So, all of this to say that I will try and vary the words that I use.

One Man Re-Enactments

Check out Brandon Hardesty's one man re-enactments. His Vizzini imitation from the "Princess Bride's" battle of the wits scene.

Yea, Friday

TGIF!

I love Fridays because it’s the end of the work week, and I look forward to “Movies and Pizza” with the Family. Tonight: Benji – The Hunted. I’ve never seen a Benji Movie, so we’ll see how that goes. I need to finish up ½ an episode of Buck Rodgers and the Fantastic Four. I’ve been sitting on “Titanic” for over a month.

What movie always makes you laugh? I guess I’d have to go with “Three Amigos.” I first saw the boys in 1986, and to this day, I think every little plane in the sky is a male plane. Stupid, I know, but, stupid makes me laugh.

Dusty Bottoms: Time for plan B. Plan A was to break into El Guapo's fortress.
Carmen: And that you have done, now what?
Dusty Bottoms: Well we really dont have a plan B. We didn't expect for the first plan to work. Sometimes you can overplan these things.

So, what is your “goto” movie for a sure fire laugh?

American Idol: Tivo-Style

I love my Tivo.

Besides our computers, it is the single most used device in the house. I would probably argue that it is more useful than any other device (including the computer) in the home. Not that it allows me to watch more TV (I probably still watch more or less the same), but rather, it allows me to watch TV on my time. Also, I can fast-forward through commercials. For example, watching American Idol on Thursdays, I can watch the Tuesday night show and the Wednesday night results in about forty minutes. We do this by eliminating Ryan Seacrest and the commercials on the Tuesday night show, and go straight to the results for the Wednesday night programs.

Man, I do love this.

Good Work Week

Don’t you love when you have a good week at work? Well, I’ve actually had two. Perhaps it has to do with being in the middle of a coding cycle, or perhaps it’s just the time of year. I’ve been stuck between being an application developer and being a project manager. I say PM, but, what I really mean is PM-ish. I’ve been dragging my heels in this because, honestly, I want to code. I want to continue developing my craft and my skills in this area, and there is just so much stuff out there. Especially since Microsoft has release VS.NET 2005 and SQL Server 2K5. Time…I need another hour. This week, I’ve received a comment from work that I seem to be “happier” with my PM-like role. I think I am. It’s not that I have accepted this as a full-time position, but rather, it’s an opportunity for me to learn a new skill set. I’m enjoying having a hand in creating a schedule, and then publishing that schedule as early as possible. With a time line, I can justify the amount of functionality that we can get into a release. I had an interviewee ask me yesterday if we tend to have unrealistic deadlines. I smiled and thought about my team: getting time lines has been the single biggest aid to avoiding the death march. Yea, that makes me happy.

Baby Got Book

Ok...Todd is down with this and has posted about this video this morning.

First off, I love parody songs. I think that Weird Al is a genuis. If you know the source material, I think you will like this.

Baby Got Book

The Australian: Survivor guilt for beating drug bullet [March 18, 2006]

The Australian: Survivor guilt for beating drug bullet [March 18, 2006]: Wow, this is perhaps one of the most disturbing articles that I have read all day.

Give $1 Million To Your Church, Today!

I just ran across this article about Joel Osteen’s new book deal worth over 10 Million Dollars (that’s $10,000,000 to those of who can not conceive of what that type of money looks like). Both Good Coffee and Todd Rhoades at MMI have posted the following questions:

Let's say you are offered a $10 million dollar book deal? How would you react? What would you do with the money? What would your house look like? What would you drive! What would your giving look like?

What would your giving look like? Some of my readers might be surprised that God has a system of giving that is based around 10% of the sweat of your brow. It’s called the tithe, and it means 10 percent (and yes, I believe in first fruits, so I believe the tithe is off the top baby). If you do not tithe now, why should you start tithing out of the abundance of $10 million dollars? You trade disobedience for obedience only when it is convenient.

God wants you to be faithful with what you have. How many of you would honestly go to your church with a check for (dramatic pause, and in my best Dr. Evil imitation) 1 million dollars? I know Pastor Jim at ASBC would probably fall over. Would 1 million dollars all of a sudden seem unreasonable to give away to God? Would the local church you attend all of sudden seem incapable of handling that much money. Or, are you the best judge to determine which one of God's storehouses to take your tithe to?

I can not fully explain this, but since we have started tithing, I have become a better manager of the money that we have. I will not lie to you and say that it has been easy, I have had many arguments with my wife about why we can’t tithe when our financial outcome seemed difficult. But, God has proved faithful even in those times.

Be faithful now, prove him today. Do not wait to “give out of your abundance,” but what you have. Today.

Mark 12:41-44 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Chef Leaves South Park

Part of my morning routine is (after coffee, of course) to quickly scan through the headlines at google news. One article that got my interest was about actor Issac Hayes wanting to be released from his contract from the Comedy Central show South Park. The reason? The show's "growing insensitivity towards personal spiritual beliefs." I had long since given up on this show, along with other shows, because of the way it portrays me. My since of humor could laugh at the four kids (especially the fat one), but something would bug me about episodes with the Jesus character. This same feeling bugged me about the Ned Flanders family from the Simpsons. This same feeling bugged me about George Michael Bluth's girlfriend from Arrested Development. Believe, this feeling continues into shows such as Family Guy and Malcom in the Middle, even SNL.

The feeling is that they are making fun of Christianity and they are calling me stupid. To credit South Park, they regularly make fun of all religions. And this is where the truth about Issac Hayes resignation is revealed: he was upset when the show made fun of Scientology, his religion.

As a Christian, I have to stop and ask myself, do I have a sense of humor? Come on, it's just a TV show! Lighten up, don't get bent out of shape over this. The problem is, I do have a great sense of humor, and that is what allowed me to tolerate these shows for so many years. But here is the rub. I have gotten to know who Jesus is much better in the past ten years. I understand now how he has affected my relationship to his Father.

Results Typical

You've all seen the adds for weightloss products on TV, or heard testimonials on the radios for the newest "metabo-booster." Every single weight loss advertisement has one thing in common: everyone who actually lost weight while on the program or taking the supplements was not typical!

Wait a minute, how inspiring is that? To know that the chances of you succesfully loosing weight is stacked against you. I want a program where the results Are typical.

Back in September of 2004, I had the top left photo taken of me while on vacation in DC. It was an eye opener. I had climbed upwards of 252 pounds and was already taken cholesterol medication samples from my doctors office to see how it would affect my liver. Not even a week after that photo, I walked into Weight Watchers, and started my flex diet.

I had been trying to loose weight for several years. I had tried everything from Atkins to E-Diets, but I think deep down, my heart wasn't into it. But, the people that I knew in my life who had lost weight, and kept it off, all came from Weight Watchers. It also helped that we had a group leader who makes me laugh, and made me want to come back for each meeting (well, except when I was the only guy there, and they all started talking recipies). But, I got down to 195 in march of 2006 and have kept it within two pounds of that goal (again, except after this past christmas, I enjoyed my dinner a wee bit too much).

Yesterday, I was studying Galations 5: 22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

This verse talks about a mysterious transformation that begins in one who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Your body becomes the Temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor 6:19), which is to say, that God lives within you. This abiding with God begins to produce changes in your life. And the results are typical. Does this mean you check your brain in at the door and get that glazed look in your eye? No (seriously, ask anyone who knows me).

Temperance means moderation; particularly, in eating and drinking as opposed to gluttony and drunkenness. Now, I am not saying that all Christians are going to all of sudden stop over eating and over drinking (and I am well aware of medical conditions), but, in my walk that was a fruit that the Spirit produced.

Now, I pray for longsuffering, because heaven knows, I am short on it.

Microsoft Tool

Ok, I admit it. I am a Microsoft tool. Perhaps it is because everything comes nicely packaged in an install or an update. Perhaps it is because I have made my career in developing applications that target Microsoft platforms, or, because I use Microsoft Development tools. On the computer that I am writing on now, I have Windows Mediacenter edition. Heck, I am not even sure what a mediacenter is, but by golly, I have it! I browse the web with Internet Explorer and I exchange emails with Microsoft Outlook. You read that right Outlook. Not Express. Outlook: I forked out money for Office (of course, it helped that I worked for a company that was a Microsoft Partner that could get deep discounts). I track all of my finances in Microsoft Money.

But recently (hushed tone),I have, uh, installed Red Hat Fedora on another machine (and guess what, it was free). And LJ has got me using Firefox. Tabbed browsing rules, and for those pages that don't quiet work so well, there is always the IE tab extension. And PL has made me into a Gmail convert.

So, don't pass it along to MS that their boy as been playing in the neighbor's yard. I might not want to come back.

Bach Double Violin Concerto

My wife and her dad both play violin. They don't play their violin in the same sense that I play my trombone, but they play their violins. Mr. and Mrs. Hobart (Mike and Ginger) passed their musical talents to their two daughters, Cindy and Michelle. Cindy pursued the violin and Michelle the piano. Their talents carried them through their choices of majors in college undergraduate and post graduate.

But at times, I forget how good they are. I see Cindy in her day-to-day mode, and so I become familiar with this side of her: Wife, Buddy, Mom and Teacher. This summer, she played at Vaction Bible School in front of the kids ("Devil Went Down To Georgia," no less, but that is another story). I was just in awe of this woman's playing ability. I had to pinch myself and say "that's your wife dude."

Yesterday, she played with her dad the Bach Double Concerto. I was at home with the girls (Katie was sick), and so my mother-in-law filmed this. Just amazed at the skills of Cindy and her Dad (and Ginger's steady camera arm).

Missing in Action!

Hey Gang!

Many apologies that I have not blogged all week. When I first started in January, my blog time was right after I ate my cereal in the morning. Unfortunately, this was also my bible study time. You can see where this is going. I allowed the time that I set aside for God, and used it for something else. This week has been especially difficult, because I am taking a discipleship class and this week it has been on Baptism. Each week I am to be "familiar" with three verses. In the first two lessons these have been singe verse scriptures, but this week it has been Romans 6:1-7, Mark 3:13-17 and Acts 6:36-39. I have been busy memorizing the passages. And, I have some blogging to do on Romans 6, because man, that passage is all about me.

Stay Tuned!