May 31, 2005 at 3:12 pm
Guinness Beersicle...
Why didn’t we think of this before the retreat?!
(Link via Hack A Day.)
May 31, 2005 at 2:37 pm
A Gamer's Manifesto...
2. Give us a genre of game we’ve never seen before. Something that’s not an FPS or an RPG or Madden NFL or…This manifesto is a humorous read for hard-core gamers and novices alike. I recommend a look.
Why isn’t a there a spy game where we actually get to be a real spy rather than a hallway-roving kill machine? You know, where we actually have to talk to contacts and extract information and tap phones and piece together clues, a game full of exotic locales and deception and backstabbing and subplots? A game where a gun is used as often as a real spy would use it (that is, almost never)?
The last game I produced (1998) got panned as an over-budgeted, out-dated flop (which it was — really). One of its gleaming accomplishments, though, was the fact that it delivered exactly what this question asked for: it was an Action/Adventure/FPS with in-depth character interaction and little need for firing weapons. If only the game had started off on a better foot.
(Link via Darren Barefoot.)
May 31, 2005 at 10:23 am
10,000 photographs later...
The other day, I mentioned that the next picture I took with my digital camera would be picture #10,000.
Well, being that I didn’t want to be too over-burdened by the responsibility of taking a great photograph to mark the occasion, I thought it appropriate to copy (sort of) the first picture I took with the camera…
May 31, 2005 at 09:46 am
"O' Joyous Hope of Morn Returned"
The sermon is the sunrise
The pews are soft, green grass
A choir quietly sings their praise
Upon the shore in gentle laps
Water becomes communion wine
A bird descends from clouds
Life, the broken bread of Christ
Sin, the silken shroud
As the sun approaches high
Heat envelopes once again
Father, Spirit, Son alike
Provider, shade, and friend
Another hour begins the fall
Creation moves to see
Shifting of a will not His
Tempted, doomed to be
Night makes way the dark of day
The choir softens still
The pews grow cold as homeward bound
Gone the virgin thrill
Darkness cools, but lies deceit
A fleeting glimpse of rest
O’ joyous hope of morn returned
A light so truly blest
O’ joyous hope of morn returned
A light so truly blest
(Penned at Lake of the Ozarks, May, 2005)
May 27, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Retreat! (II)
We leave for Lake of the Ozarks tonight.
I was looking back at last year’s men’s retreat and just struck by how short a year really is. Strange… The year seems so long when I think of it as a whole. Yet, when I think about any of the individual occurrence that happened during the past year, it feels like they happened yesterday. I’m also struck by how many times in my life I have felt this way — seems like I’d remember, doesn’t it?
By the way, if you’d like to see a picture of where we’ll be staying, click that link up there to last year’s entry.
See you all Tuesday!
May 27, 2005 at 1:32 pm
I almost wish I wrote this, but even I'm not that harsh...
“Injuries I inflicted on myself during Star Wars III“
Laughing…out…loud.
(More about my thoughts here.)
May 27, 2005 at 1:15 pm
Thoughts on (and from) Moby...
Adele, the Existential Punk, provides some great excerpts from a recent interview with Moby in Relevant Magazine.
Here’s one of them:
“I ask Moby if he himself has ever steered someone toward the teachings of Christ. ‘I hope so,’ he says at first. Then he thinks about it, and his next answer appears truer to what might be called the overflow of his heart. ‘[But] I would never want to steer someone towards believing what I believe. If I belonged to a church, I would never want to steer someone towards my church. I would want someone to look at the Gospels and just read the Gospels and try and evaluate them with an open mind. I can’t do anything more than that. I don’t want to browbeat you; I don’t want to say, “If you don’t believe this, you’re going to hell.” That’s not my place. That idea makes me very uncomfortable – the idea of didactically trying to get someone to believe what I believe.’ “
Read the rest here.
(That, along with his über-cool permanent Scrabble room, makes Moby a good man in my book.)
May 27, 2005 at 08:03 am
I'm going all along!
John 17:3 (NKJ):
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.As I read this verse yesterday, I was struck by Jesus’ simple statement. For Jesus, eternal life didn’t just mean living forever. It meant knowing God and himself. Eternal life is not the prize we get for believing. It is the outcome of our belief. In this passage, Jesus is telling us that we don’t even need to think “eternal life,” because knowing God and himself inherantly means eternal life.
This morning, I was struck by how today’s Bruderhof Daily Dig greatly emphasizes this point:
“A Noted Clergyman”
Emily Dickinson
Some keep the Sabbath going to church;
I keep it staying at home,
With a bobolink for a chorister,
And an orchard for a dome.
Some keep the Sabbath in surplice;
I just wear my wings,
And instead of tolling the bell for church,
Our little sexton sings.
God preaches — a noted clergyman —
And the sermon is never long;
So instead of getting to heaven at last,
I’m going all along!
May 26, 2005 at 10:53 am
Too funny...
As we read Galatians 5 last night at small group, we came across the well-known “fruits of the flesh/fruits of the spirit” passage.
Galatians 5:19-26 (NKJ):
Immediately after someone read the “fruits of the flesh” part, my friend, Todd jokingliy interjected, “Sounds like our men’s retreat.”Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
I almost lost it.
(Of course, the men’s retreat isn’t exactly like that.)
We leave Friday evening and don’t get home until Monday. I hope we have as much fun as last year... But, we are missing a couple of key people this time (this one will be sorely missed).
May 26, 2005 at 10:44 am
My new mandolin...
I just received the mandolin pictured here in the mail. It’s sort of a self-bought, early birthday present, I guess. Julianna is buying me — us — a grill, so I figured I should get something that was just mine (I’m so selfish!).
I already broke a string trying to tune the thing. Is that a sign?
I’ve never owned a mandolin before, so I’m looking forward to playing around with it. The chords seems fairly simple and I’ve already put a few together into a song of sorts.
Fun times ahead!
May 25, 2005 at 11:39 pm
The dingo ate my baby!
Pretty much the awesomest season finalé ever.
(But, man, I hate it just the same — I’m gonna miss that show this summer.)
May 25, 2005 at 3:02 pm
Cubed3W...
Cubed3W is a slowly spinning cube rendered in OpenGL on top of your desktop that allows you to display and periodically reload four webpages of your choice. This way you can easily check for new headlines on your favorite web sites.
A couple of drawbacks:
- There is no way to actually access the webpages from Cube3W — which makes the application eye-candy only (it would have been nice to allow the user to open the webpage in a browser if they double-clicked on one of the sides — not to mention making the page links clickable).
- Cubed3W pretty much takes over the desktop to run — while you can see the background in the picture there, it’s not actually clickable (probably a screen grab). If you want to bring anything to the front of Cubed3W, you have to click on the program’s icon in the Dock.
- Cubed3W can’t be sized or minimized — I would love to be able to make it smaller and drag it to the corner of my desktop.
You can download the current version of Cube3W here.
May 24, 2005 at 11:18 pm
Mortality, part 5
Last night, I came home, sat on the couch, and kicked off my shoes to relax.
When I looked down, both of my ankles were as swollen as if I’d broken them. They hurt too.
I’m sixteen days from my thirty-third birthday and I already have painful, swollen ankles.
Norvasc is a medication for high blood pressure. It’s easier on me than Beta-Blockers were (which really threw me for a loop), but after seeing what happened to my ankles last night, I just don’t know what to do.
I have skipped my last two doses of Norvasc.
I wish I could skip all of my meds, but I know I can’t.
Hopefully, they’ll find an alternative for me. If not, I guess I’ll just have to get used to painful, swollen ankles.
Not quite thirty-three years old and I’ve got ankles like my grandparents. Nice.
(Read more entries on my mortality.)
May 24, 2005 at 10:51 am
A personal or corporate faith?
From “An Explanation of the New Perspective on Paul,” Dr. Bryan Chapell:
The New Perspective on Paul is a general term referring to multiple strains of thought that have been building in England and North America for about 30 years… In broadest terms the New Perspective emphasizes the corporate nature of our salvation in distinction from the typical way many North Americans think about their salvation primarily as “a personal relationship with Jesus.” The best forms of the New Perspective do not deny the personal aspects of our salvation but contend that a focus on individual blessings is more a product of Western culture than a reflection of the Apostle Paul’s design for the New Testament church. What we need to remember is that the Bible never divorces our corporate identity from our personal faith — we who believe are members of the body of Christ. Still, without personal faith and repentance we cannot truly unite with Christ no matter how much we participate in the Church’s corporate heritage or practices.Read the rest here.
Good stuff, but rather cursory. At the beginning of his article, Dr. Chapell himself claims not to be a “New Perspective on Paul expert.” This being said, if you find the article interesting enough, check here for a more substantial treatment.
(Link via Paulo.)
May 24, 2005 at 10:23 am
Funnyfox...
(Link via Wired News.)
May 23, 2005 at 10:47 am
Daily dose of heresy #3 (The Trinity)
This is less of a heresy statement, per se, than just a new way to look at something. Still, I think it fits into the mold I have created for abstract thought about traditional theology on this Weblog.
In conversation this morning, a couple of us were struck with a fresh view of the Trinity (fresh to me, anyway, as I’m sure someone else has probably thought about it before). The Trinity, it seems, is probably the most difficult aspect of God to understand (let alone describe). People have come up with all sorts of analogies for how the Trinity works (from the three states of water to the blades on a ceiling fan) and, while they’re all valid attempts at explaining the unexplainable, they all seem to fall short.
But, what if there is little explanation that even needs to be done. What if all of this effort put into trying to describe how God is one but with three different “persons” (or “roles”) is completely unnecessary? (And, yes, I understand that God probably thinks that most of our humanly theological theorizing is unecessary, but that’s not the point here.)
May 22, 2005 at 08:50 am
"PICT9999.JPG"
I just transfered a bunch of photos that I took yesterday from my digital camera to my computer and noticed that the last picture to be copied over was “PICT9999.JPG.” This means that the next picture I take with my camera will be picture #10,000!
I got my camera in October, 2003 — You can see picture #1 here.
That’s one of the cool things about digital photography. I can take 10,000 pictures in less than two years — I don’t know if I’ve taken that many pictures with my various film cameras in my entrie lifetime.
I’ll be sure to post picture #10,000 here when I have it, so be sure to check back.
May 20, 2005 at 10:53 pm
Cheese Wars...
A bunch of us just left Star Wars Episode III. I apologize if you’re a Star Wars fan… I wanted to like it — I really did, but… Ugh.
From reading others’ reviews, I knew the dialog was supposed to be somewhat lame at times, but come on. It was terrible! I can’t believe some of the lines in this film: from the cheesy love-talk between Anakin and Padme to the dropped hints alluding to the other Star Wars films… Just plain awful.
The battle scenes were done well, but they were too long and too many for my tastes — and that’s saying a lot, because I love fights and battles in movies. Speaking of which, Yoda didn’t fail to please when performing his fight scenes. I get a huge kick out of seeing him flip around and act like Bruce Lee.
Anyway, I don’t feel like I wasted any money seeing Episode III. I do like partaking in the hype and the saga. I just wish more thought had been put into the dialog; it does so much for character development, not to mention the overall movie-watching experience (I thought filmmakers knew this).
By the way, I created that graphic there specifically for this entry… Introducing yet another Star Wars franchise product: The Cheese Star. (See my first idea here.)
May 19, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Children's letters to God...
I know I’m posting a lot today, but this made me laugh — and cry — and I just had to share it with you.
Thanks, Mike.
May 19, 2005 at 12:33 pm
SAG, voice-over artists, and video games...
E3 is happening in Los Angeles right now. I’ve been to many E3 conventions in my time (in Atlanta and Los Angeles). It is the place to be if you are in the electronic entertainment industry (hence the name: E3 = Electronic Entertainment Expo). At E3 you get a glimpse into the near future of electronc entertainment (gaming, media, marketing — everything). E.g., this year, one of the big draws is the unveiling of the new XBox 360.
Wired News posted a write-up about E3 today. As I was clicking through the pictures, this one caught my eye.
Actor James Cromwell makes the case that voice-over performers should get a bigger piece of the video-game profits pie.
Photo: Daniel Terdiman
May 19, 2005 at 10:37 am
Encouragement vs. Flattery
Last night, Mary led our Impact Group through Galatians 4. While reading the chapter, we came across this passage (Galatians 4:17, The Message):
Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten. They want to shut you out of the free world of God’s grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and direction, making them feel important.Afterwards we discussed what “flattery” meant and wondered if it was any different from “encouragement.” No, this was not the main point of the fourth chapter in Galatians, but I was amazed by how complex something so seemingly simple can be.
May 19, 2005 at 10:08 am
"Skywalkers"
After posting yesterday’s entry about Star Wars, I was looking at the graphc I used — pulled from the Star Wars website — and wondering why Nike had never thought to capitalize on the Star Wars franchise (if they did, I’m not aware).
Think about it… They could have made a shoe called “The Skywalker.” It would have been great: Into sports? Use the Force.
Take a look at the Air Jordan logo to the right… Simple. Effective. People needed to own a pair of Air Jordans at one time.
Now take a look at what could have been…
Awesome. With a pair of Skywalkers anything is possible.
May 18, 2005 at 1:28 pm
All ads assumed to be property of Lord George Lucas...
Star Wars radio ads, circa 1977, here. (They had no idea.)
Julianna and I will be going to see the new movie Friday evening, 7:30pm, at Cinemark at the Plaza if you’d like to tag along (and we hope you would).
(Link via Darren Barefoot.)
May 17, 2005 at 2:33 pm
Mickey's Marker...
I think it turned out really nice.
May 17, 2005 at 2:15 pm
Freethinking Faith...
I found Freethinking Faith over at Maggi Dawn‘s Blog. It’s new as of this month and I have to say that upon my initial reading, a bunch of things really hit home.
From, “Rethinking redemption” :
Maybe it’s time for us to broaden our thinking about redemption, to ponder taken-for-granted ideas. Where such rethinking will take us probably will vary from person to person. But it warrants a rethinking, nevertheless.Read the rest here.
From, “The trashing of the mind” :
It is psychologically unhealthy to embrace as truth something that your mind tells you isn’t credible. That’s exactly what my well-meaning brethren pressed upon me, and I tried to comply. But all the mental self-bludgeoning and self-manipulation that a person can muster is impotent to create conviction. It only makes belief a crushing burden, a joyless duty.Read the rest here.
From, “What about doctrine?” :
Even the secular realm has beliefs of the heart that we can contrast with “official” beliefs. A belief of the heart is a conviction like, “My mother loves me,” as opposed to an “official” belief like, “The atomic weight of lead is …” The first is a felt conviction that influences who we are, the second is a matter of record (usually based on what someone else has said).Read the rest here.
Thanks, Maggi!
May 16, 2005 at 11:52 am
NetNewsWire 2.0 released!
I’ve written about NetNewsWire here a few times before — it’s definitely my long-standing news aggregator of choice (a must-have for any dedicated blogger).
Well, after 45 iterations in beta phase (that’s my own personal count, anyway), Ranchero Software has finally decided to call it a day and publicly release NNW 2.0!
Mac users: Get your copy now!
May 16, 2005 at 11:26 am
Internet Movie Script Database...
This is new to me too:
Internet Movie Script Database
Too cool.
(Link via Suw Charman.)
May 15, 2005 at 08:06 am
"Frosty" Weekend...
Yesterday, Julianna and I babysat our friend Julie’s daughter, Ava… She’s 14-months old. We offer this every once and a while, but since Julie is a nurse who works twelve-hour shifts on the weekends, it’s not always the easiest job — usually, thirteen-hours with Ava on a Saturday.
We took full advantage of the day by first going for a romp at Gillham Park (just down the street from our house). It was still a little chilly and all of the park equipment was wet from the recent rain, but we were still able to have fun.
We did a number of other things as well, but one of the standouts was accepting Wendy’s offer for free Frosties this weekend (you can read why they were doing this here). As you can see, Julianna and I thoroughly enjoyed the moment.
Later, we had dinner at one of our favorite hangouts, Pizza 51 (who now have their own website here), with our friend Stacy and the three boys that she nannies. As always, the atmosphere and the pizza were great — we sat outside and let all four kids run around to their hearts’ delight. (The first picture here — above — is Ava at Pizza 51.)
Last, we drove over to the famous Loose Park for a few minutes of play-time before we had to go home and await the return of Ava’s mom. Ava loved seeing all of the other kids and even got to meet a dog named, Daisy. Ava’s not very fond of swings, but she loved slides.
Today, at church, we are both hosting/greeting and helping out with Sunday School (yay, more kids!). Afterwards, we are going to a housewarming party/birthday party at my brother-in-law (Jason) and his girlfriend’s (Gina) new house. The birthday party is for Gina’s (soon-to-be) 4-year old son, Calvin (yay, more kids!).
And who knows? Maybe, somewhere along the way, Julianna and I will stop for another free Frosty.
By the way, just as a side-note… I have been taking a lot of pictures lately, so, hopefully, I’ll have a chance to get some of them online soon.
May 12, 2005 at 12:43 pm
How to read the bible...
Good stuff over at Randy McRoberts‘ Blog. I’d quote some of it here, but then you probably would venture over the read the whole thing.
So, go… Read it!
(Link via Richard Hall.)
May 11, 2005 at 10:56 am
Months in the making,,,
I just finished porting over the new design I co-created for Tim Keel‘s Blog (along with his direction and ideas). It’s taken a long time to get everything ironed-out (look versus functionality versus practicality, etc.) but when you only have a few minutes a day to work on something, you have to learn to be patient.
I hope you all like it.
(Reload the page to see the photos at the top change!)
May 10, 2005 at 10:39 pm
The best race ever!
The Amazing Race just ended with one of the most exciting two-hour season finales, I think reality television has ever seen. The teams all vied for first place at some point in the show and the winners were definitely unexpected.
Julianna had Uchenna and Joyce pegged from the first episode. After seeing them battle through the most difficult of trials and some pretty bad luck, I am happy that they did win. Their personalities are immensely lovable and they seem like great people. They even got more out of the race than just the million dollars — they got their marriage back.
I don’t know what the future holds for The Amazing Race, but it will have a tough finale to contend with because of this season.
The Amazing Race seems to be one of the best in the whole reality genre of television. It is competitive. There are ups and downs, trials and joys. People are stripped down to who they really are. Overall, the show showcases shear determination (thanks, Julianna!). What is “amazing” about the race is how it proves that the human will can be tested, tempted, and tortured and still come out strong in the end. As I think about Uchenna and Joyce’s win tonight, I am reminded that a positive attitude and faith in the impossible is what it takes to win the game.
I’ve never written about this on my Weblog before, but I would love to see how I would fair in The Amazing Race. Maybe one day, I will.
May 10, 2005 at 2:03 pm
How To Destroy the Earth...
Too much time on one’s hands makes for an extremely humorous Blog post:
(Link via Ryan MacMichael — I found this cool Flash app on his site too.)
May 10, 2005 at 08:13 am
Ok, so one of y'all needs to fess up...
Ever since returning from WALP, I’ve had a cough. Over the past couple of weeks, it’s been bad and better and everything in between. About five days ago, it got really bad — and I even started having some feverish moments. I almost lost my voice from coughing so much and during the past five days, I’ve spent the majority of nights sleeping in a different bedroom than my wife just so she could get some sleep.
Yesterday I went to the doctor and found out I have bronchitis. At first, the doctor thought I might have pneumonia, but a chest X-ray ruled that out (at least until the radiologists have a chance to look at it).
Now, I’m on three different medications just to try to get over this thing.
So, what I’m thinking is that one of you who I hung out with in Kentucky for a week is the culprit.
Come on now… Who was it?
May 09, 2005 at 2:25 pm
God Speaks!
This one was too funny to pass up (by Tim Nicastro).
May 06, 2005 at 3:17 pm
EM:HE KC airing this Sunday...
You may remember that I took a trip out to the set of Extreme Makeover – Home Edition last month. Well, the episode that was shot here in Kansas City will be airing on ABC this Sunday at 8/7c.
I am very excited to see the “Johnson Family” and their new home!
May 05, 2005 at 10:54 am
Weekend fun in Kansas City...
I just got an e-mail from some PR guy about a pretty exciting event happening in Kansas City this weekend.
Here’s an excerpt:
So there you have it. Consider it “passed on.”I wanted to inform you that The Discovery Channel is also sponsoring the Greatest American Road Tour, which is making its way to Kansas City, MO and will be in town tomorrow, Thursday, May 7th and Friday May 8th. The Road Tour features a Greatest American tour bus that that will be making stops in cities and towns across the country as part of a grassroots campaign to let people know about the nominees for Greatest American. At each stop, Americans will be encouraged to watch the shows in June and express their support for who they think is the Greatest American… We would love for you to pass along the information about this event to your friends and readers.
The schedule is as follows:
- Westport District – 5/6
- Union Station – 5/7
- Wizards game, Arrowhead Stadium – 5/7
- Country Club Plaza – 5/8
Sounds like fun!
May 05, 2005 at 10:39 am
Cinco de Sicko...
At home…sick. Ugh.
What has been up with the weather lately? Over the last half of April (and even up until now), the nightly temperature has been close to 30 degrees — and the days haven’t risen much over 60. Isn’t this supposed to be Spring?
Anyway, I can’t remember the last time I was sick in May. That’s just not right.
May 03, 2005 at 08:23 am
Hitchhiker's Guide on BBC...
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is now playing on BBC Radio.
Very cool!
By the way, have any of you seen h2g2? It’s kind of like the Wikipedia, but founded by Douglas Adams himself. (This is very cool too!)
May 02, 2005 at 12:19 pm
The Graciousness of Uncertainty...
Ashley Cleveland delivered a great message at church yesterday — very eloquent and easy-to-understand (as she usually is). In Ashley’s sermon, one little tidbit that I found particulary moving was a quote by Oswald Chambers. The quote is from his famous book, My Utmost for His Highest (I’ve included a little more than the excerpt that Ashley used):
Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some end, but that is not the nature of spiritual life. The nature of spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty, consequently we do not make our nests anywhere. Common sense says – “Well, supposing I were in that condition…” We cannot suppose ourselves in any condition we have never been in. Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time. When we become advocates of a creed, something dies; we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about Him. Jesus said, “Except ye become as little children.” Spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next. If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the ban of finality about our views; but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.Thanks, Ashley.
“Believe also in Me,” said Jesus, not – “Believe certain things about Me.” Leave the whole thing to Him, it is gloriously uncertain how He will come in, but He will come. Remain loyal to Him.
(You can listen to Ashley’s entire sermon here — it’s called, “The Heart of the Matter.”)