September 30, 2005 at 02:13 am
No In-N-Out for me!
Oh, yeah… So, I’m in California now. I would have written sooner, but I’ve been sitting here at the computer trying to come up with the big speech (while I was on the plane, thinking of profound things to say, I realized that I forgot to pack a pen — ugh).
Anyway, I know it’s standard procedure for most people who visit California to make an initial, obligatory stop at In-N-Out Burger... Not for me. To tell you the truth, I can’t stand the place. Even when I did eat red meat (which hasn’t been for years now), I didn’t really like it there. And, since everyone else in the world seems to like it all right, I had to search out some alternatives — like the “grilled cheese sandwich” (only on their “stealth menu”). But, in all reality, which I came to think that I liked the imitation grilled cheese sandwich (just a regular hamburger without the meat patty), I think I was just fooling myself into being a part of the crowd.
Yes, this probably sounds like blasphemy to some people. But, I’ll freely admit it: I really don’t like In-N-Out. (And, I’m not even going to apologize.)
Maybe I’ll even avoid the place altogether this time (not always the case, I’m afraid).
Oh, well… Back to the speech-writing…
September 29, 2005 at 3:09 pm
Again to California...
I’m off to California again — the plane leaves in about four hours. I mentioned it before, but (to be redundant) I’m going to be the Best Man in my friend, Bill’s wedding. Bill and I have been friends since the ninth grade (1986, or so), but our paths crossed many times before we actually became friends. I’m happy that he’s finally gettin’ hitched.
(Hopefully, I’ll come up with some sort of profound speech for the reception while I’m on the plane.)
Anyway, this occasion also allows me time with my parents which will be very nice. I’m going to miss Julianna, though, as she won’t be traveling with me this time.
See you all next week.
September 29, 2005 at 2:21 pm
Music Meme: 1990, when R&B reigned (and sucked)...
Inspired by Andrew Careaga‘s meme-of-late, I thought I’d partake as well:
1. Go to musicoutfitters.com.My goodness this was a bad year for music. Yikes! I’m really surprised by how many people had multiple hits in 1990, though (like Paula Abdul, Phil Collins, Michael Bolton, etc.)...
2. Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year.
3. Bold the songs you like,strikethrough the ones you hate and underline your favorite. (Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about.)
September 28, 2005 at 08:29 am
Waxing nostalgic...
I know I’ve got it bad when Rise Against‘s “Swing Life Away“ comes on the radio and it brings a tear to my eye.
What is wrong with me?
The song’s been out for a little while now, but it is pretty good — just the type of song my friends and I would have sat around an listened to (or written) when we were kids. Join me in a good cry about your childhood and have a listen:
“Swing Life Away“ (MP3 – 2.2 MB)
September 26, 2005 at 09:54 am
Indy the Wonder (Lap) Dog...
I just realized, this morning, that it’s been a while since I updated you all on Indy. As you can see in the below photograph, she is doing just fine (and maybe just a little too fine).
Anyway, she has started to show her true colors in many ways: she can be pretty rebellious, she learned how to jump over the fence in our backyard; she is a pretty finicky eater (we’ve figured out that she really only wants to eat at night), but loves people-food (which she’ll eat anytime); she’s a quick learner, but doesn’t always want to show you; she’s great around large groups of people and kids…
All-in-all, she’s been very good and we love her.
September 26, 2005 at 08:40 am
I'm very disapointed with the Dish Network...
A Dish Network guy came out to our house yesterday (in the — oh so — gracious window of time between 12pm and 5pm) in order to install a new dish for us (we were trying to take advantage of SBC‘s new “bundle“ plan — phone, internet, and dish all on one bill).
Anyway, to make a long story really short: The guy said that he couldn’t install a dish at our house because we have too many trees and he couldn’t get a good signal from the satellite (there needs to be a clear view to the south-west of the install site).
Personally, I just think he was lazy and didn’t want to take the time to do the install on his last call on a Sunday afternoon. (Afterall, my next door neigbor has Dish Network and it works just fine for him.)
I’ll be talking to someone about this today.
September 26, 2005 at 08:26 am
Homesick?!
I get used to believing that I’m a “Missourian” now… I really do like living here. The pace, the lifestyle, the people — they all suit me very well. Still, it seems, every time I see a California license plate, I feel a small pang of homesickness in my heart.
On the way to work, this morning, it happened to me again. Even though it’s only a very slight touch of emotion, it always produces the same response: Who’s inside? Could I possibly know this person? Even though I have a Missouri license plate, can they tell I’m from California by the way I drive?
Strange, I know.
This Thursday, I’ll be flying back to California. I’m to be the Best Man in an old friend’s wedding. It’s a quick trip — just for the weekend — but it should be fun (I’ve asked my friend Dennis to crash the reception so that we can hang out a little). Plus, it’s always good to see my parents.
Oh, well… Here’s to a week of nostalgia!
September 26, 2005 at 08:00 am
"Killing Him Softly"
Today’s Bruderhof Daily Dig:
“Killing Him Softly”
C. F. Blumhardt
Nothing is more dangerous to the advancement of God’s kingdom than religion. But this is what Christianity has become. Do you not know that it is possible to kill Christ with such Christianity? After all, what is more important – Christianity or Christ? And I’ll say even more: we can kill Christ with the Bible! Which is greater: the Bible or Christ? Yes, we can even kill Christ with our prayers. When we approach God with our prayers full of self-love and self-satisfaction, when the aim of our prayers is to make our world great, our prayers are in vain.
September 23, 2005 at 09:34 am
NEVC response to E85 price discrepancies...
Robert White, the Project Director for the (NEVC) was kind enough to write a very informative e-mail back to me, addressing some questions I had about the price discrepancies I found between E85 and regular unleaded gasoline, here in Kansas City, MO. While these “price hikes” may be temporary, there are some factors that go beyond taxes and fees. Please take some time to read this letter. If you’re a user of E85, these issues affect your directly.
September 23, 2005 at 08:05 am
63 photos from Burning Man...
No, these photos aren’t mine… I’ve never actually been to Burning Man although I have lots of friends who have been. Hopefully, one day, I will get to take part in the experience.
These photos (free registration/login required) are from Hans Roos, an amazing German photographer, whose photos I have admired for a while now.
Anyway, take a minute to check out Hans’ photos of Burning Man.
(Link via Photo Friday.)
September 21, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Have you e-mailed me today?
Will today just go ahead and end?
To add to my some of the things that sucked today list, this morning, I realized that e-mail wasn’t getting to me for some reason… It wasn’t just that my e-mail client wasn’t downloading the mail, but, rather, that the mail was never reaching the Inbox on my webhost‘s server. Soon after figuring this out, I e-mailed my webhost to ask what was up. I was assuming that they’d be able to fix the problem and then all of my e-mail would come pouring in… Wrong. As of 3:21pm, this afternoon, the e-mail problem has been resolved, but no old e-mail (mailed between, oh, say, 6:00am and 3:21pm) has arrived. And, it probably never will…
So, if you attempted to e-mail me at some point today and never got a response, this is why. Please re-send your e-mail and I will receive it promptly.
September 21, 2005 at 2:20 pm
Firefox woes ammended (Extending Firefox)...
In my last post, I forgot to mention one crucial step that occurred between launching Firefox and discovering that all of my hard-earned personalization had been wiped clean: a prompt-box popped-up asking me to choose a profile… When this happened, I chose “Default” (as I’m the only one who uses this computer). When I clicked “OK,” though, I was presented with an error message that told me I could not use the default profile and that I had to create a new one.
This is where the trouble began…
September 21, 2005 at 09:50 am
Firefox has seriously bummed me out today...
So, for some reason, I “quit” Firefox before leaving my office last night… No big deal, though, right? I mean, I do it all the time when I’m shutting down my computer or I need to “force-quit” in order to resolve a page-crash or something. Well, when I launched Firefox this morning, something strange happened…
The first thing I noticed was that none of my Extensions loaded (and I use quite a few of them). Anyway, that’s not where it ends…
The second thing I checked for were my bookmarks… Nope. Not there. Very sad.
Third, I typed a URL that I use everyday into my address bar… Nada — it didn’t auto-complete what I was typing. No more browser history.
Finally, when I got to a page that requires a login, I found that my login (username and password) was no longer saved… Nor are any or my saved logins: the Password Manager is kaput.
What’s the deal? I have no idea. What I do know is that it sucks. I had all sorts of bookmarks saved for various reasons. I had a large inventory of saved logins in my Password Manager that I will now have to go back and re-create. Now I have to go find and install all of the Extensions that I was using too…
Ugh. For real.
September 19, 2005 at 11:06 am
Community Times Four...
Zach Lind graciously bought Doug Weinbrenner and me dinner at The Freestate Brewery in Lawrence, Kansas last night. It was a great time, full of conversation and catching up. We talked about all sorts of things: from life being a dad, to theology, to music — and more. I had a lot of fun. Afterwards, Doug and I watched Jimmy Eat World (Zach’s band) rock Liberty Hall... Seriously. Wow.
Click on the picture below to watch a thirty-second movie of “Sweetness,” which was the final song of the night (QT – 1.6MB):
September 19, 2005 at 11:05 am
E85 (Alternative Fuel), Redux: A Photo Essay...
Not too long ago, I wrote an entry here about E85 — an alternative fuel made from ethanol (if you’d like to read the entry, click here). In June, when I wrote the entry, I was bummed for two reasons: (1) our car can’t use E85 and, (2) E85 wasn’t available in the Kansas City area. Well, since then, I have found a gas station that supplies E85. Here’s what I found…
Here’s our car wishing it could use E85:
That’s right. E85 was thirty cents more per gallon than regular unleaded. But that article at MSNBC said that E85 should be an average of forty-five cents cheaper than regular unleaded? What’s the deal?
And that’s my question: What’s the deal?
Anyone out there know?
September 14, 2005 at 12:51 pm
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster...
This is hilarious and since I live in the next state over, I thought I’d share…
Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is a satirical parody religion created to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to allow intelligent design to be taught in science classes alongside evolution…Laughing out loud funny.
The beliefs of the religion include:
- The Universe was created by an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster. All evidence pointing towards evolution was intentionally planted by this being.
- According to the pastafarians, the monster created the world starting with a mountain, trees and a midget, and continues to guide human affairs with his “noodly appendage.” Heaven is depicted as having a stripper factory and a beer volcano.
For further reference, also see the Wikipedia entry for Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster here (where the above excerpts are from).
(Link via Signposts.)
September 08, 2005 at 1:06 pm
The meme of the unknown blogger...
John Chandler has been so kind as to tag me in a new meme he took part in.
Here’s what it’s about:
The explosion of the blog world in the last year has led to countless quality blogs being started, but sometimes it is hard to find them amongst all the other blog muck. Because there are so many quality blogs out there, I though I would try to start a meme to send some eyeballs toward those unknown bloggers. So, share a blog you think more people should read, and then tag 5 others (who hopefully read your blog!) to do the same.My unknown Blog of choice?
I’ve blogged about this Blog before (here) and I know the guy who writes there. His name is Nirvan. He’s a very talented animator and filmmaker who I met at school. Nirvan writes in The 1 Second Blog only occasionally, but every post is highly entertaining. The Blog itself is about the adventures that Nirvan has (the places he goes and the people he meets) while trying to round up funding for his film.
Anyway, not only do I recommend adding The 1 Second Blog to your Blogroll, but I also suggest donating to the film and becoming one of the (many) producers (as well as supporting a worthy cause).
Tag:
September 07, 2005 at 1:44 pm
This day marks three years...
Did you know that I love my wife?
I was speaking with a friend this morning about how more married couples than can be counted have told Julianna and I that old, cliché marriage advice:
“Every year that you are married will only get better.”Well, we’re three years into it and I can already tell you… All of those people were right.
And it’s even more special now, because of this.
Julianna is not only my wife, but my dearest friend. I cherish every aspect that she brings into our life together. She is beautiful in ever way imaginable.
September 07, 2005 at 1:11 pm
Goovite...
Forget eVite. Now there’s Goovite!
From the site:
...fast, free, easy invites, with no registration required.Looks pretty darned cool… And it’s easy.
This is a great example of an “App-Less Web-App” — a new way of thinking about how we interact with the web…
What if a web-application looked more like a web-document? What if the whole “application�? was a single document, a single URL? What if the interface was one page? No account, no preferences, no settings, no “navigation�? in the traditional sense. What if you could email it around just as you do a photo or a file attachment?(Source.)
Interesting… And I like it. Still, most folks seem to trust the username/password paradigm, so we’ll see if it ever catches on.
(Link via Daniel Miller‘s del.icio.us links.)
September 02, 2005 at 09:29 am
Hurricane 2005 Relief...
I just added a “Hurricane 2005 Relief” button/link to the American Red Cross. If you want to donate, but don’t want to go through Red Cross, there are plenty more ways. Just do it — even if you only send a little.
(Oh, and how about the government mandate that twenty cents per gallon of our already overinflated gas prices go to hurricane relief while we’re at it?)
Update: Here’s another great list of charities to send your hirricane relief money to, at Truth Laid Bear. (Link via RLP.)
September 02, 2005 at 08:12 am
Airdrop...
That is one simple word for our government, concerning the New Orleans flood disaster.
(And the next step would be to pull our troops out of Iraq so that they could actually server their own country for once.)
September 01, 2005 at 08:03 am
New Jacob's Well website!
Major congratulations go out to my friend, Scott Raymond, for completing an amazing new website (both programming and design!) for our church, Jacob’s Well. It’s got a nice, clean design, it’s easy to use, and it’s got a bunch of cool, new interactive features that really showcase our community. Be sure to explore all of the pages, because they all contain something interesting to see or do — be sure to reload the pages to see all of the banner photos change as well (and hover your mouse over them to see who took the photographs).
Of course, one big change for the site is that it has all sorts of information about who we are and how we do things. This has long-been one of the most asked-for features. Still, it doesn’t mean that you can’t come and check us all out now… Please come by if you’re in the area some Sunday.