OK, Halloween is out of the way, Thanksgiving is around the corner, and my favorite holiday is not far behind.
I am so looking forward to it this year, I already started buying Christmas decorations. Let me back up the clock a year....
Last year we had been through a tough move. All our stuff wasn't unpacked. We were paying two mortgages. Life was, shall we say, not easy. But by God's grace, we made it.
At Christmas time, we didn't have up a single decoration. The week of Christmas, although we had no funds to speak of, I couldn't stand it anymore and bought a used tree from the thrift store. Let me disgress for a moment right there. I loved the thrift store. I got NO problem whatsoever with second-hand materials. I have purchased many pairs of pants, jackets, and other items there. And at times like last year, it was really the only option for a tree. Everyone else wanted $100 and up for artificial trees. I can't have a real one, my wife is allergic.
Also, we didn't have any real lights to put up. We moved out of our house in Memphis, which burned partially right afterward. Some of our items either burned up, or "had help" walking away with all the contractors coming in and out of our home, sadly. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the fire, we had all moved out, and no pets were in the building. Our Christmas decorations were in the section that burned, so we were without, save for a few strands of lights. So, last year, after Christmas they marked a bunch of things down, then I jumped on it. I have many, many strands of lights now, snowflakes, icycles, and other items. Sales rule.
So this year, I'm totally chomping at the bit to get started. I even sketched out our property to figure out what I want to go where. My favorite Christmas movie is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, where Chevy Chase plays Clark Griswald, a man obsessed with having the 'perfect Christmas'. He is my idol in fatherhood, a guy throwing himself into the project, especially the lights. Up on the roof, stapling himself to the gutter with 10,000 lights, he is all of us. He is every suburban dad trying to do a lot with a little, and learning valuable lessons at the same time. As one of his character friends put it in the movie, he is the "last family man."
Now normally, I wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up lights. Can't do it this time, captain. I am starting as soon as the rain lets up and I get the grass cut one last time for the season. Bring on Christmas!
"And the rockets red glaaaaare, the bombs burst in the aaaairrrr...."
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
I'm a grand-dad!
I haven't bee on here in a while, thought I'd post some pics of what has kept us so busy! Her name is Kaitlyn and she's the closest thing to an angel we've seen before.She's quiet, well behaved, and gorgeous! Our intent is to spoil her rotten whevever possible. Everybody says they have the cutest baby and I make fun of them, but the truth is WE have cutest baby ever.
Children really are a blessing, and it is our duty to bring to Christ, and try to live accoerding to His word as a living example. This wouldn't be a spiritual blog unless I hit you over the head with at least one snippet of scripture. So, open up your Manly Manual to Mark 10:14, where Jesus says,
"Let the little children come to me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
My prayer is that I can be a solid example for my kids and anyone around me, and that I can maintain the faith of a child.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
My bucket list
In no particular order of importance:
- Learn a foreign language.
- Certify as a scuba diver.
- Learn how to ride a motorcycle.
- Finish graduate school.
- Write a book.
- Learn how to surf.
- Jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
- Visit Ireland.
- Visit Scotland.
- Publish a video game that someone actually pays for and plays.
I will add more as I think of them. I have accomplished two of these, and I will be writing more about them. I'm just starting my list which will eventually include links to the experiences, if anyone cares. Nobody actually reads this, but I thought it would be fun to write about anyway.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The most fun you'll have wearing yourself out!
I spent Monday at Emerald Isle, North Carolina with my new friend, surfing guru Art McMurtrey. He guided me through a morning of surfing with the patience of Job, having done this billions of times.
I have always wanted to try surfing, watching people do it on tv and movies and thinking of how cool it must be. I moved to the NC coastal area last year, and have since then been wanting to try surfing. Having said that, it's not a mid-life crisis, no matter what my lovely bride tells you!
So I browsed the various sites that offer surfing lessons in the area, and decided to hire Art since he primarily does small families and individuals, no large classes. That's what appeals to me, while I know that some people would rather be in a class-class. That's fine too, but for my money, let me just say Art's lesson was personal, tailored, and included the rash guard, board rental, even the sunscreen. If you add all those items up with another surf school with the other guys, you'll pay more and not get attention since you'd likely be one of 15-20 people.
My first revelation was that this is a LOOOOOT harder than it looks. Experienced surfers can be found in my area just about every day, making it look so easy. Well, perhaps once you understand the subtle nuances of how to adjust your center of gravity and such, maybe it is easy. For me, it was lots of work, paddling out and trying to stay on the board and in control. My respect for good surfers is greater now, and I have a better grasp of what they actually have to go through to get where they are. I used muscles I didn't know I had, got my butt kicked by waves and the board, and exhausted myself. And you know what? Despite being severely whooped, I loved every minute. If anyone chooses to learn this amazing sport, consider Art's class at Emerald Isle, North Carolina. His web site can be found at
He is very reasonable, and will work with you even if you are not 19 years old and 100 lbs. And for the record, I actually got up a few times, but the longest I lasted was maybe 4-5 seconds. So, it's something like 95% work for the 5% of fun. But you can liken it to visiting a water park. You might stand in a line for 30-40 minutes, climb a gi-normous set of stairs, then enjoy a plunge that takes 2-3 seconds. How fun is that? Not much in my book. With surfing, you are in charge of how well it goes. And with a good no-nonsense instructor, you could become a "shredder" in no time.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Top 10 Reasons the New Star Trek Rules
The new Star Trek movie opened a couple of weeks ago in theaters, hanging on to the number one spot until Angels and Demons premiered. Having already recouped it's budget in two weeks, the movie is still going strong, owing its success to an appeal that reaches traditional Trekkie's like myself as well as the average movie-goer.
I thought it might be fun to try to conjure up 10 reasons this new Trek is worth the $742 it costs to go to the movies these days. I'll try to keep it spoiler-free for those that want to see it, but then again, nobody really reads this blog anyway, so here goes:
10: The inclusion of Leonard Nimoy. Sure William Shatner was denied, but the original Spock's presence makes this movie "official" for a lot of people, and upped the ante on the cast and crew to honor the original series, known affectionately as 'TOS'.
9: Nobody really tried to imitate the original actors. Mostly, the new cast gave us a new, fresh interpretation. The only real exception is Karl Urban, who seems to really be trying to channel Dr. McCoy.
8: Aliens that really look like aliens. The original show had some cool alien characters. Anyone remember the Thalosians? Freaky. Also, the Andorians, the Mugatu, and many more. The 60's show seemed to really stretch the imaginations of the creators by bringing us otherworldly characters. Then came Star Trek: The Next Generation. Suddenly, aliens were unanimously created by simply having a 'bumpy-headed' human. Seriously? Is that the best they could do with their expanded budget and technology? Rubber foreheads?
Well, this newest release has real-looking aliens populating Federation space once again. Yaay!
7: Enterprise isn't too updated. Sure, they don't have the red banister, the anonymous blinking Christmas lights and such. But the sets and exteriors are similar enough that you feel like you're back watching the original. Granted, the background isn't painted with the groovy bright 60's color scheme, but some liberation had to be made. I always hated Enterprise-D from Next Generation with its muted, beige colors, ergonomic design, and touchscreen displays. It reminds me of a Galactic Holiday Inn.
6: Speaking of Enterprise, going to 'warp' actually looks like a ship is jumping to light-speed. In recent iterations of Trek, when a ship went to warp, you had the bizarre squash-and-stretch that warping ships went into. That never made sense to me. I always thought, what is this, a cartoon? Ships don't stretch out when they suddenly move fast. In Star Trek '09, when a ship jumps to warp, it really jumps to warp, in other words it almost just disappears. It seems more realistic.
5: In space, nobody hears you scream. There are a couple of moments when the action takes you outside the ship, and the sound goes quiet. This allows for the score to do its wonderful work, while honoring the scientific fact that sound doesn't actually work in space. I haven't seen that since 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it is used to great effect here. I can't remember if this rule applied through the whole movie or not, but it seems that at least a couple of times it worked well.
4: Wrath of Continuity. It seemed that with the time travel storyline, die hard fans have boo-hoo'd for months now about the disruption in continuity. Without giving too much away, there is a plot device that both honors continuity from previous shows, while allowing for some new possibilities.
3: Goodbye, political correctness. In recent years, Star Trek has evolved into a pseudo-intellectual, politically correct, sometimes boring affair. Nothing against Captain Picard, but he's just too dog-gone perfect. He never made judgement errors, never was out of line, never broke prime directive, blah blah blah. Now, we're back to a captain we believe can make tough calls, make mistakes, and perform with the kind of bravado that made Captain Kirk legendary. Additionally, you have to remember that we're going back to the early careers of the crew, meaning the captain is even younger and more brash than he was during the television show that ran from '66 to '69.
2: Action and peril. Nobody is safe in the new timeline, so it's possible to sit on the edge of your seat and wonder what's going to happen next. The new version has plenty of action, hearkening back to when the show was essentially a western in space. Naysayers whine about how Roddenberry's vision was a civilized, peaceful future, yada yada but I say WRONG. Even Gene Roddenberry knew that there had to be at least some excitement. Sure the shows were thought-provoking, but then you had Kirk doing awesome Kirky things like building a rifle from scratch to fight the Gorn.
1: Character development. It is possible to take beloved characters, acknowledge their previous traits, and develop interesting story arcs without violating what we know. Additionally, some characters were expanded on significantly, and given more to do than sit at the console and say "Aye, sir". Action and big explosions are certainly nice, but the story at its core really is about the interesting people, and their interactions. Nearly everyone gets plenty of face-time, with the possible exception of Chekhov, who is little more than comic relief with his accent. That's only a minor complaint though, especially when he was not even on the show during the initial run of their 5-year mission.
If you are capable of overlooking a few minor quibbles, such as details like Captain Pike now being an older mentor instead of Kirk's contemporary, Enterprise being built on the ground instead of in space, and characters that originally didn't appear until later, you'll have a good time.
Highly recommended, four stars.
I thought it might be fun to try to conjure up 10 reasons this new Trek is worth the $742 it costs to go to the movies these days. I'll try to keep it spoiler-free for those that want to see it, but then again, nobody really reads this blog anyway, so here goes:
10: The inclusion of Leonard Nimoy. Sure William Shatner was denied, but the original Spock's presence makes this movie "official" for a lot of people, and upped the ante on the cast and crew to honor the original series, known affectionately as 'TOS'.
9: Nobody really tried to imitate the original actors. Mostly, the new cast gave us a new, fresh interpretation. The only real exception is Karl Urban, who seems to really be trying to channel Dr. McCoy.
8: Aliens that really look like aliens. The original show had some cool alien characters. Anyone remember the Thalosians? Freaky. Also, the Andorians, the Mugatu, and many more. The 60's show seemed to really stretch the imaginations of the creators by bringing us otherworldly characters. Then came Star Trek: The Next Generation. Suddenly, aliens were unanimously created by simply having a 'bumpy-headed' human. Seriously? Is that the best they could do with their expanded budget and technology? Rubber foreheads?
Well, this newest release has real-looking aliens populating Federation space once again. Yaay!
7: Enterprise isn't too updated. Sure, they don't have the red banister, the anonymous blinking Christmas lights and such. But the sets and exteriors are similar enough that you feel like you're back watching the original. Granted, the background isn't painted with the groovy bright 60's color scheme, but some liberation had to be made. I always hated Enterprise-D from Next Generation with its muted, beige colors, ergonomic design, and touchscreen displays. It reminds me of a Galactic Holiday Inn.
6: Speaking of Enterprise, going to 'warp' actually looks like a ship is jumping to light-speed. In recent iterations of Trek, when a ship went to warp, you had the bizarre squash-and-stretch that warping ships went into. That never made sense to me. I always thought, what is this, a cartoon? Ships don't stretch out when they suddenly move fast. In Star Trek '09, when a ship jumps to warp, it really jumps to warp, in other words it almost just disappears. It seems more realistic.
5: In space, nobody hears you scream. There are a couple of moments when the action takes you outside the ship, and the sound goes quiet. This allows for the score to do its wonderful work, while honoring the scientific fact that sound doesn't actually work in space. I haven't seen that since 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it is used to great effect here. I can't remember if this rule applied through the whole movie or not, but it seems that at least a couple of times it worked well.
4: Wrath of Continuity. It seemed that with the time travel storyline, die hard fans have boo-hoo'd for months now about the disruption in continuity. Without giving too much away, there is a plot device that both honors continuity from previous shows, while allowing for some new possibilities.
3: Goodbye, political correctness. In recent years, Star Trek has evolved into a pseudo-intellectual, politically correct, sometimes boring affair. Nothing against Captain Picard, but he's just too dog-gone perfect. He never made judgement errors, never was out of line, never broke prime directive, blah blah blah. Now, we're back to a captain we believe can make tough calls, make mistakes, and perform with the kind of bravado that made Captain Kirk legendary. Additionally, you have to remember that we're going back to the early careers of the crew, meaning the captain is even younger and more brash than he was during the television show that ran from '66 to '69.
2: Action and peril. Nobody is safe in the new timeline, so it's possible to sit on the edge of your seat and wonder what's going to happen next. The new version has plenty of action, hearkening back to when the show was essentially a western in space. Naysayers whine about how Roddenberry's vision was a civilized, peaceful future, yada yada but I say WRONG. Even Gene Roddenberry knew that there had to be at least some excitement. Sure the shows were thought-provoking, but then you had Kirk doing awesome Kirky things like building a rifle from scratch to fight the Gorn.
1: Character development. It is possible to take beloved characters, acknowledge their previous traits, and develop interesting story arcs without violating what we know. Additionally, some characters were expanded on significantly, and given more to do than sit at the console and say "Aye, sir". Action and big explosions are certainly nice, but the story at its core really is about the interesting people, and their interactions. Nearly everyone gets plenty of face-time, with the possible exception of Chekhov, who is little more than comic relief with his accent. That's only a minor complaint though, especially when he was not even on the show during the initial run of their 5-year mission.
If you are capable of overlooking a few minor quibbles, such as details like Captain Pike now being an older mentor instead of Kirk's contemporary, Enterprise being built on the ground instead of in space, and characters that originally didn't appear until later, you'll have a good time.
Highly recommended, four stars.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Getting in touch with my Inner Nerd
Greetings-I have nothing intrinsically profound to share today. I just wanted to share some images I found recently with other people who might want to get in touch with their inner nerd. As you know, the title of my blog is Nerdvana, and in the spirit of that, I occassionally like to talk about and provide links to sci-fi stuff.
Like many nerds, I have an interest in model rocketry that includes building them from Estes kits and taking great joy in shooting them up 300, 500, or more feet up in the air. There's just something satisfying about it, and if you have kids (I have two boys) it's a great way to spend time with them. Nothing says parental love quite like blowin' some stuff up!
With that in mind, I found something combining two things I enjoy: Star Wars and rockets.
These images come courtesy of photographer Brad Pennock. Published with his permission. His Flickr site can be found at http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=x-wing&w=64855637%40N00
Thanks, Brad, for your cool images! Man, I'm still geeking out over how awesome that is. It is a pretty solid example of what I would be doing if I had the resources. So until I do get that Columbian Cartel side thing going, I'll just live vicariously through other people I guess.
Peace out!
Proverbs 23:4-6 (New International Version)
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Patience
I really had my patience tested yesterday. I live out in the sticks, where we don't have the luxury of DSL or cable tv as of yet. The company I work for offered a wireless Internet card at a discounted monthly rate, so we jumped on it. Unfortunately, we don't live in a zone that has 3G, wi-fi, the Edge network, or anything else that our cellular provider offers. Our cell phone doesn't even work there. As such, the new laptop Internet card didn't work, so I called to cancel it.
I spoke with a tech support guy first, who asked if I'd rather cancel right away, or try to troubleshoot it first, as it could have been a technical issue. I replied that I'd like to try troubleshooting first, because my experience in the telecom industry has taught me that it could always be something very simple I'm just overlooking. After following all his instructions, about 45 minutes later we agreed it was in fact not going to work. He advised me he would transfer me to the department that would handle the service cancellation. That is where the real fun began.
Next I spoke to someone in billing, who asked me for my name, number, and personal info. I gave it again, then explained what happened. The guy told me he'd be happy to help, if I understood that I'd be paying for 4 days of service. I explained that I had only had the product less than a day, having just gotten it. I ordered it online, which is why the service date showed up as May 1. I told him that I would not pay for 4 days of service, especially when it has not even worked for one day! So he transfers me to another department. Oh boy, this is fun.
The next person I talked to waned to know my name, phone number, personal info, and the capital of Texas. I went through the whole story again, and told this person that I was not paying pro-rated fees or an early disconnect fee since my product was under the 30-day warranty. It hasn't worked one day, and all I want is to cancel service and send the junk, I mean product, back. He advised me that was not his department, and that he'd be transferring me to another department to handle the cancellation. Oh, joy, you mean I get to wait in que for another customer service rep?
So I wait, and about 35 minutes later I'm on the line with a technician whose name is every consonant with no vowels. He wants to know my name, number, personal info, the number of pores in my skin, and the fastest land animal. I told him the whole story, and I just want to cancel service, and send the product back that I ordered on the Premium web site. "Premium web site", he asks, "Oh, that's another department", and he promptly transferred me.
Now I wait nearly an hour, enjoying the Best of Elevator Music. Finally, I got a guy who asks me my name, number, problem, personal info, and who wrote the National Anthem. I go through all that, then he says (you might want to sit down)..."I'm going to transfer you now to the appropriate party and.."
At that moment, Bruce Banner would have cowered from me. Customer service people, you listening? Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
I snapped. I raised my voice and said, "No, no. You are not going to TRANSFER ME TO ANOTHER DEPARTMENT. You are like, the 10th person who I was told could help me cancel my service, only to pass me on to some other person! This stops now, you are gonna cancel my service, I am not going to pay an early termination, and I'm going to send you this product back, free of charge! How freaking hard is that to understand? I just...want... to CANCEL. I have been on the line an hour and a half waiting to talk to the right person, and getting passed around is very frustrating!"
Then, like magic, I heard a keyboard clicking, and the tech said, "OK, sir, I cancelled your service, and you will not be charged an early termination fee. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
No, I told him. Then that was that. I don't understand why there was so much difficulty in solving my issue. It wasn't a broken product, it was simply not going to work because of where I live. That should have been easy to solve with a quick cancellation. I suppose anyone in customer service who handles a cancellation has to report why, and maybe it counts against their record? Dunno.
So it wasn't my shining moment, to be sure. I later at work went to the Bible during my break, to see what it says about patience. Turns out, a lot of information is in there about it. I'll share one scripture. It's from Ecclesiastes 7: 8, 9. It goes:
I spoke with a tech support guy first, who asked if I'd rather cancel right away, or try to troubleshoot it first, as it could have been a technical issue. I replied that I'd like to try troubleshooting first, because my experience in the telecom industry has taught me that it could always be something very simple I'm just overlooking. After following all his instructions, about 45 minutes later we agreed it was in fact not going to work. He advised me he would transfer me to the department that would handle the service cancellation. That is where the real fun began.
Next I spoke to someone in billing, who asked me for my name, number, and personal info. I gave it again, then explained what happened. The guy told me he'd be happy to help, if I understood that I'd be paying for 4 days of service. I explained that I had only had the product less than a day, having just gotten it. I ordered it online, which is why the service date showed up as May 1. I told him that I would not pay for 4 days of service, especially when it has not even worked for one day! So he transfers me to another department. Oh boy, this is fun.
The next person I talked to waned to know my name, phone number, personal info, and the capital of Texas. I went through the whole story again, and told this person that I was not paying pro-rated fees or an early disconnect fee since my product was under the 30-day warranty. It hasn't worked one day, and all I want is to cancel service and send the junk, I mean product, back. He advised me that was not his department, and that he'd be transferring me to another department to handle the cancellation. Oh, joy, you mean I get to wait in que for another customer service rep?
So I wait, and about 35 minutes later I'm on the line with a technician whose name is every consonant with no vowels. He wants to know my name, number, personal info, the number of pores in my skin, and the fastest land animal. I told him the whole story, and I just want to cancel service, and send the product back that I ordered on the Premium web site. "Premium web site", he asks, "Oh, that's another department", and he promptly transferred me.
Now I wait nearly an hour, enjoying the Best of Elevator Music. Finally, I got a guy who asks me my name, number, problem, personal info, and who wrote the National Anthem. I go through all that, then he says (you might want to sit down)..."I'm going to transfer you now to the appropriate party and.."
At that moment, Bruce Banner would have cowered from me. Customer service people, you listening? Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
I snapped. I raised my voice and said, "No, no. You are not going to TRANSFER ME TO ANOTHER DEPARTMENT. You are like, the 10th person who I was told could help me cancel my service, only to pass me on to some other person! This stops now, you are gonna cancel my service, I am not going to pay an early termination, and I'm going to send you this product back, free of charge! How freaking hard is that to understand? I just...want... to CANCEL. I have been on the line an hour and a half waiting to talk to the right person, and getting passed around is very frustrating!"
Then, like magic, I heard a keyboard clicking, and the tech said, "OK, sir, I cancelled your service, and you will not be charged an early termination fee. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
No, I told him. Then that was that. I don't understand why there was so much difficulty in solving my issue. It wasn't a broken product, it was simply not going to work because of where I live. That should have been easy to solve with a quick cancellation. I suppose anyone in customer service who handles a cancellation has to report why, and maybe it counts against their record? Dunno.
So it wasn't my shining moment, to be sure. I later at work went to the Bible during my break, to see what it says about patience. Turns out, a lot of information is in there about it. I'll share one scripture. It's from Ecclesiastes 7: 8, 9. It goes:
8: The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.
and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.
Wow. There's more, but that one stands out the most for me. I don't think I was quickly provoked, I was on the phone all evening before really losing it. But still, I felt a guilty pang and had to share my experience here. I hope my little story teaches you that the Good Book is full of information that is relevant today as it was when it was inspired, and also if you work in customer service, do me a favor. Just listen to the customer.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
This week in Nerdvana
Not much going on here, I'll do a basic recap.
-My wife is amped to say the least about being a Grandma in September '09. Our daughter is preggers, and we don't know what we're having yet. We're happy either way, so long as the baby is healthy. My wife is sure having fun buying stuff for the new addition! It's going to be great, spoiling someone else's baby, then giving it back Haha
-My oldest son is preparing to take his ACT test, hoping he'll do well enough to help his chances of some scholarship dollars for college. He's been selected to go to Boys State, which is a weeklong program for teens who are way into politics. They do mock-debates, get to see the State Capital, and sometimes meet a senater or someone at the state level. They boy is eat up with politics, and thinks he wants to be a politician after he finishes secondary school. I advised him to have a VERY thick skin if that's the route he's going, and do get a degree in something he can use first. Hopefully the advice will sink in, and hopefully I'll graduate before he does lol
-My youngest son is in a play at our church in a few weeks called Kingdom Quest. The kids have lots of lines to learn and refine, but practise went well today methinks. My awesome wife is directing the musical, wearing many hats these days, and pulling it off beautifully. She amazes me with her uncanny ability to balance her many duties, while still putting up with me. She deserves an award or something.
-I got approval for my tuition aid, and got my textbook in the mail. The mail man was nice enough to leave it in the street, so the package was ripped and nice and muddy by the time my wife discovered it. The book looks like it survived though. That's a good thing.
That's about it. My only other thought is, I'm tired and would like some sleep. Other than that, life in NC is beautiful and exciting, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Peace out!
-My wife is amped to say the least about being a Grandma in September '09. Our daughter is preggers, and we don't know what we're having yet. We're happy either way, so long as the baby is healthy. My wife is sure having fun buying stuff for the new addition! It's going to be great, spoiling someone else's baby, then giving it back Haha
-My oldest son is preparing to take his ACT test, hoping he'll do well enough to help his chances of some scholarship dollars for college. He's been selected to go to Boys State, which is a weeklong program for teens who are way into politics. They do mock-debates, get to see the State Capital, and sometimes meet a senater or someone at the state level. They boy is eat up with politics, and thinks he wants to be a politician after he finishes secondary school. I advised him to have a VERY thick skin if that's the route he's going, and do get a degree in something he can use first. Hopefully the advice will sink in, and hopefully I'll graduate before he does lol
-My youngest son is in a play at our church in a few weeks called Kingdom Quest. The kids have lots of lines to learn and refine, but practise went well today methinks. My awesome wife is directing the musical, wearing many hats these days, and pulling it off beautifully. She amazes me with her uncanny ability to balance her many duties, while still putting up with me. She deserves an award or something.
-I got approval for my tuition aid, and got my textbook in the mail. The mail man was nice enough to leave it in the street, so the package was ripped and nice and muddy by the time my wife discovered it. The book looks like it survived though. That's a good thing.
That's about it. My only other thought is, I'm tired and would like some sleep. Other than that, life in NC is beautiful and exciting, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Peace out!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Apologetix concert in NC
So, sorry about the questionable picture quality. They played many of my favorites, including Life Restored and All the Stalls Stink. After the show, the band was nice enough to meet the fans and sign autographs. I got to talk to them a little bit. J. Jackson, the lead singer, who is about 7 feet tall, laughed about my Chuck Norris shirt. He said one of their fans they always talk to in Pittsburg looks just like Chuck Norris, and they always just refer to him as Chuck. But I digress..
I brought my Fender Strat pick guard for them to sign. They kind of laughed and asked if the guitar was too heavy to carry or something. I said that I just didn't want to carry the whole thing in, so I brought the guard. They happily obliged and autographed it with a sharpie, and one of them wrote Romans 10:9, which in case you're wondering, is probably the most often-quoted verse. It goes like this:
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
All in all, a great show and a cool bunch of guys. I can't wait for their next show!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Miss USA runner up a real winner
I just want to say something about the recent Miss USA pageant runner-up Carrie Prejean. If you are unfamiliar with the topic, here's the basic low-down. Apparently, Ms. Prejean (Miss California) was the favored contestant in the pageant, with the highest rating in talent, bathing suit competition, etc. When she was prompted by a judge to respond to a question regarding gay marriage, she essentially said that she was raised in church and believes that marriage is defined as 'one man, one woman'.
This, obviously, is not the "politically correct" answer, as she enjoys the very great honor of being the first Miss USA contestant to be boo'd.
She was cornered by a trick question, one which forced her to disclose her faith, which she did apologetically. I salute her, because many Christians are now in the place that homosexuals were a couple of decades ago: in the closet. If more believers would come out of the closet, so to speak, we could be mainstream again, and build the body of Christ back to the principles that led our country for generations.
Carrie might have lost the Miss America crown, but you know what, there's a better crown waiting for her in Heaven when she goes there, because she stuck to her guns and was the real winner there.
For the record, it hasn't done much to dilute her popularity. She is the number one searched topic on Yahoo!, and is scheduled to present at the Dove Awards.
For the record, anyone who thinks I'm an anti-gay bigot, I'm only interested in the truth as it relates to God's word. What does the Bible say about homosexuality and marriage? I thought you'd NEVER ask.Genesis teaches that God instituted and designed marriage between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:18-25). There are a number of reasons why He did so.
The complementary structure of the male and female anatomy is obviously designed for the normal husband-wife relationships. Clearly, design in human biology supports heterosexuality and contradicts homosexuality.
The combination of male and female enables man (and the animals) to produce and nurture offspring as commanded in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.” This command is repeated to Noah after the Flood (Genesis 8:15-17). But procreation is not the only reason God made humans as sexual beings.
Additionally, God gave man and woman complementary roles in order to strengthen the family unit. Woman was to be the helper that man needed (Genesis 2:18). However, the woman's role as the helpmate is certainly not an inferior one. The enterprising God-fearing woman in Proverbs 31:10-31 is an inspiring role model.
OK, I'm off my soap-box.
Congrats, Carrie, and to Miss North Carolina too for winning Miss America 2009.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
PUMPED about Apologetix concert
Hey y'all
Just wanted to say the christian rock band Apologetix is coming to the Raleigh, NC area Friday night April 24, 2009. I'm pretty amped about this group coming! Year before last, my wife bought me their CD, Keep the Change off of Ebay. See, I'm a big fan of Weird Al Yancovic, and the ad said "weird al- keep the change CD". So she bought it, and presented it to me on Christmas. It had no Weird Al on it, but another band that does parodies. The difference is Apologetix only does Christian lyrics. For a better picture of who they are, you can bounce to their web site. They have such songs as Bethlahamian Rhapsody, a parody of Bohemian Rhapsody. In this version, it has David and Goliath talking smack to each other and it's hilarious. Another of my faves is a takeoff on Papa Roach's Last Resort song, called Life Restored.
Their versions are pitch-perfect versions that will make you think you are listening to the original. These guys are good. We've been looking forward to this concert a while, and if I get to go I'll try to get some pics and post them here.
Not much else going on, other than I'm dancing with joy about finishing my Strategic Management class. Whew man, it was a sleeping pill of a class! I got three more, then a dissertation and I'm DONE with grad school. YAAY!
Peace,
I'm outta here
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Reflections on working in ministry
Let me first state that I am not a pastor. It is possible to do God's work in the ministy without being made a preacher. My wife and I have worked in Royal Rangers, Angel Food, the Childrens Ministry, and Food Bank.
Having said that, I wanted to post what's going on in my head about it recently. With work, kids, chores, and school, my wife and I discussed stepping out of the children's ministry for a while, that maybe we had set up a good structure for someone to follow, and maybe we had done our job. When we came to the church a year ago, there was nobody to teach it as their normal teacher was about to have a baby and had complications that would put her at home for a while.
We were told that we arrived just in time and were an answer to prayer. In our theology, if someone comes to you with news and it's confirmed from another independent source, we interpret that as confirmation. I can tell you that when God has a plan for you, and you listen to him, you will see this happen! That is a topic for a whole other blog, though.
Anyway, we recently prayed and asked the Lord for confirmation that we were being released from childrens church. We were led to teach a unit on Jonah, the prophet who ran from God so he wouldn't have to go to Nineva. If you are unfamiliar with the themes of Jonah, I'll post this excerpt from his prayer. At this point, he has run from God to the point of taking a ship to Tarshish, considered the 'other side of the world'. God sends a storm, Jonah is thrown off the boat by the men who recognize he is the reason for God's anger, and he is now in the belly of the giant fish. Here we go:
(By the way, this is the NIV version)
3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents
4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Having said that, I wanted to post what's going on in my head about it recently. With work, kids, chores, and school, my wife and I discussed stepping out of the children's ministry for a while, that maybe we had set up a good structure for someone to follow, and maybe we had done our job. When we came to the church a year ago, there was nobody to teach it as their normal teacher was about to have a baby and had complications that would put her at home for a while.
We were told that we arrived just in time and were an answer to prayer. In our theology, if someone comes to you with news and it's confirmed from another independent source, we interpret that as confirmation. I can tell you that when God has a plan for you, and you listen to him, you will see this happen! That is a topic for a whole other blog, though.
Anyway, we recently prayed and asked the Lord for confirmation that we were being released from childrens church. We were led to teach a unit on Jonah, the prophet who ran from God so he wouldn't have to go to Nineva. If you are unfamiliar with the themes of Jonah, I'll post this excerpt from his prayer. At this point, he has run from God to the point of taking a ship to Tarshish, considered the 'other side of the world'. God sends a storm, Jonah is thrown off the boat by the men who recognize he is the reason for God's anger, and he is now in the belly of the giant fish. Here we go:
(By the way, this is the NIV version)
Jonah 2
Jonah's Prayer
Jonah's Prayer
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.
2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the
depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents
swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
OK, basically, Jonah asked for forgiveness and God heard his prayer. He used the most unlikely of things, a giant fish, to bring Jonah where he was supposed to be. I don't know about you, but I am thankful for a God of second chances. And sometimes, third, fourth and fifth chances!
I see now that sometimes we are called to teach a topic because not only is it important for the audience, but to the teachers too. Actually, we are part of the audience, ultimately God is the teacher. I pray that I never forget that humbling lesson. Gotta go, that lesson is actually taking place in a couple of hours and I am doing the voice of the surfer dude! It's a long story...
Saturday, April 18, 2009
STAR TREK (2009)
Hi, fellow nerds
I just wanted to post a link to a web site featuring the Star Trek (2009) TV spots.
It can be found here:
http://www.collider.com/entertainment/news/article.asp?aid=11623&tcid=1
Live long and Prosper!
I just wanted to post a link to a web site featuring the Star Trek (2009) TV spots.
It can be found here:
http://www.collider.com/entertainment/news/article.asp?aid=11623&tcid=1
Live long and Prosper!
The Effect of Moore's Law on Technology Jobs
My job at a major telecommunications company provides me with the interesting challenge of being on the forefront of the exciting field of technology. Currently, I work as an electronic technician, building and maintaining systems which tie together fiber optics, traditional phone cable, and switching equipment. Recently, my wife and I heeded God's calling to move to North Carolina to fill a job opening at my company there, and continue work in the ministry. What I found is a job doing what I normally do, with some new equipment our company bought that nobody knows how to maintain. We have training, but we're scratching our heads over some of this stuff!
The changing face of the company means that employees must train as often as possible to keep up with the competition. One subsequent side-effect of this aspect is that the higher up the training scale employees go, the more narrow the area of expertise. This has both positive and negative aspects.
The positive side is that we employees learn more valuable skills which keep us sharp. The negative is that the narrow, more focused skills center on products that could be replaced. Moore’s Law states in general terms that technology for a given product doubles in performance every 12 months (Stokes, 2008). This means that not only are fewer employees needed to maintain large networks, but the items we are trained on are inevitably replaced, rendering our training obsolete.
With that in mind, one personal policy that I have is that any time the opportunity for training surfaces, I will take advantage. This applies to information regarding my work as well as classical educational opportunities which may prove valuable in the future should my job be outsourced or eliminated altogether.
My short-term objective connects to my personal policy. My objective currently is to finish graduate school before the next union contract is settled in August 2009. This way, I will be more equipped to find employment that is comparable in compensation should our union strike or our jobs are reduced. Previously, my personal career strategy has been to work toward a management position. However, our company was acquired by a larger firm which traditionally utilizes fewer managers over larger territories. This translates into lower job security, especially for employees with under 15 years of service like me. In response to this trend, I shifted my strategies to position me for a job as a mentor or trainer.
Hopefully, I can finish school this year and pursue my dream job: teaching at a secondary school like a junior college or vocational school somewhere. I think it would be the bomb to train adults in continuing education classes, business math, electronics or something.
I would encourage anyone in technology jobs to try to keep your training up-to-date, and do have a backup plan. It never hurts to learn how to do more than one thing, even if it means sacrificing some spare time and a bit of money. It's an investment, not unlike investing in an I.R.A. or stocks. And don't be too freaked about the current state of the economy. I personally believe that an upswing is inevitable, it will just take some time. And besides that, the last time I checked God's throne is not empty. He is still in command, not the stock market, not Alan Greenspan, nor anyone else. Keep your eyes on Him, and thank Him that He hears and answers prayer.
reference:
Stokes, J. (2008). Understanding Moore’s law. Retrieved April 18, 2009 from http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/09/moore.ars
The changing face of the company means that employees must train as often as possible to keep up with the competition. One subsequent side-effect of this aspect is that the higher up the training scale employees go, the more narrow the area of expertise. This has both positive and negative aspects.
The positive side is that we employees learn more valuable skills which keep us sharp. The negative is that the narrow, more focused skills center on products that could be replaced. Moore’s Law states in general terms that technology for a given product doubles in performance every 12 months (Stokes, 2008). This means that not only are fewer employees needed to maintain large networks, but the items we are trained on are inevitably replaced, rendering our training obsolete.
With that in mind, one personal policy that I have is that any time the opportunity for training surfaces, I will take advantage. This applies to information regarding my work as well as classical educational opportunities which may prove valuable in the future should my job be outsourced or eliminated altogether.
My short-term objective connects to my personal policy. My objective currently is to finish graduate school before the next union contract is settled in August 2009. This way, I will be more equipped to find employment that is comparable in compensation should our union strike or our jobs are reduced. Previously, my personal career strategy has been to work toward a management position. However, our company was acquired by a larger firm which traditionally utilizes fewer managers over larger territories. This translates into lower job security, especially for employees with under 15 years of service like me. In response to this trend, I shifted my strategies to position me for a job as a mentor or trainer.
Hopefully, I can finish school this year and pursue my dream job: teaching at a secondary school like a junior college or vocational school somewhere. I think it would be the bomb to train adults in continuing education classes, business math, electronics or something.
I would encourage anyone in technology jobs to try to keep your training up-to-date, and do have a backup plan. It never hurts to learn how to do more than one thing, even if it means sacrificing some spare time and a bit of money. It's an investment, not unlike investing in an I.R.A. or stocks. And don't be too freaked about the current state of the economy. I personally believe that an upswing is inevitable, it will just take some time. And besides that, the last time I checked God's throne is not empty. He is still in command, not the stock market, not Alan Greenspan, nor anyone else. Keep your eyes on Him, and thank Him that He hears and answers prayer.
reference:
Stokes, J. (2008). Understanding Moore’s law. Retrieved April 18, 2009 from http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/09/moore.ars
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tax Day
Happy day-after Tax Day. Whew, we got ours filed the day before the cutoff this year. It has never taken me that long before. When we lived in Memphis during the last 7 years, we always had it done at least a couple of months early. Praise God, we actually got some back, yaaay!
I encourage everyone that can, pay in a little extra on your paycheck during the year. The new Obama plan will put a little more into your pocket every week, but don't forget it's not actually free money, we will pay for it one way or another. By sacraficing a little more, even say $10 or so a week, you will be thankful next year you did.
I actually don't mind paying taxes, I look at it this way. We are paying our rent for living in the greatest counry in the world. To put it another way, do you ever see some guys in Florida load up on a raft and try to paddle to Cuba? No! And you're not going to. We have the best country, that's why eveyone tries to get in, through legal or illegal means.
Not much else going on today, just working on getting my assignments done for graduate school and my wife and son have been working very hard keeping the yard maintained. I've never owned big property before, it's more work than I anticipated, but it's very worth it! God made the home possible for us, so naturally we're obligated to keep it clean and neat. Unfortunately I wasn't much help since I worked last night and slept most of the day (Sorry dear!)
North Carolina Taxes
I just moved to the great state of North Carolina from Tennessee not too long ago. I finally got around to transferring my tags over, and holy cow! I was introduced to the concept of property taxes, transfer and licensing fees, and some other fee that I'd never had to deal with in TN. Normally, I would go to the DMV and pay $75 a year. Here in NC, I got hit for over $200. Yikes. Hopefully that was a "welcome to NC" fee. Maybe it's not going to be as high each subsequent year? We'll see. Yuck, I'm also paying a state tax on my income too, which is something I'm not accustomed to.
What I can say for NC's DMV is that unlike what I'm used to, I quickly got in, was seen right away by an English-speaking employee, and got out in 5 minutes. In Memphis, you better take the day off, and arrive 30 minutes before opening time if you want to get out and not die of hunger that day. If you are in Memphis, and you must get a license or tags, bring a Gameboy or something, cause yer gonna be there a while!
What I can say for NC's DMV is that unlike what I'm used to, I quickly got in, was seen right away by an English-speaking employee, and got out in 5 minutes. In Memphis, you better take the day off, and arrive 30 minutes before opening time if you want to get out and not die of hunger that day. If you are in Memphis, and you must get a license or tags, bring a Gameboy or something, cause yer gonna be there a while!
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