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M o n d a y , J a n u a r y 3 0 t h
6:38PM |
Woes Of The Runner
hat can I say in praise of the weather? It has been a very welcome spring-like day in the middle of winter, and on my day off from work no less. Mid 60's, upper 50's, and unoppressive humidity. Mondays are usually the day in which I buckle down and indulge in some homework, but this pleasant day outdoors could not be avoided, so outside I went for the afternoon. Spring, come quickly.
For the first time in my life, I have to worry about getting fat. No, I am not fat and you would not notice if you looked at me (clothed). But I have noticed something very unusual, and that is that I am starting to get a belly. This could be due to a couple things: one being that I eat a lot (but not as much as I would like since I am always ready to eat and my body mercilessly demands food) and the other being that I don't run as much anymore, mainly because it is winter and cold outside, and because I don't like treadmills very much. I will need to run more, not just to keep my belly in check, but for one even greater reason.
I have a lot less endurance on the track than I used to, and am out of condition for running. I went to Lake Johnston Park today to get some of my favorite exercise, and after running only about a mile on rolling terrain I started getting my newest nemesis: shin splints. To my humiliation I had to walk most of the rest of the way around the lake, with occasional heavy jogging. I don't like being made to stop by my shins. I drove home, and upon reaching my apartment my legs were feeling loose and lively again, so I decided to put them to the test and go on a second run - if the unsatisfactory first run can be named as such.
One other thing about my episode at Lake Johnston. I arrived at the parking and commenced stretching, and a hot girl drove by and parked. I like running past hot girls. She got out of her car, failed to stretch, and took off down the trail. Once I finished stretching, I began running in the opposite direction from which Hot Girl was running. I knew that eventually we would run into each other because the trail loops, in a serpentine way. She was a good and fast runner, and needless to say she completed probably 1.75 laps in the time it took me to hobble my one lap. I was very displeased.
After returning home I began running the more straight and level sidewalks along Morrisville Parkway and branching roads, and this went very well as I recorded about 3.5 miles of running. I'll need to continue running regularly in order to build up endurance in my legs, and then maybe I can figure out why I get shin splits every time I go to Lake Johnston now.
I'm out like Eric Liddell.
S a t u r d a y , J a n u a r y 2 8 t h
10:52PM |
Annoying Things About The Internet
have become annoyed so many times by certain things on the internet that they have sort of become pet peeves of mine. The first great annoyance is, not surprisingly, a variant of the good old pop-up advertisement. This is the kind that is usually animated and that pops up onto the screen when my mouse cursor passes over a static advertising banner. It sits there and won't go away until either its timer runs out or I click the little "x" to close the ad's window (it won't minimize, so one of these two actions needs to be taken). But here's the real kicker: I click the "x", and some of these ads are designed so that when I click the "x" once, the ad merely shrinks a little, but still hasn't disappeared or returned to its original static, unobtrusive position. So I have to click a second time to kill the slightly transformed advertisement. This is commonly found with US Army ads and other pop-ups on sports websites.
But that might not be annoying as the self-collapsing ad. Go to cbs.sportsline.com anytime to see one of these. These are always found at the top of a webpage, so that when you arrive at the site virtually the whole screen is covered by this large ad. You can click the "close" button and watch it too-slowly collapse into a small more-appropriate ribbon, or you can scroll down to see the real content of the webpage. But if you choose this second option, in about six seconds the ad will automatically start to collapse itself into that little ribbon, and the rest of the webpage goes sliding up and off the screen with it. That's not fun when I'm reading or in the middle of trying to click on a link.
The next amusing curiosity of my personal experience with the internet is the questionable usefulness of third-party website visitor tracking tools, whether SiteMeter, eXTReMe Tracking, or whatever it is that you use. I use eXTReMe Tracking, and have for a long time. Just for ha-ha's, I installed a second eXTReMe Tracker to this blog, so both simultaneously monitor this site's traffic, until the ET guys find out (if they ever do) and deactivate the older instance of the tracker. Guess what? The reports don't match. For example, stats for January 20 on the old tracker say that I received 48 visits to my blog. According to my new tracker, I received 15. Today, my new tracker reports more visits than my old tracker does. Both are set up with the same time zones, so there is not any weird day overlap affecting the stats. The old tracker usually reports a greater visit number. Guess which one I like more?
T h u r s d a y , J a n u a r y 2 6 t h
10:58PM |
Blog Him With Many Blogs
y tracker tells me that there are still people visiting despite my sudden lack of daily blogging, so I will write something to oblige those who stop by. First off, let me point out a few blogs that I have started reading and enjoying, and that might provide enjoyment for you during my lack of serving up for my visitors:
Cardco - home of Matt Wilkins and host to his Cardco comics creations. His remakes of "Family Circus" comics I find to be hilarious, just perfect.
Christus Rex - not to be confused with my church's not-yet-famous because not-currently-in-print publication, Christus Rex is the blog of fellow church-goer Gregory Soderberg. He writes about Christian and theological topics mostly, and provides quotes of interest from the books he is reading.
Well, that's all I have. Just two blogs.
I'll add those blogs to my list-o'links. There are several blogs for which a feed is linked into my RSS feed reader, but that are absent from my blog list. Speaking of which, my RSS feed reader - aptly named "Feedreader" - mysteriously rebelled against me and caused my entire list of blog feeds to disappear. After waiting patiently for a couple of days and resigning myself to the realization that they would not be coming back, I went through my Favorites, searched for the RSS URI's, and hooked them back up in Feedreader. My list of feeds is now noticeably shorter, but I cannot think of the feeds that are missing.
Before continuing, my gastro-intestinal system wanted me to pass on to you its expression of how excellent my pot roast is that just finished cooking tonight. It's the best I've ever made, by far - probably because I accounted for the fact that this was not a huge chunk of bovine shoulder, and consequently reduced the cooking time. I cooked it tonight after dinner because I just won't have time here as the week ends, with the thawed roast sitting in the fridge, and me uncomfortable leaving food cooking while I am absent from the house. At least now I have lunch prepared for a couple days, and enjoyed a tasty late evening mealish snack today.
The reason why I am so busy is that I my mind is jumbled with a helter-skelter influx of facts, rules, and procedures: functions, stored procedures, expressions, cursors, variables, datatypes, et cetera. I am learning three programming languages all at once, which is the source of confusion. For work, I am learning PL/SQL and Oracle 9.i, while college courses are teaching me Javascript and Lingo (Lingo is the native programming language that powers Macromedia Director). Programming languages are designed in such a way that they all pretty much adhere to a general set of rules and structures, so that programmers of one language can better acclimate themselves to a different programming language with some sense of familiarity. Because of this common feel and sharing of many features among programming languages, distinctions can be blurred when learning them all at once. Thus, the slight but extremely important nuances of one language are learned, and then the next day you (I) can't remember what rule applied to which of the three languages. Work has been busy enough that I do not have as much time as I would like (need) to have to focus on learning PL/SQL.
What day is it? I've answered this question wrong several days this week.
Keep your shot glass nearby.
S u n d a y , J a n u a r y 2 2 n d
9:23PM |
Lazy Sunday (Not The SNL Movie)
his afternoon and evening were spent in a sports bar with friends watching the NFL playoffs. It was a great way to unwind after a busy and stressful week: drinking beer and playing poker. I don't go to bars very much anymore, so it was nice plus I had a Guinness on tap for the first time in too long. I anticipated a Denver vs. Carolina Super Bowl, but I was wrong. I don't usually join pick-'em leagues because I am almost always wrong about who will win a game.
Yes, the week was stressful. Trying to become acclimated to a new job while in the midst of college courses is rather difficult, and I have not been putting all my time and effort into it as best I should, so I guess I need prayer about that. Got to be more responsible. Therefore, a day of worship and beer is just what the doctor ordered to get the week started (I try not to do any schoolwork or work-related stuff on the sabbath).
W e d n e s d a y , J a n u a r y 1 8 t h
9:48PM |
Quoting Hanso
he representative (leader?) of the Others who talked to Jack, Sawyer, and Locke in LOST tonight just quoted Alvar Hanso: "A man smarter than any of us here once said, 'From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more.'" (Alvar Hanso, Address to the U.N. Security Council, 1967)
T u e s d a y , J a n u a r y 1 7 t h
11:16PM |
Quick Update
ot much inspiration or time for blogging here lately. Good thing I only signed up for two classes this semester, because I am rather sluggish getting into the swing of project deadlines this time. My procrastination skills are running at full tilt. My project for this week, built with Macromedia (now Adobe) Director MX, involved drawing original artwork, and I loathe drawing because it just isn't my thing. Animating other people's graphics and manipulating photos is more my specialty. If drawing, I prefer Photoshop. Photoshop is installed on my oldest computer with no feasible means of transferring it to another computer right now, so I am making do with Fireworks.
I have been promoted to a new position at work. The new job involves working with SQL and Business Objects. Should free up my weekends, but at the cost of having to carry my pager all the time. I look forward to the transition, which should begin shortly.
It is very windy outside. The past few nights heavy branches have been crashing down to the ground. I like it, and no one and nothing has been hurt so far.
F r i d a y , J a n u a r y 1 3 t h
5:38PM |
Post #1200: The Emerging Church
his evening I felt the need to blog about something intelligent, something that smacks of intellectual acumen. I will talk about the emerging church.
Perhaps you have seen the term springing up lately: whispers about the emerging church are popping up on blogs everywhere from those belonging to reputable clergymen to pop-theologiphiles to those who want to throw around a Christian buzz word to be hip in a geeky sort of way. I fall into the latter group, and thus I feel aptly qualified to introduce you what "the emerging church... is".
If you're like me, you are a visual learner; you pick up things easier if you can see charts, graphs, pictures, or otherwise have things drawn out for you. I present to you... the emerging church.
Scary indeed.
As we see here, the emerging church has 12 legs, and thus falls outside the scientific classification of "insect" or "arachnid". A crustacean? Perhaps, but this creature lives on land. The emerging church has a stout stone shell completely covering the body. The best way to attack it is to come up from underneath and crawl inside, attacking it from within. Many hunters have tried to pin down and locate the emerging church, but this creature is adept at camouflaging itself to blend in with its surrounding environment, hence the trails of ivy clinging to the stony shell. Its sheer size also scares off many would-be predators. Observe the picture above: three multi-colored "eyes" glare from the longest portion of its shell, but these are not eyes - they are just there to fool you into thinking that this creature is fiercer, bigger, and more ill-tempered than it really is.
As we can see, the emerging church is basically in its infancy, "bursting into the scene" if you will. It is cantering from a rather shady portion of the driveway, and is getting dangerously close to the street, where no doubt it will traverse the countryside and wreak havoc.
While some fear the emerging church and wish to thwart its advance at all costs, not all are repulsed by it, and some have embraced it - and it is no exaggeration to say that they have cast in their lot jubilantly. Observe some of their practices at their website: www.emerginchurch.info. Baptism by being dunked into the ocean by a crane? Sharing communion while skydiving? Postmodern!
Is the emerging church something to be worried and concerned about? You decide.
10:42AM |
Court Jester
his was a poor photo op for The Prez.
T h u r s d a y , J a n u a r y 1 2 t h
11:37AM |
Charbucks Scores
federal judge granted victory to small New Hampshire coffee roaster Black Bear Micro Roastery in a legal battle with Starbucks, allowing Black Bear to continue selling it's Charbucks line of coffee.
T u e s d a y , J a n u a r y 1 0 t h
6:24PM |
Do Not Neglect
had been in a rut, albeit not really a bad rut, in which my habit of Bible reading consisted of reading two sections from the Bible each day: something from the post-gospel New Testament books (Romans thru Revelation) as well as travelling through Psalms into Proverbs and back to Psalm 1 again. Sometime last year I realized that I needed to branch out and re-read the books that I had been somewhat ignoring for too long a time, and so I started working through the Old Testament starting in Genesis. This extended reading has been beneficial and enlightening throughout, but I still find myself not reading as much as I should. My daily Bible reading of three chapters really only takes approximately thirty minutes of my day, a measly sum which I could improve upon. I think I will add a fourth chapter so that I can regularly cycle through the gospels. There are, of course, "read through your Bible in a year" programs, but with how easily I forget things, I want to go through the epistles many times each year, and the Psalms as much as possible every year. By all this I do not mean that God is impressed by the quanitities of what I read, or that a Secret Service angel is tallying a sum of how much I have read, but instead I mean that I do not spend nearly as much time in the Bible as I should, and really need to work on diving into Scripture and seeking to grasp, remember, and apply what I read. It would probably be a helpful practice to write about what I read as well, basically keep a personal commentary as I go.
My two classes for the semester are starting out well. I am excited about the Advanced Multimedia class and am very intrigued by creating animation and "movies" (which I already know how to do, at least on a beginner level). With such a light courseload, I should be able to invest adequate amounts of time in my projects, and turn out something I can truly be pleased with.
There were a couple news stories that caught my amused eye today:
The mummified body of a dead woman was found by authorities sitting in front of her television set on the second floor of a house in which some of her relatives still lived. She had been there for nearly two-and-a-half years, and was left in the room by her caretaker because she divulged the fact that she did not want to be buried when she died. The air conditioner mummified her, until it broke a month or so ago.
There is doubt over the effectiveness and accuracy of prostate tests. Now they tell us.
The weather yesterday was warm and gorgeous. I was sitting in my recliner for some reading, and my windows and balcony door were open, and I soon found myself dozing in the pleasant air. There will be more of the same towards the end of the week.
S u n d a y , J a n u a r y 8 t h
7:30PM |
Mother Of All Great Whites
ince a front page headline on many news websites, you have probably already heard off the 21-year old woman who was swimming with a group from her church 50 feet off the coast of an Australian island in murky waters, and was savaged and killed by what is thought to have been three bull sharks. To show that I am interested in shark stories in general, and not just stories of sharks mauling people, let me point out a good shark story.
A shark-viewing tour boat owned by a diver named Jimmy Hall sent tourists into the semi-submerged aluminum cage to try to get a glimpse of sharks. After an hour, an 18-20 foot female great white shark appeared. On average, great whites are 10-15 feet long, and the lengthiest ever recorded was 21 feet. Jimmy Hall was not content to just view the shark from the aluminum cage - this was the first great white that he had ever seen and he knew that this one was special. Shockingly, he decided to swim out of the cage so that he could get close-up video of the shark and touch it. The shark hung around the boat and cage for 45 minutes, just swimming around peacefully and even gently rubbing against the boat's hull. You can view the story and some pictures of the shark, and video of the shark recorded by Jimmy Hall.
F r i d a y , J a n u a r y 6 t h
3:39PM |
Music For Today
his is a glimpse of some of the music I have felt like listening to and have been enjoying lately. They do not all share a particular mood or style. I have them arranged alphabetically by artist.
1. Venus - Air
2. 59th Street - Amy Correia
3. The Luckiest - Ben Folds
4. Be Quiet And Drive - Deftones
5. Supersonic - DJ Icey
6. After Midnight - Eric Clapton
7. Cars - Fear Factory
8. Double X Minus - Five Pointe O
9. Inner City Life - Goldie
10. Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day
11. What Comes Around - Ill Nino
12. Specialist - Interpol
13. Naked As We Came - Iron & Wine
14. Hurt - Johnny Cash
15. U Boat - Kasabian
16. World So Cold - Mudvayne
17. Bring Back The Sun - Our Lady Peace
18. Take California - Propellerheads
19. Struggle - Ringside
20. Bled For Days - Static-X
21. Hypnotize - System Of A Down
22. Lizaveta - The Constantines
23. Andy, You're A Star - The Killers
24. Attack Of The Ghost Riders - The Raveonettes
25. Unsure - The Stereotypes
11:05AM |
Hand Implants
ave trouble remembering your computer passwords? Get a radio frequency identification card (RFID) implanted in your hand, and with just a wave of your hand the computer (with appropriate devices) will read the password from the RFID chip. This is not just another alternative to biometrics for laptops, but could also carry encrypted information for interaction with other electronic devices.
T h u r s d a y , J a n u a r y 5 t h
9:43PM |
Off To The Classes
y college semester started today. Kind of caught me by surprise. I'm taking online courses again, and I received an e-mail from one of my teachers today welcoming me to class and the beginning of the term. Guess I'll have to crack open the textbooks this weekend. It should be a fun, productive, and easygoing semester as I am taking two classes. The one that I am most excited about because I will definitely be learning something is the Advanced Internet Multimedia class. Part one of this class, taken in autumn of 2004, taught Flash and ActionScript. This advanced class will teach me to create 3D objects, incorporation of those objects with Flash and Macromedia Director, and advanced ActionScript for more eye-popping Flash abilities. My only other class is on Internet Programming - a rather basic class going over things I already know, like XHTML, DHTML, CSS, XML, and even a little of the basic ole HTML. Javascript, too. I have never used Javascript very much, and probably should, so that will be the most useful part of the class as I learn how to make more dynamic websites. But best of all, this class will force me to practice designing websites, which I tend to slack off on doing at the risk of my abilities atrophying.
It seems like my site has been hitting its bandwidth limit due to amount of traffic (not that I get a lot of visitors) and the large number of kilobytes each visitor downloads on their visits to my blog, since I keep so much stuff on the front page here. Rather than tidying up, perhaps I will put some of my end-of-year bonus money towards buying a domain and host with greater data transfer, no ads, and an easy-to-remember URL. We shall see.
T u e s d a y , J a n u a r y 3 r d
10:38PM |
On The Board Of Smorgas
ere is quite a Bible verse:
"And [we beseech you] that ye aspire to lead a quiet life, and to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you..."
Some of my favorite Bible reading is of Paul's letters. This is despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that they often include checklists of everything I often fail to do that I should rather be doing: see 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22; Romans 12:9-19.
Yesterday I stayed awake for longer than 24 consecutive hours. I have become unaccustomed to such a practice over the last five years, but being conscious has its rewards and is well worth it (assuming I am not operating heavy machinery). Something that I have really been enjoying lately before turning in to bed for the night is a White Russian, which, if you happen to not know, is one shot of vodka over ice, one shot of Kahlua, and milk. Tastes like a chocolate milkshake with kick.
I wanted to point out a website that has been useful to me and that I hope will be useful to you. Adtunes.com helps you discover what that song that you heard in a television commercial and enjoyed is.
M o n d a y , J a n u a r y 2 n d
4:37AM |
Look For Melting Skies Tomorrow
alvin Gentry Jr. said one thing in his brief discussion of Matthew 24 (the Olivet Discourse) in He Shall Have Dominion that I especially appreciated. Matthew 24 has been pointed to by dispensationalists as describing the end times and the signs by which it will be identified: the tribulation, stars falling from the sky, etc. But Gentry points out that Jesus could not have been talking about His second coming, because "the Second Advent was to be at 'that' far day and hour, and was not to be preceded by particular signs of its nearness, for no man can know it (24:36)". Christ's return will come "like a thief in the night" (1 Thess. 5:3), and will not be something that the weatherman on the six o'clock news could forecast for the next day.
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