When I feel most alive … go ahead, take your shoes off!

In my first post about metadata in Address Book, I think I forgot to mention that the real benefit in adding tags to your contacts individually is that they can then be indexed using spotlight on those tags. You don’t need to tag your contacts to be able to put them in groups together. You can just use regular Groups and manually drag the contacts you want into them, instead of using smart groups, but if you put tags in the Note section, you might as well use Smart Groups, and then you also get the power of Spotlight knowing about that information as well!

So today I just wanted to add some contacts to my Address Book. I had a list in an excel document with all their contact info that was sent to me, so I figured that I could simply export the Excel spreadsheet to CSV (comma separated values) or a tab delimited text file, and then Address Book’s import text file feature could handle it from there.

So I exported to a CSV and TXT file with no problem from Excel. Then I pulled up the import in Address Book and it really nicely let me match up the fields in Address Book with those in the text file using the headers in the first row and ignore the first record. I could even click forward and backwards through the contacts I was about to import. It seemed nice and dandy until I went to click “OK” and NOTHING HAPPENED! It just sat there like it had no idea I had just clicked “OK”!

Why is there an import feature if it doesn’t work??? How hard can it be to import a text file? I could write a program to do this! In 9th grade!

Apparently I’m not the only one to have some problems with Address Book’s import “feature”. Paul Thurrott experienced similar difficulties and mentioned them in his very thorough and good review of Tiger

Apple, I love Tiger and the Update to the iApps, but please, please give me a reason to stick around and use them instead of running off to software that actually does what it claims to do, and does what I need it to do!

It would be pretty sad if I had to figure out and write an apple script or Automator workflow to simply import some contacts (something that Address should definitely be able to do!)

Anyone else had bad luck importing into Address Book? Let me know about it.

With such power in Spotlight to search metadata, why wouldn’t Apple not allow easy entry of metadata into contacts? You can easily add a tag like [Family] to the Note section one by one to all your family members contact cards, but why not be able to select them all and do it at once. Since I know that Address Book is scriptable and I wanted to play around with Automator I decided that this was a suitable problem worth attacking.

So I go into Automator and find out that none of the Automator actions for Address Book let you EDIT contact info, only search, filter, and show contacts. SO I had to venture into another world of scripting, one slightly more complicated: AppleScript.

After a little help from someone on the MacScripters forums I got a working piece of code. Here it is; it works just like it should! Feel free to copy this and use it yourself!

–*************************
— Multiple Contact Tagger
— How to use this script: Select multiple contacts in Address Book, then run this script (via the script menu or Quicksilver are the best ways), and it will let you enter the tag (ex: [Family] ) you want and then apply it to the selected contacts by appending it into the Note section of each contact. You may then want to create Smart Groups that search for that tag in its criteria, and then Smart Folders in Mail that use the Smart Groups in its criteria

— Author: Scott Paulis
— Last Modified: May 17, 2005

tell application “Address Book”
set thePeople to selection
display dialog “What tag would you like to apply to the selected contacts?” buttons {”Cancel”, “Apply”} default button “Apply” default answer “[tag]”
set dialogInfo to result

set selectedButton to button returned of dialogInfo
set tagString to text returned of dialogInfo

if selectedButton is “Apply” then
repeat with aPerson in thePeople
set currentNote to the note of aPerson
if currentNote is missing value then set currentNote to “”
set newNote to currentNote & tagString
set note of aPerson to newNote
end repeat
end if
end tell
–**************************

I got my copy of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger this week and I very pleased, overall. But there are a few gripes I have, they mostly have to do with Address Book and Mail.

I decided since I was upgrading to Tiger, I might as well start using the upgraded versions of Apple’s Mail and Address Book applications, especially since they are free and I don’t have to pay to upgrade them (unlike Microsoft’s Entourage)

I was able to easily enough, using Mail’s built-in import functionalities, import my mail from Entourage. I also drag-and-drop imported all my contacts to Address Book fairly painlessly, although I did lose the categories attached to them somehow (and hadn’t backed them up first … idiot!)

My main complaint about Mail/Address Book is it’s lack of categories support. I’ll touch on this in my next post.

I’ve made it so hard on myself, turning my back on how You felt
Seeing a lie that led me on, leaving a love that did no wrong
That’s what it took for me to say

That You simply love
Despite all the stupid things I’ve done
It’s hard to remember
That You simply love
Even though I know not what I’ve done
It’s hard to remember
That You simply love

I’ve tried to do all this on my own
Not thinking once of what You’ve shown
All that I’ve done has blinded me
To everything that You have for me
I want You to know that I finally see

I don’t know why I can’t understand
I don’t know why I can’t comprehend

These are the words to a Pillar song called “Simply”. I really like this song, and I feel like I can often relate to it. Sometimes I just do stupid things, and it’s so hard to remember that God simply loves me, even though I have wronged him in such great ways.

I am so thankful for God’s love, in spite of my stupidity! He’s so good!

Oh, that this love would drive me to joyful obedience!

I’m almost 1,000 miles overdue for my getting my oil changed!

You are probably wondering why I haven’t posted to my blog in like a month. Well I’m not dead, if that’s what you were hoping! (Besides I don’t really have much money for anyone to get from my death… I do have an iPod though! .. I can picture the relatives fighting over it .. while I lay dead with a big grin on my face)

I have been very busy, mostly trying to figure out what I want to do next year, and find potential jobs. Let me tell you, job search is HARD WORK! I feel like I am working two jobs. In the morning, I wake up and head to the office to do web development for Crusade. Then I come home and spend 4 hours or so searching for jobs online, writing cover letters, retouching my resume, writing emails to contacts, and sending my resume out, etc… It is pretty tough work. So I have found very little time for blogging, unfortunately.

I will try to be more regular about writing again, but until the end of July, I will be going strong in the job search, unless God provides something out of the blue for me before then! Please pray for me! That I would trust God with my career decisions and follow where He is leading me! Thanks!

A topic that has been on my mind recently is mentoring. I started a book this week called “The Heart of Mentoring: Ten Proven Principles For Developing People to Their Fullest Potential” by David A. Stoddard.

I am really excited about what this book has to say. In the preface the author writes,

“As we walk through these pages together, I hope to convince you that there is really only one type of person in this world: the person who need to be a “mentored mentor.” I have concluded that each of us need mentoring and we also need to mentor others. The people I know who are getting the most out of life — and putting the most back into it — are those who are committed to this mutual mentoring process. This is where true fulfillment lies. Indeed, I have found that this is one of the greatest joys you can experience. I invite you to join me on this journey!”

I feel like I will benefit so much from it, since I am going to be a mentor this summer for several college students on Summer Project here in Orlando on OSP (Orlando Summer Project). It’s like a normal Crusade summer project except that instead of going to somewhere exotic like Virginia Beach (where I spent the summer of 2000 on a summer project) about 50 students from around the country will come to Orlando to work at headquarters (instead of places like Subway) to get some experience in their field of study (examples: computer science, graphic design, accounting/finance…) and they will have bible studies, praise and worship meetings, social events, outreaches and all the other typical things you would do on a summer project. As a OSP staff member, I will probably have a small group of guys that I will be mentoring in some fashion for the summer. I hope that I can learn a lot from this book to be able to better serve and help them.

The other way in which I hope to gain from this is obviously as someone who is mentored. Currently I have been working with Todd, who is also sort of my boss, to work through some of the New Staff Development materials that they ask the interns to go through while they are working for Crusade. But I think we both see our relationship as being more than just “coaching” or just working through some material.

In the introduction the author tells a story of a young man, Kyle, who tries to find a mentor but it just doesn’t work out because the mentor didn’t really understand what Kyle wanted, and Kyle didn’t know how to tell him what he really was looking to gain from that mentoring relationship.

“In seeking a mentor, Kyle wasn’t just wanting information. he was looking for a helpful relationship, for someone who could provide a road map — or a compass of sorts — to show him how to find his way in the chaotic world around him. Kyle wanted answers for the everyday struggles he was facing in both his personal and professional life.”

I can relate to Kyle. Those are the things that I, too, want in a mentor. I am so thankful that Todd understands that and wants to be that kind of mentor. And I really respect him and have already learned so much from him. Hopefully this book will aid me in really making the most of my relationship with Todd, or any other person like him that I might have a mentoring relationship with in the future!

If you are interested in mentoring, let me know! I would love to talk about it with you!

Check out this new story about American Idol (one of my TV obsessions) (passed on to me by one of my teammates, thanks Irene!) It seems one of the contestants, Scott Savol, was once arrested for domestic violence. The news story gave more details about what happened.

I’m not surprised that he is not disqualified from the competition. I mean when has America ever really cared whether their Idols real lives are moral and good? Look at the people who have once been “American idols” and how they have turned out! Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, and many others! How many rappers, pro football players, actors have been arrested for breaking laws? Too many!

If anything, this might make him more qualified to be an American Idol (In a sick, backwards kind of way, of course)! America’s music world and culture has never really made morality or goodness a qualification for pop stardom, just talent and sexiness. I don’t really expect them to start now. And to really be nit-picky, I suppose if we were to go digging into all of the competitors pasts, we could find things that they have done that are wrong or immoral or bad, things that they probably regret.

Even if American Idol isn’t just about singing and looking good, is it fair or right to hold Scott’s past against him in this competition, just because his past happened to make the news for America to hear?

I think NOT.

We don’t know how he feels about his past. Maybe he’s really sorry about what he did. I hope that this news story, in an attempt to get attention (in the media’s typical news fashion of digging up all possible dirt on everyone involved) doesn’t ruin his chances at becoming American Idol by unfairly showing him in a negative light where they haven’t shown the other contestants. It adds a bias against him where we have no information on the other contestants’ lives. We shouldn’t hold it against him, only how well or poorly he performs and sings.

Just as a disclaimer, please do NOT think that I am in any way saying that I think domestic abuse is OK or should not be punished. I am totally and completely against it, and men who do such things make me sick. But what I am saying is that it is unfair for the media to run such a story that will unfairly represent a contestant in such a competition. And it is unfair for us to see one such piece of information about only ONE contestant’s bad past, and to decide to let that sway our vote against him in favor of other contestants who we know EVEN LESS about!

Give Scott the benefit of the doubt. Vote for him based on his singing and performing, not his past actions that you don’t really know anything about! Do the right thing even though the media hasn’t. Shame on you media.

EDIT 4/1: I found on the Entertainment Weekly site an article with this quote:

Fox issued a statement saying that Savol would stay. “Scott Savol was forthcoming to the American Idol producers and the network regarding his misdemeanor,'’ the statement read. ‘’After reviewing the facts, in which the charges were reduced to disorderly conduct, we felt that considering Scott’s honesty and his remorse, the situation did not warrant his disqualification.”

So they say in this one, where the other selectively quoted the FOX statement, that it was because of his honesty AND remorse, so we know that he is remorseful. I’m somewhat pleasantly surprised that FOX even cared that he was remorseful, although, I guess this is a family show?

I guess the point that this makes to me is that American Idol, although it claims to, doesn’t REALLY represent the real dynamics and values of the real pop star culture these days. It’s too honest, too virtuous, too family friendly. But then again, maybe this shows a change in pop culture these days. But, most likely, and unfortunately, not. Once the American Idol wannabe winner becomes a real idol, no one will probably care whether he or she is a big jerk, only whether his or her music is fun, sounds good, and makes people happy.

I hope I have challenged you and I have convinced you not to let this sway your vote against him and to not encourage others to either. He deserves this chance, and he is probably hoping that he can finally put his past behind him. We owe it to him to be fair in our voting America!

Here is my February update. I am leaving for Big Break tomorrow! A week at the beach sounds good to me! Pray that God would do great things in and through me! I’m looking forward to: fellowship with my fellow interns and the several hundred college student involved in Cru that will be at the conference, playing volleyball on the beach, sharing my faith with beach-goers on spring break, being close to God in times of corporate worship, and just having FUN!

WHAT IS PODCASTING?

Here is an article on Podcasting, done by USA Today last month titled

“Radio to the MP3 degree: Podcasting”

And another one on Newsweek titled

“Tivo for your iPod”

And one more from a blogger, Cameron, titled

“100 Bloggers - Get Your Head Around Podcasting”

HOW TO GET PODCASTS?

To have automatic download of podcasts you need a podcatching client, which does essentially the same thing as an RSS feed reader except that it is mainly for audio content (and can sync with your music player - for that’s iTunes and can put all of my podcasts in certain playlists that I specify so they are easy to get to - as well sync them to my iPod each day)

Here is a link to a popular cross-platform podcatching client, called iPodder.

And my favorite podcatching client for Mac OS X is PodCastTuner.

Another related technology but more related to blogging, is RSS. Here is a little bit about RSS:

WHAT IS RSS? (Really Simple Syndication)

RSS is a kind of file that usually contains a series of headlines and articles. Because there is a standard format for how the information is delivered, it enables you, through the use of special software, to aggregate all of your information into one place.

For example, instead of surfing around to 20 different web pages for news and other regular content, I can just launch my RSS feed reader (see below) and check up on what’s going on without navigating a ton of web pages) Such programs present the content in an easy to find and read format and all in one place.

Here is an explanation of RSS on wikipedia.org

HOW TO GET RSS FEED CONTENT?

You can already do this via some web-based services like www.bloglines.com but like email, I like having the content kept locally where I can see it again if I want at my leisure, even without being connected to the internet. Although many sites do not provide full-text articles in their RSS feed, instead they only give you summaries or excerpts, but that is enough for me to be able to tell whether I am interested enough to read the whole thing (off their website directly, which they always have a link to of course)

A popular Windows RSS Feed Reader is SharpReader.

And my favorite RSS Reader for Mac OS X is Net News Wire Lite

I recently discovered a new technology called podcasting. For those who might be reading this and don’t really get all this technology stuff, here is a summary of what podcasting is:

Basically, people record audio-shows (called podcasts) that they then put on the Internet to be heard by anyone, for free. Then I can use some software on my computer (called podcatching software) to automatically download these audio-broadcasts in MP3 format and have them automatically transferred to my iPod overnight so I can listen to them whenever I want the next day. It’s pretty much radio on demand.

This is only important because until today, I had not thought that maybe I could actually be a creator of audio content, until I found an article talking about www.audioblogger.com. Through this site, I have a number to call on my cell phone and I can just talk into it like I am leaving a voicemail, and it will save it into MP3 format and post it as an entry to my blog for all to listen.

So this is my first audio blog entry! Have a listen. I recorded it as I walked from my desk to my car after work this evening. If the audio seems kind of shaky, it’s because I’m walking as I talk. Enjoy! Maybe I’ll post some more audio entries sometime soon.

I recently discovered a new technology called podcasting. Here is a summary of what podcasting is:

Basically, people record audio-shows (called podcasts) that they then put on the Internet to be heard by anyone, for free. Then I can use some software on my computer (called podcatching software) to automatically download these audio-broadcasts in MP3 format and have them automatically transferred to my iPod overnight so I can listen to them whenever I want the next day. It’s pretty much radio on demand.

This is only important because until today, I had not thought that maybe I could actually be a creator of audio content, until I found an article talking about www.audioblogger.com. Through this site, I have a number to call on my cell phone and I can just talk into it like I am leaving a voicemail, and it will save it into MP3 format and post it as an entry to my blog for all to listen.

So this is my first audio blog entry! Have a listen. I recorded it as I walked from my desk to my car after work this evening. If the audio seems kind of shaky, it’s because I’m walking as I talk. Enjoy! Maybe I’ll post some more audio entries sometime soon. I also plan to post some of my thoughts on podcasting versus blogging and what I see in the future for podcasting.

Happiness abounded this week as my new iPod arrived on Tuesday. The guys in the mailroom at work were probably pretty annoyed with me calling every hour to find out if my package had come in. I didn’t really call them every hour, OK maybe every other hour.

Anyway, I’m very pleased with the new iPod. Here are the details. It’s got a 30 GB hard drive for music, photos, and whatever else I please. It has a color screen for showing photos and album art and a very slick looking menu system for navigating the iPod. It came with a power charging brick, a USB to dock connector cable, one set of my very own Apple signature white iPod earbuds (now I can make my own fun iPod commercials of my silhouette self dancin’ around in my white earbuds!)

I’m very happy with the size of this iPod. I can’t imagine having the mini, it would almost be too small! It’s just a little bit thicker than the 4th Gen. iPods, a little bit larger (but thinner) than my cell phone, and takes up less space in my pocket than my wallet.

To enable me to use my new toy in the car, I got a mounting stand to hold my iPod where I can reach it comfortably, a cassette adapter, and a car charger so I never run out of battery. I am fairly pleased with the sound quality of the cassette adapter. Besides, my car speakers aren’t all that great anyway, so it’s not like I could get incredible sounds anyway, so it’s not worth paying for anything more expensive like a line-in solution.

Well, that’s all I got for now. Here are some pictures of the beautiful iPod. Watch for my next post about pod-casting and my thoughts on this new phenomenon.

1. They are prettier than PCs - which just makes me want to use it even more I mean come on now - working on a Dell computer (or other PC) just makes me feel like the only work I could possibly do on such an ugly machine would have to be the most boring thing ever. But when I startup by beautiful TiBook G4 Powerbook I am excited about whatever I might do!

2. Apple cares enough about interface/interaction design to try to make on that is halfway decent. I took a Human Computer Interaction class in college and when I use Windows, I just want to cry because the OS itself makes performing my tasks so much harder. Certainly, I have adjusted and gotten used to doing things inefficiently, but why should I waste my time using a horribly inelegant OS when I can use my Mac?? Prime example here is Exposé in Panther Mac OS X 10.3. It’s a wonder of interface design. For more good thoughts on interaction and interface design check out Ask Tog.

3. Because in addition to the incredible applications from Apple, there are tons of open-source developers creating excellent freeware/shareware products all the time. My favorite free app that has changed the way I use my computer is Quicksilver from Blacktree, Inc. which facilitates application launching and other tasks like mapping Apple Scripts to hotkeys (called triggers) like for controlling iTunes) It is just one great example of the great work being done by independent software developers for Mac OS X.

A few others that I use on a daily basis are Adium (a multi-protocol chat client), NetNewsWire Lite (an RSS feed reader), Meteorologist (weather forecast in the menubar), Pod Cast Tuner (a podcast feed downloader), iScrobbler and Amua (for use with audioscrobbler.com and last.fm music profiling and listening services), ecto (which I use to post to my blogs) Growl (system-wide customizable notifications) and MuMenu (software update lists in my menubar - which I use to keep on top of all this new great software listed by www.macupdate.com!).

I’m sure there are some similar programs for Windows, but I am just so impressed with these that it makes using a Mac that much better! Every piece of software above is free with the exception of ecto ($17.95 but totally worth it if you are an avid blogger!) So try some of these out and tell me if you can find such amazing software for your PC! I think not!

I pulled up to McDonald’s drive-thru today (I know it’s sad, but I didn’t feel like anything else), and some dude steps up to my car and asks me “What can I get you?” Seems a bit odd to you doesn’t it? Well it’s the latest fad in customer service seemingly, and this well-mannered McDonald’s employee was armed with his Palm (or some kind of handheld computer), and ready to take my order and transmit it to the computers inside the restaurant. Then when I pulled up to the payment window, there’s another guy standing outside of that window who walks up to my car window and says “Hi. $3.04, right?” And I’m like “Yup!” and I hesitantly hand him my debit card to take to the person behind the window to process my transaction. He brings it back and I pull forward to get my food and head on my way.

I guess it sped-up the service, since there were two of them out there walking down the line of cars at the drive-thru, taking orders, so we didn’t all wait to use the normal drive-thru microphone system. And, I think they are trying to give employees more hours since for a few weeks this McDonald’s is drive-thru only since they are renovating the inside (except for the kitchen).

But even if there weren’t any great time-saving, efficiency boosting reasons , I felt more appreciated, and maybe that sounds dumb. I mean, we are talking about McDonald’s here! But hey , who cares, why not?

Matt sparked this post when I read on his away message the following:

I have to be real. Sometimes when I am using my iBook, I wonder how the rest of the world can possibly stand wandering around in the computing dark ages with Windows.

Also, it was spurred by a coworker of mine who was surprised when he found out that I own an Apple Powerbook but am also a developer/computer-nerd/programmer! He thought that certainly someone so knowledgeable and involved in the computing world would not have an Apple!

I told him that on the contrary, I know too much to buy a Windows PC. I know a good computer and OS when I see one, and my experience with computers only makes it clearer!

I think maybe in the next week or so I will post a few reasons why I prefer Mac OS X to Windows XP, so that others can be brought out of the “dark ages”, and understand why I would do something so “crazy” as own and use and love my Apple computer.

I applied for the job of Mac Genius this week with 3 Apple Retail Stores in the N. VA, MD area. It is almost the ideal job for me, but the biggest downside that I can see right now is that I would have to work mall hours (evenings and weekends) since all the Apple Stores are in malls. But other than that, I would get to do some of my favorite things: fix people’s Macs and help them learn to use them better, teach others, constantly learn about new technology, serve people, work with Apple Computers, and interact with people (vs. sitting at a computer all day).

I will be talking to a recruiter hopefully soon to get some answers to my questions about hours and other things like salary.

I would really LOVE to work for Apple. But I can’t seem to get past the problem of hours. Unfortunately, this might not be the best job for me. I will continue looking for other opportunities elsewhere to do similar kinds of jobs.

Let me know if you have any ideas!

Remember those old books from when we were kids called “Choose Your Own Adventure”? Well, I remember them even if you don’t! Stop laughing at me now.

Anyway, I wanted to play a little game called “Choose Scotty’s Own Adventure”

Here’s how it is played: I give you a bunch of choices and you tell me which one you like best (or feel free to suggest some of your own) (via comments or email).

Let the Adventure Begin:

Scott is halfway through his internship at Crusade Headquarters in Orlando, FL and has to begin considering what in the world to do with his life once September 2005 hits.

Should he: (choices listed in no particular order)

A. Go on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ to reach crazy psycho college students?
B. Work at Hardee’s flipping monster thickburgers until he pays of his million dollars in college loans at the rate of $7 an hour?
C. Get a job at Apple selling cool stuff like iPods and Mac minis or writing cool software for Mac OS X?
D. Move to NY, speak in a scratchy voice, get involved in organized crime and go by “Slick Scotty”?
E. Move in with his parents until he’s about 40?
F. Get his own reality TV show and do whatever he wants just because he can?
G. Never shave again and get in the Guiness Book of World Records?
H. Live in the Home section of Walmart, live off chicken samples, and stow away in people’s cars to get places?
I. ??????????????????????????

Make your choice!

When Apple announced the new iPod Shuffle it used some clever advertising humor. For those who just don’t know any better, they thought it would be best to put a minor disclaimer on their webpage for the iPod Shuffle. (They took it off the website now)

“2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle”

Whew!!! I am so glad….. I was actually considering eating one!

Apparently this guy was thinking the same thing: (and he wrote a fun poem about it) Read it here: “I Ate iPod Shuffle”

I was going to put this on my other blog (the nerdy one) but I thought it wasn’t quite nerdy enough to make it over there. There aren’t enough esoteric words used in the blog entry, it’s not hard enough to understand what in the world I’m talking about, and it’s really funny, so why not? I mean, if you think about it, this entry is really just about food, and I talk about food all the time, and everyone loves food. So it’s totally normal!

In conclusion, let me know if you have an iPod Shuffle and whether or not you have tried to eat it. I’m interested to hear how that has worked out for you!

Here is my December/January Update! It is a little late, but interesting nonetheless!

A few weeks ago, I did something that I have never done before in my life. I went to a professional wrestling match. It was AWESOME!!!

Justin and I went to Universal Studios at 6pm after work for the taping of the TNA: Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling show IMPACT! They tape two shows at a time every other week. IMPACT! airs on FOX Sports every week. So we were on TV!

It was pretty fun! We did alot of screaming and cheering, even if we had no idea who those crazy looking wrestlers were. The crowd really got into it at points, even taunting their least favorite wrestlers as they tried to brag to the audience after a match with chants like “Get your hat, your coat, and leave” and “Boring! Boring!”

If you are ever in Orlando for a vacation, you should check out IMPACT! It’s a fun time for the whole family!

Fallen Angel putting a hurtin’
on A.J. Styles!

Last week, Todd, Justin, and I went to Hardee’s for the Monster Thickburger. It was sort of an unspoken agreement that if we were real men, we would be able to finish off this 2/3 lbs. of beef with additional cheese and bacon, the fries and soda.


The “Nutrition” Facts of my meal.

Calories: 2391.94
Calories from Fat: 1131.92
Total Fat: 125.76 g
Saturated Fat: 49.65 g
Cholesterol: 229.55 g
Sodium: 3070.73 g
Carboyhdrates: 257.39 g
Protien: 69.8g

We called it the “Heart-stopping lunch” and I think we all half-expected to drop dead after the meal! We didn’t, thankfully, but we did all finish the meal, even though we were totally stuffed at the end of it! I didn’t eat much else that day! It was worth it. And the burger was incredible!

I came across these two humorous links in my daily news RSS feed surfing.

Five Things that Microsoft Won’t Do in 2005 - But Should

A Mac-to-PC switcher movie … sort of

I hope you get it. And enjoy a few good laughs!

Maybe I’ll post some real thoughts, original ones, next time!

So at Matt’s wedding, I wore a tuxedo for the first time. to be honest I REALLY liked it. I have never felt so expensive in my life. I wouldn’t mind wearing one of those everyday. Especially since they make those shoes SO comfortable. Only, I doubt it would be very appropriate for the office, considering everyone else wears business casual (khakis and buttoned shirts)

Here is a great picture of Leila and I at the reception. It was a beautiful wedding and reception! I was honored to be a part of it and send them into marriage right!


Don’t we look cute?

Apparently, President George W. Bush uses an iPod. He likes to listen to music when he rides his bike. According to the photographer of this photo essay (view the last 4 pictures), Christopher Morris, he was listening to “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.

I think it’s pretty sweet that Pres. Bush has an iPod. I mean, if I were rich (more like, if I even had a few hundred dollars) I would have one too! But I’ll get behind any President smart enough to know that the best music player on the planet is an iPod.

So I got some new headphones this week because I needed some new ones for listening to music at work. The ones I have are kinda dying. So I went to Best Buy since I had a gift certificate for $20 and looked around. I came home with this Sony in-ear model, and I’m pretty happy with them. They are inside the ear, so they put out really good sound, and unbeleivable bass, that normal outside-the-ear headphones can’t accomplish. They are great! And comfortable too!

Only one problem, the warranty is very LIMITED, as it says, “This warranty does not cover cosmetic damage or damage due to acts of God, accident, misuse, abuse, negligence, commercial use, or modification of, or to any part of the Product.”

I guess if God decides to make my headphones stop working, I will have to buy a new pair, oh well! I have had at least 20 different pairs of headphones throughout my life. What’s one more?

I wanted to give credit to an excellent piece of software: the GIMP. It is an open source image manipulation/editing alternative to Photoshop. It does most of what Photoshop does, and, especially for the casual user, it is more than sufficient.

I have been using Photoshop Elements 2.0 since my parents bought it for me last Christmas, and I have liked it mostly for the layers capabilities, the clone tool, and the advanced control over color. (all features that the GIMP includes)

I like Photoshop Elements, but I have also tried out the GIMP and was very pleased. It is a little more powerful with more features and options.

If you don’t want to pay $650 for Photoshop CS or even the $80 for Photoshop Elements 3.0, but want a little more control over your photos you should check out the GIMP!

It is an open source project that is making incredible progress. You can download the binary compiled for Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X. I think you will like it.

Remember when technology hated me?

First, my watch battery died… still haven’t replaced it.

Second, I couldn’t get a cell phone that worked. I took my Verizon cell phone with a broken speakerphone to be fixed and they replaced it with a phone that would drop every single call it made. I had to go back like three more times to finally get them to give me a brand new phone that actually worked. I was not happy with Verizon, but I’m glad to have a working phone finally.

Third, my Powerbook’s hard drive died. I took a trip down to the Apple Store a few days before it actually died (while it was still on the fritz and making strange knocking and clicking noises) to consult the local Mac Genius. He told me that my hard drive was definately about to die. So thankfully I have a backup hard drive that I backup everything too, it wasn’t a big deal. I ordered a new hard drive and when it gets here, I will swap it with the dead one. For now, I am booting from my external HD with all the backed-up data.

I was glad that it was just the hard drive (and that I have a backup!) since hard drives are relatively cheap and easy to replace (even though it wasn’t free since my warranty expired after 1 year) (note: the new HD has a 3-year warranty… yay)

I am waiting on my new HD to arrive any day now so I can be up and running again! Maybe technology hates me, but it got dominated by my mad skills this time!

(I was scared to touch my digital camera, for fear that it too would stop working, but it is fine thankfully!)

I recently visited Maryland for a few weeks, and encountered several computers that should not even be plugged into an Internet connection they are so unsafe. The viruses, malware, and spyware that attack Windows computers without appropriate virus and spyware protection are ridiculous.

So I took some measures to help them out… this is what I did or would at least do for the next person I encounter with issues like the people I saw recently:

1. Uninstall Internet Explorer and installed Mozilla’s Firefox (as the default) (if they can find a site that will only work in IE, then I can help them reinstall IE… yuck)

2. Recommended switching email programs away from Microsoft’s crappy Outlook and Outlook Express (most normal people don’t need the shared calendaring of Outlook, and Mozilla’s Thunderbird is a great substitute)

3. Tell them they need to get virus protection software and keep their definitions updated (even if it costs money… it’s worth it)

4. Make sure their personal software firewall (included with Windows XP) is turned on.

4. Reccommended that their next computer be a Macintosh (because as we know, they are more secure… experts agree)

So anyway, I would recommend anyone who currently has issues with their XP machine follow my instructions as well!

Today, January 5 marks 4 months of Leila and I dating. I think this might be the longest dating relationship I have ever been involved in. It is really exciting to be in a wonderful relationship with such a wonderful girl. I hope I don’t mess it up and get dumped!

She is coming down here with Jocie and Ethan January 18th so I look forward to that, but for now, we are back to the long-distance thing. It could be tough this spring when we won’t get to be together for several months at a time!

Anyway, I just wanted to use this space to thank God for blessing me with a wonderful girlfriend!

My best Christmas present was dinner out at Texas Roadhouse with Leila. She decided to surprise me by taking me out there and buying me the biggest steak I could order. It was incredible. I didn’t even know there was a Texas Roadhouse in Maryland (it’s in Westminster if you are curious) but we had some great food and a wonderful time!

I am so thankful for Leila and that she knows what I like. As sad as it is, it’s true. FOOD is something I like alot, and for her to buy me dinner at my favorite restaraunt was an EXCELLENT Christmas gift! Way to go!

As an added bonus, she had NEVER been to Texas Roadhouse and this was her first time. She loved it! How can anyone not?

Well folks, the holidays came and went, and I came and went. I’m back in Florida now, so if you missed me when I was in Maryland, sorry about that! I had a great time seeing family and friends, and spending time with Leila, but I guess I do have a job for some reason, and I should probably get back to it!

Interesting story… I was at Matt’s wedding this weekend and, in a pleasant turn of events John Boggs, my roomate, showed up at the wedding with Andy, Lauren, and Carissa (my STINT teammates from last year in North Africa). But when I returned last night he told me a funny story that happened to him during Matt’s wedding reception. I will retell it here, and if it isn’t funny enough for you, then go to him and ask him to tell it! You’re sure to get a laugh.

So, to start, Boggsy was sick. He had a sore throat and hadn’t been feeling well for the last few days. Also, he had just been in the car all day and stuck in bad traffic most of it, as they were tryig to make it to the wedding (in Virginia Beach) on time from Pennsylvania.

So you can imagine that John is a little bit out of it as he walks over to the drink table to refill his cup of punch. After filling it up to the top, a nice old lady, presumably one of Matt or Beca’s (the groom and bride) grandparents, walks up to him and says something like “How kind of you young man!” and with a smile proceeds to take his cup from his hand and walk away with it as if he had filled it for her!

Before he has a chance to think and realize what happened, she has slipped into the large crowd at the reception and he has lost her and his cup (which he had been drinking from already and leaving his sick germs in as well) After he overcomes the shock of this sweet old lady stealing his cup and realizing he had just let her walk away with it and all of his sick germs, he fills a new cup for himself and sits back down at his table.

I told him he better pray that his germs don’t end that old lady’s life! (In fact they had already killed one living being that day, a dog in the middle of Interstate 64 that was pulverized by their front bumper, but that’s another story!)

Sorry for the long break in posts on this blog, but I have enough trouble keeping up with one blog, it can be hard having two! Anyway, I’m back and this time with a light-hearted technology update, about the Apple iPod.

It has gotten quite a bit of attention of late, being the most wanted gift for Christmas this year.

It was recently featured on The Late Show with David Letterman, and he showed a sneak peek at the newest iPod, which holds 1 billion songs! (CLick here then click on “Everything’s Funnier When It’s Gigantic”)

Well, I don’t have a whole lot more to say abotu it than that I also want an iPod for Christmas. If you are working on making my dream come true, any kind of iPod will do.

So tonight we went to a Christmas party for the law firm that Leila got a job as a law clerk for the semester (she starts work Monday). It was a fun party, and I enjoyed the people there, but there were several things about the evening that just made it a little humorous for me.

First, it was at the nicest restaurant in downtown Ellicott City, Jordan’s Steakhouse. (To make it clear, let’s just say that a few years ago I walked by the restaraunt and thought to myself “That looks like a great place to take a date out for dinner!” .. it has great atmosphere, the menu was full of good food, but when I caught the prices on the menu on the door, I wanted to throw up. The only way I would be coming here for dinner on my supported missionary salary is if I win the lottery, in two states.)

Second, the first thing the server asked me after we arrived was what kind of wine did I want? (It was a stand-up, mingle, eat food from the buffet of hors d’oeuvres and lots of random foods so we were never seated at a table) Now, I have no problem with wine. In fact, I kind of like wine, and I had some, but the reason this is a bad sign for me is that I am not used to the very sophisticated, classy setting that this was unfolding to be. Not that I have no manners, but I have never really been around the kind of people that can afford to drink wine all around and have a meal of fancy hors d’oeuvres. I felt at once that I didn’t neccessarily fit in among the people who make more in a week than I do in a year. But I had fun putting on a show (or at least not trying to look really stupid or embarrass Leila, or myself, in front of her soon-to-be coworkers)

And third, the two most common gifts for the white elephant gift exchange that we did (there were about 20 people there) were condoms and bottles of wine. I don’t really know how to reconcile those two, but I am thankful that I didn’t end up with either.

Regardless, I had a fun time, and while Leila’s new coworkers might be a strange mix of eccentric, sophisticated, and crazy, they were a good group of people and knew how to have a good time. I’m sure she will have a great experience working there and grow to love these people!

I love Christmas parties… Christmas parties for work, Christmas parties for church, Christmas parties for the Card-nite gang, and on and on! They are great. And only slightly less great is the wonder that is the White Elephant Christmas gift game, IT’S THE FASTEST-GROWING-CHRISTMAS-GAME-SENSATION, and it has become like some kind of plague, I mean phenomenon, around here!

In case you aren’t aware, the idea of the game is that everyone brings a “gift” to the party, and it’s usually something that you previously owned, or found in your house, or something funny or ridiculous, and depending on how you play the game, it could even be generous or special.

So in honor of this holiday favorite, here is

The Top 10 White Elephant Gifts No One Wants to End Up With:
10. The bad Christmas gift you got from your Great Aunt Nancy last year.
9. The shirt that used to fit you, in ninth grade.
8. A chia pet.
7. An inner tube, with a hole in it.
6. A set of batteries, dead ones.
5. An old barbie doll, with no head.
4. A tube of Hemmorhoid cream.
3. A picture of your Mom from the Eighties.
2. Anything that you found in your bathroom, or that at any time in the past resided there.

and the NUMBER 1 White Elephant Gifts No One Wants to End Up With IS:

1. A handwritten coupon redeemable at any time for me to eat over at your house for a week.

In more than one sense, next week will be the beginning of winter for me. First, according to the smart people who know all about the Sun and what a solstice is next week (December 21) will be “when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth’s equator” - infoplease.com

But second, and more meaningful, is that next week (Dec. 18) will mark my return to non-tropical weather after 20 months of living in Summer. It will be my return to a place where it is normal to see your breath, scrape the ice off your windshield every morning, wear 5 layers of clothes, build fires inside your house, throw snowballs, drink hot chocolate, and turn on the heat in your house all day long.

I look forward to my return to Winter, but also to my return to my family and friends in Maryland, since last year I didn’t get to spend the holidays with them. It’s just not the same to spend Christmas away from your family.

Anyway, if you are in Maryland from Dec 18 - Dec 31, I would love to see you so get in touch with me and maybe we can do some fun Winter activities together!

Headlines:

Leila Visits!

Holidays at Home

Almost Famous

Headlines:

The craziest people I know

Adjusting to a new lifestyle

Church hunting

If you didn’t know, I write a letter each month and send it to lots of people.

But there are probably many people who are not on my mailing list (snail mail or email), so I figured I would pop them on my blog in JPG form (typically I email them in PDF, so let me know if you want me to email you the PDF)

Here is September’s update. The others will follow.

Headlines:

Finally in Florida!

Mean Jeanne Storms the Scene

I’m Lovin’ It

November 22, Hurricane Leila blew into town, and left 8 days later, Nov 30th (the last day of hurricane season). Leila came to visit me in Florida and it was great! God provided a place for her to stay (And it worked out well because one of my coworkers needed someone to watch their house and dog while they were out of town!) The best part about her being here is that we got to do all the things that we can’t do long-distance, like take walks, watch movies together, go dancing, and go out to dinner. It was great to spend some real face-to-face time with her. I think we are a lot closer now after spending the week together (especially since we have been dating for almost 3 months and have spent more than 2 months of that apart!)

Oh yeah, blog-readers, sorry for being so silent in November. I guess I didn’t feel like blogging much or just didn’t make time for it! I think November was a hard month. Part of the reason I have not blogged much in November is because I haven’t really been taking much time to think or reflect, and when I don’t do that, I have very little to write about. Sometimes when we are struggling within ourselves, we don’t necessarily feel like opening up to others. When I am so disgusted by my own sin and struggle it is easy to feel scared to write about it because I don’t want others to see the badness or struggle inside me. I apologize for not keeping you in my life so much this last month. I’m hoping to pick back up in full-force again with my blog! You can start reading again if you took a break with me!

I like to think that we can learn from each other - that God is always teaching each one of us something, and that we should take advantage of that, and try to learn what we can from each other.

Last night I visited a home group with Metro Life church here in Orlando. Besides the people being a really friendly and fun group of people, I really appreciated their desire to learn from each other. We had a time of sharing, which isn’t too uncommon in Christian small groups, Bible Studies, church groups, etc… BUT it was exceptionally beneficial because the goal was to learn from each other, or to teach each other from the little things that maybe through some normal, every-day circumstance, God is teaching us.

When the home group leader Rich introduced this time, I was eagerly inching forward in my chair, ready to share something. Even though it was my first visit to this home group, and I had not known anyone there for more than 15 minutes, I was so excited because that is something I love doing!

So I shared with the home group how I have recently become a “blogger” and try to write regularly about the little things that pop out in the course of every-day life where God is trying to teach me something, or I just realize something amazing. First I had to explain what “blog” is to the people there who aren’t necessarily as nerdy as me. I’m sure everyone has heard them talking about “the bloggers” on CNN though during the election coverage! “Bloggers” are normal people, who just happen to have an online journal for others to read, and aren’t necessarily famous or connected to politics. Eventually I shared the story about the speeding incident and what I learned from it. And it was a great time to share with others the little things I have learned about myself!

I’m so glad I went to that home group! I felt like people were happy that I was there and were excited to get to know me. I had many wonderful conversations with members of the home group later and stayed til almost 11 just talking with my new friends! I look forward to many wonderful times of fellowship and relationship with these people in the coming months! Thanks God!

Isn’t it cool that God can use anyone to speak to us! Even a “blogger” like me!

I watched the movie 8 Mile tonight and also happened upon this video “Mosh” by Eminem and that got me thinking about Eminem. I have a few thoughts I would like to share about rap music and also about Eminem and our culture..

First off, I want to let you know that I LOVE rap, hip-hop, whatever-you-wanna-call-it music. But please understand that I love rap music as a GENRE, not necessarily all the rap artists out there. Rap is a very relevant, and powerful medium to connect with this generation. If you don’t believe me, just go to any high school or college and open your ears. Listen to what kids are bouncin’ to in their ghetto-fabulous souped up rides. Go to any city (even suburb) in the United States and walk down the street. Turn on MTV, VH1, or BET. You’ll see it. You’ll hear it.

Now that we agree, let me tell you why the hip-hop world is in an interesting position. A majority of the hip-hop world is rapping about lies, and a reality that doesn’t exist beyond the boundaries of their music video set. They talk about women, sex, money, and livin’ the ganster lifestyle. They act like they are invincible, but they are a joke. And for the most part, their influence on young people today is this: they teach them that they should live for money, women, sex, cars, whatever. They tell them that these things will make them happy and that will be satisfied to the fullest. Lies. Lies. Lies.

Eminem is the best selling artist right now, and I’m not surprised why. He is an amazingly talented artist and he raps about a lot of controversial things. What scares me is that he is also telling/selling these same lies, and people are listening. Even when I was in North Africa, so many of my North African friends would tell me they loved Eminem (although to their credit, they had no idea what he was saying… they just appreciate his talent).

What the world needs is someone with the talent equal to Eminem, but with the power of the Holy Spirit inside him and the truth of the Word of God in his head and lyrics. They need to hear the truth. They need to be told that the stuff they hear is a lie. They need to see that Jesus is love, and not some joke. They need to see that at the end it’s not their women, money, or cars that will save them.

There are a few (The Cross Movement, Mase, and others) but they aren’t reaching the people that listen to Eminem yet, or at least not in the way that they could or need to. I don’t know what it will take, but I know that somebody needs to reach these people for Jesus using hip-hop music, and it probably won’t be me. They wouldn’t listen to or respect me, and I’m a poor rapper (but I can beatbox pretty well). I respect Mase for what he’s doing, although skill wise, he can’t touch Eminem. (Check out the coming Nov/Dec issue of Relevant Magazine for an interview with Mase where he talks about his calling to reach the hip-hop scene for Christ.)

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts about the influence of the hip-hop scene and the need for representing the affluence of the Most High King.

You gotta let ‘em know. Hold it down. Keep it real.

Peace out.

I saw this mock advertisement while browsing the latest news and thought it was pretty hilarious!

In case you didn’t hear about it, Ashlee Simspon, one of the MTV favorites these days, totally screwed up SNL this weekend. She was lip-syching to her song “Pieces of Me” (which is so terrible because it’s supposed to be Saturday Night LIVE!) and when she began her performance they were playing the vocal track to some other song while her live band played the right one! So after a 10-15 seconds of looking like a total idiot, lip syncing to the wrong song, SNL cut to a commercial so they could get her in-sync.

Anyway, keep your eyes out for the iPod Ashlee Simpson Karaoke Edition!

I ran across this little article the other day and found it pretty hilarious. Microsoft obviously knows the real solution to the problem of poor Internet Security! It’s to just go down to the neighborhood Apple Store and pick up a new Apple laptop!!

I hope you enjoy the humor as much as I do.

The best part is that I went back to the Microsoft site tonight and lo, and behold, the graphic was gone from the front page! I guess they decided they didn’t want to look anymore foolish than they already are (with all the Longhorn shenanigans). I guess you have figured out, if you didn’t know already, that I’m not a big fan of Microsoft, or of their insecure operating system.

I got an email from Carissa, one of my STINT team members last year, and she told me that the little brother of a North African guy and girl I had met once (visited their house once for lunch) had a dream about me. Carissa had gotten a letter from the older brother and sister, who she had gotten to know pretty well last year. In the letter the older brother asked if he could contact me because he wanted to ask me about the dream his little brother had about me. He wanted to understand it. I guess he wants me to interpret it for him!

Wow! I feel like I’m some kind of Bible character or something, being asked to interpret dreams! This is crazy. I never imagined that the Lord would give the little brother of a guy a met once a dream about me a year after I had left!

I am very excited to see what comes of this, and how the Lord might use me and this dream to bring this family closer to faith in Him! I will let you know when I hear from him!

Friday afternoon, I was coming home from work. Happy as can be, glad the week of work was done.

About 5 minutes out of HQ, I get pulled over by a motorcycle cop because he didn’t like how fast I was going.

I won’t go into specifics, but I was definitely speeding. So he comes to talk to me and asks me the unanswerable: “What made you speed like that? What were you thinking about?” Feeling very humbled and a little frightened about the consequences, I just replied with a straight forward answer, “I’m not sure.”

I mean, really, how many of us drive around thinking about how we want to speed and break the law and get caught? None of us. We just drive, until we see a cop car, and then start to think, “Oh, maybe I’m going too fast, I should slow down.” And we do, for about 1 minute until the cop is not in sight!

So, thankfully, he just pleaded with me to, “Think about what you’re doing and slow down,” and didn’t give me a ticket.

But he did make me think. It worked. The fact that I can’t easily NOT speed, says something about my character. Am I controlled by my car? Or maybe it’s my schedule? Either way, if I can’t have enough self-control to obey the traffic laws of Florida, how well do I think I’m doing in obeying the laws of an Almighty God? Sure, we aren’t under law, but under grace, but God still wants us to be obedient and submitting ourselves to His authority and will.

And how am I supposed to have an effective witness to an unbelieving world, if I am not above reproach and without self-control?? God wants me to be blameless before the world, so that they may have no grounds to accuse me of any wrongdoing, or deny the reality of my faith and my God.

So I decided, in order to regain some of my credibility and character, to attempt to not speed for one week. This will be a true test of character. I’ll let you know how it goes and what I learn about myself and others at the end of the week!

Tonight, we had a great thunderstorm, finally! I was waiting for one. At 10pm, I went out to the back porch to catch the show, and it was a good one!

There was a ton of thunder and lightning. I love thunderstorms. While they are really wild and powerful, I feel really calm when I am watching one. I actually like to cheer and scream for the brightest flashes and loudest crashes. I love how something that can be so frightening can also be so exciting and calming.

http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2004/09/09/blacksmith.html
http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2004/09/28/Blacksmith2.html
http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2004/10/12/Blacksmith3.html

I recently read a series of articles about the Postmodern Programmer. The writer compared the history of the professions of the blacksmith and bookkeeper in order to make some points about the future of the programmer.

I thought it was interesting, but don’t necessarily buy it.

One reader gave a great response. His thought was “problem domain, not programmer”

I agree. I think that as technology and software develop, it will not be that there are fewer programmers, but that the problem domain will be different, and the “programmers” might be doing a different kind of programming. Just like I don’t punch holes in a stack of cards, I program in Java for web applications, in the future, i might not be writing Java code, but doing some other kind of programming.

Even though some might not like it, us programmers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Today, I didn’t go to the office because our team was helping 2 of the ladies on our team, Anna and Tina, move to their new apartment. Their places were both messed up beyond repair by the Hurricanes, but God provided an apartment for them to share while their new places are being built in a new development.

Anyway, we had a great day, moving all their furniture and stuff out of the storage units and into a HUGE truck, and out again at the new place (AND UP THE STAIRS)! They bought us lunch and we had a good time bonding as a team and loving each other! It was great to be able to serve Anna and Tina in that way!

It was an interesting weekend, to say the least!

On Friday night, after hanging out with some people over here until about midnight, I wandered out to the back porch, and I heard a strange sound. It sounded like rain, beating against the leaves of a tree. But I looked around, and it wasn’t raining. So I was a little confused.

So I left the porch and walked towards my neighbor’s house, and to my shock there was a stream of water shooting 15 feet into the air beneath the tree behind her house!

WOW! This was like Moses and the burning bush! I was witnessing some kind of act of God. Maybe He was trying to tell me something. “Scott, don’t drink so much soda.” No I kind of doubt He would appear in a fountain-tree just to tell me that. So anyway, maybe it was just a broken pipe.

Eventually the guys came out and we all gave our oh-so-educated opinions about what we thought was going on (although of course we knew nothing) and we woke up our neighbor to let her know what was going on.

The fire department came and said they couldn’t do anything, so we headed to bed after having a few laughs with the firemen about having our own fountain for the night, the lake disappearing and other bad jokes that we could think of that seemed relavent to the situation.

I was kind of hoping it would still be going when I got up in the morning (so I could get a good picture), but it was done, maybe it ran out all the water from wherever it was coming from. Anyway, it was an exciting midnight adventure for all who were present.

Well, another Sunday, another church visited. For the first time really, I’m church shopping, and as the women reading might understand, it’s a lot like shoe shopping! Now, don’t start thinking I’m a wierdo or a girlie-man just yet. There’s a little reason to my goofy conclusion.

What is it about shoe shopping that makes it so tricky? I mean, for me, it’s tough because I don’t always know exactly what I want. Also, I have to try some shoes on before you buy a pair to make sure I get a good fit and a comfortable shoe. And I usually don’t buy the first shoe I try on, so that means it will take some time and patience, finding the shoe I want, that fits, and that I like, and meets my needs (like a tennis shoe, dress shoe, or work boot, etc…).

Church shopping seems a little bit similar to me. The first thing that makes it difficult is that there are so many of them, especially in Florida! I could spend my year going to a different church every Sunday! Also, they are all trying to meet the same need. For the most part, every church I have visited is worshipping God on Sunday, and is teaching truth and Gospel, and wants to see people believe and grow in Christ.

So it’s kind of hard to pick one, based on some of those things. It’s more about feelings for me (which is pretty unusual if you know me, the unemotional guy that I am!) I am going to visit a few more churches and pick one that I feel comfortable in; one where the people make me feel welcome, and where I feel like I want to be a part of their ministry. That might sound a little superficial, but I am most concerned with finding a church where I will really grow, and I know that will be one where I feel comfortable and safe, not one where the people or environment makes me scared to open up, get involved, or be myself.

Well, next week I’m off to another church!

Hey, if the shoes fits….

Success is a funny thing. Everyone, including Donald Trump, thinks they know what it takes to be successful. The problem is, they aren’t all right.

It’s obvious from watching even one episode of “The Apprentice”, that the aspiring apprentices don’t think that humility is a characteristic that is necessary if you want to be successful. If they do, they don’t show it, because they are a bunch of huge egos walking around bashing each other because they HAVE to be right!

I think it’s sad. Unfortunately, their mentor, Donald Trump probably doesn’t have an ounce of humility in him either. He would probably say that humility is weakness, and that you won’t make it in the business world if you are weak. If they are trying to emulate Trump, they are doing a great job in the area of pride.

On the positive side, “The Donald” does seem to value leadership and teamwork, which are great things, crucial to success. But, I think that he needs to realize that the best leader is one that is able to humble himself before his team, and be kind, yet cast a strong vision for the team, and motivate them to action.

Also, a leader has to relate to people with kindness and gentleness, (show a balance of grace and truth, if you will). This is why Pamela was fired. She does have some good leadership skills of organization, delegation, and decisiveness, but ultimately, she doesn’t know how to treat people. If you are going to work as a team, you have to get along, and agree to put aside your differences and forgive each other for the sake of accomplishing your goals. NOT ONCE, has anyone on the show “The Apprentice” apologized to a team member for treating them wrongly, or for making a mistake.

The only one who showed an ounce of humility was Bradford, and he got fired for it. He decided to waive his immunity in the boardroom, to show his team that he was as much a part of the failure as they were (even though he did a good job, and their failure wasn’t his fault). But Donald saw that as a stupid move, not the humble, bold, courageous, and honorable one that is really was.

Donald, doesn’t know what success is. He might be “successful” in the cut-throat, selfsih, greedy business world, but in reality, in life, he will be a failure unless he learns humility.

1 Samuel 2:7 - “The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.”

Matthew 23:12 - “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Isaiah 2:11 - “The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”

Well, my job for the last few weeks at work has been to learn Java, so that I can be a crucial part of the development of the web applications for Campus Crusade’s Staff Site. Since I have been reading so much about it lately, I wanted to take a little space here to give you some of my impressions of my newest language. (Last year I learned Arabic in North Africa, this year it’s a programming language!)

Why I like Java:

1. It’s pretty similar to C++ (my other, and most proficient language). This could probably be argued by people who know more about both C++ and Java than I do, but I don’t really care what everyone else thinks. So far as I am concerned, it’s similar enough that I don’t really feel like I’m writing code in a different language when I write in Java.

2. It’s a pretty high level language. It seems like (C++)+ to me…. sorta like C++ for dummies. (Don’t get upset that I compare Java to C++ if you think they are nothing alike, it’s just that it’s my only frame of reference! ) The reason I say that it seems like a high-level language is because it has alot of things that C++ (for example) doesn’t have built-in: like exception handling, garbage collection (memory cleanup), a powerful string class and other data structures like stacks, and the whole Interface idea is pretty cool (like having separate abstract “classes” that can be implemented by multiple classes without the Interface having to be a subclass of any other class is pretty powerful!)

3. It’s VERY object oriented. Almost every variable except primitive types (integer, float, char, boolean…) is an object (the class is a subclass of the Java Object class at the very least, maybe some other more useful class). This makes things less confusing, and more straight forward when thinking in an object oriented design kind of way. If the whole language is very OO, it makes writing OO code easier!

4. It’s very portable, and platform independent. I think it’s pretty cool that I could develop java code on any machine and it would end up pretty much the same!

5. There are a lot of free tools for developing in Java: especially Eclipse, an excellent IDE, which I have been using at work regularly.

6. It can be used in great ways with JSP and servlets for web programming. Once I learned Java, I was able to read a short tutorial on JSP and servlets and be writing dynamic web applications in minutes! It was great!

Well that’s about it. I don’t like coffee, but you’ll see Java on my desktop every day!

I finished “Blue Like Jazz” tonight, and the topic of the last chapter was very relevant to me. The title was “Jesus”, but it was about love.

He starts out with a story:

A guy I know named Alan went around the country asking ministry leaders questions. He went to successful churches and asked the pastors what they were doing, why what they were doing was working. It sounded very boring except for one visit he made to a man named Bill Bright, the president of a big ministry [actually, Campus Crusade for Christ!] Alan said he was a big man, full of life, who listened without shifting his eyes. Alan asked a few questions. I don’t know what they were, but as a final question he asked Dr. Bright what Jesus meant to him. Alan said Dr. Bright could not answer the question. He sad Dr. Bright just started to cry. He sat there in his big chair behind his big desk and wept.

When Alan told that story I wondered what it was like to love Jesus that way. I wondered, quite honestly, if that Bill Bright guy was just nuts or if he really knew Jesus in a personal way, so well that he would cry at the very mention of His name. I knew then that I would like to know Jesus like that, with my heart, not just my head. I felt like that would be the key to something.

This role model in our ministry, Dr. Bright, although he passed away last year, really loved Jesus! Now He loves Him in body as well as spirit!

I got to thinking about myself, and I had a hard time imagining myself crying just at someone asking me a question. Unless the question was something like, “Do you want me to punch you in the face or kick you in the groin?” and even then I might not cry, just run away.

But anyway, I really feel like I have a hard time having a love relationship with Jesus. I am not saying I just want to have some emotional high or anything like that, as much as I don’t have a deep love in my heart for Jesus like Bill Bright did, and like I want to.

I see the same thing in my relationship with my girlfriend Leila, but it’s even harder with Jesus. For example, if Leila were to call my cell phone at a time when, for whatever reason, I didn’t feel like talking, I would talk anyway. I just can’t hang up. I talk regardless of how I am feeling. But it’s easy to feel like Jesus never calls, I have to call Him. Or maybe He calls alot and I just like hanging up on Him.

I mean, I know He is always there, but it’s hard to love Him when you can’t see Him. I think my relationship with Leila and my relationship with Jesus as being pretty similar right now. While I know Jesus is with me always, He’s Immanuel, God with us, but it seems more like long distance to me, just like my relationship with Leila.

And I feel like I struggle in the same ways in my relationship with both of them. It is hard to not just think about myself in relationship. It’s hard to make time to spend with the other person. It’s hard to be real and vulnerable.

(Ironically, it seems so easy to be these things on this blog, because it’s not as personal as the phone or in person conversation… I feel more safe hiding behind this digital curtain like some kind of extremely nerdy Wizard of Oz)

But there are two things that comfort me and strengthen me:
1) Jesus loves me
2) Jesus is committed to me and will never leave me or give up on me

And so I guess if I were to realize just how much Jesus actually loves me, it would be a lot easier to love him. I bet that Dr. Bright loved Jesus so much because he felt so loved by Him! Maybe I will start praying about and looking for all the ways that Jesus loves me and is loving me and showing me love each day!

And, in a more human way, Leila does these things too, and so that encourages me to love back!

Later in the chapter Donald Miller says:

I think the most important thing that happens within Christian spirituality is when a person falls in love with Jesus.

I want to fall in love! I don’t feel like I am right now. I want to be though! I want to cry at the mention of a name! I want to long for more each day! I yearn for the joy of knowing each day I am so fully loved!

I recently got into RSS, both reading RSS feeds and sending my own. If you don’t know what RSS is, you should find out!

According to this site

RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it’s not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the “recent changes” page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

RSS-aware programs called news aggregators are popular in the weblogging community. Many weblogs make content available in RSS. A news aggregator can help you keep up with all your favorite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds and displaying new items from each of them.

So, now you are up to date. “So what’s the big deal?” you might be asking. I have been using a new RSS aggregator to check the news and updates of my favorite sites instead of browsing their web pages. It makes it much quicker, easier, and more centralized. It’s great. Why navigate through 10 different web pages when you can look at one window that show you the list of feeds, and then the headlines and blurbs about each article?

The program that I have been trying out and really like is News Fire. It’s a really simple program that makes the things I want to do really easy. I regularly browse for interesting headlines on my favorite sites and open full articles to read when I feel like it. Sorry for all you Windows users out there, this one’s only for Mac OS X, but here’s a suggestion for one that the Windows users seem to like: Sharp Reader

Also, I now have an RSS feed for both of my blogs (look for the link on the right side). So if you want, you can download it and find out more easily when my site, as well as your other favorite sites, are updated!

NewsFire - Aggregating in style!

I was talking to Leila the other day and we got into a discussion about computer memory because I recently ordered some for my laptop. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone explaining all this nerdy stuff about computer performance, memory, CPUs, and hard disks. She probably didn’t want to hear it all, but she got an earful of techno geek babble.

Anyway, the reason I felt like blogging about this is not because I was surprised that she didn’t already completely understand how computers work, because most people don’t. (She could probably talk to me about legal issues for 20 minutes and I wouldn’t understand any more than what I know from my “Matlock”, Law & Order“ watching experience and from what I have read in 2 or 3 Grisham novels.)

The reason is because I re-discovered something about myself(that I think I already knew, but I thought maybe you might like to know) I really love talking about computers, especially explaining how they work to people who don’t know. For whatever reason, that’s just something that gets me excited and passionate. So if you have a question, feel free to ask me, because it would bring much joy to tell you anything about computers that you want to know!

I was talking to Leila the other day and we got into a discussion about computer memory because I recently ordered some for my laptop. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone explaining all this nerdy stuff about computer performance, memory, CPUs, and hard disks. She probably didn’t want to hear it all, but she got an earful of techno geek babble.

Anyway, the reason I felt like blogging about this is not because I was surprised that she didn’t already completely understand how computers work, because most people don’t. (She could probably talk to me about legal issues for 20 minutes and I wouldn’t understand any more than what I know from my “Matlock”, Law & Order” watching experience and from what I have read in 2 or 3 Grisham novels.)

The reason is because I re-discovered something about myself(that I think I already knew, but I thought maybe you might like to know) I really love talking about computers, especially explaining how they work to people who don’t know. For whatever reason, that’s just something that gets me excited and passionate. So if you have a question, feel free to ask me, because it would bring much joy to tell you anything about computers that you want to know!

I was privileged enough to spot one of the locals hanging around the lake
out back. He was creeping around the side of the pond and snagging little
bites to eat from out of the water. I watched him for a little while and
snapped a few photos. Anyway, add one more to the collection of local
wildlife in our backyard!

(Originally posted on my other blog: reflections on September 21st.)

Well, this is going to be my first blog entry exposing my true nature, my hidden self, my real identity: the nerd.

My new roomates (John Boggs and Damien Brooks) recently got pretty excited about the new release of the Star Wars (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) DVD set. Never before released on DVD, this was an exciting day for big geeks like Boggsy and Damien! They celebrated all day by playing the new Star Wars video game that was released today along with the DVDs, and I celebrated with them by watching some of A New Hope (Part 4 of the 6 movie series) during dinner. It was great.

You might not think I am such a nerd at this point. But if you are still willing to read on, I will explain why I am such a nerd. I love my Macintosh computer! And every day, I get teased, ribbed, made fun of, whatever you want to call it, by all the PC weenies at work who don’t realize what they are missing out on, when I bring my beautiful Powerbook G4 into work and sit it at my desk next to that ugly Dell.

But tonight I found something to brag about, so I figured I would at least put it in my blog so that maybe if my coworkers are browsing around and come across my blog, they will be a bit more educated about Macs and how great they are.

Apparently, the company that refurbished the old Star Wars movies used 600!!! PowerMac G5 computers to do all the editing and mastering and cleaning up of the old film copies of the original film versions!

So if you enjoy the new Star Wars DVDs at home, spare me the next morning of jokes about how my Mac is worthless, and we’ll just be friends and just get along.

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/feature/20040916/index.html

And to top it off, I saw another article about how they used Macs to bring several new films to life as well!

http://www.macworld.com/news/2004/09/20/dvd/index.php

Now that Jeanne is gone, I am happy again, and the weather is nice again!

As you can tell from the picture, the day after Jeanne (Monday) was beautiful!! The sun came out and it didn’t rain all day. I didn’t really go outside much, but it was a great day to go outside!

Headquarters lost power yesterday, so I stayed home today and played catch up on some things: financial support, sleeping, talking on Instant Messenger. Ha ha ha.

By the way, if you use AOL Instant Messenger you can feel free to send me a little message at ScottyP08. If you don’t use it, you should so head on over to http://www.aim.com and download it (for free), create a screen name, and THEN send me a message!

See ya around! Hopefully I will be back at work soon! I like my job!

After the mandatory curfew was lifted at 5pm last night (the day of the Hurricane) my roomates and I went out to survey the damage around eastern Orange county. The worst we saw was some lakes where there weren’t normally lakes (even though there are lakes everywhere around here anyway!)
and some trees down.

This is a picture of a fallen palm tree in front of the Waterford Lakes town center movie theater.

Nothing was open, so after driving around a little while, we returned home to eat some food and watch more TV.

The picture is of the lake in our backyard. The level of the lake is way up and the trees around it are being blown around by the powerful 80+ MPH wind gusts.

I am actually writing this in the middle of Hurricane Jeanne! It is 11 am on Sunday morning and I am sitting on the floor outside my room (where I slept last night). It is crazy here!

All night as I slept I could hear the wind buffeting the windows and howling in between buildings. I could hear the rain splatting against the windows and the metal top of our screened in porch. It was a little creepy.

That and the fact that I abandoned my room for the floor right outside the door made it a very strange night! I slept in the hall and moved all my furniture away from the windows, just in case something bad happened like the windows being blown in (and wind and rain going everywhere.)

There is a mandatory curfew until 5pm, so I won’t be going anywhere today, and hopefully, I will have power all day so I can continue to watch TV and surf the net while I wait out the storm! If you see me online (AIM: ScottyP08), let’s chat! I have nothing else to do!

Saturday night, before the storm hit. There were some incredible looking clouds moving. A set of low lying clouds were moving more quickly below some higher ones, and it was right at sunset, so it looked really awesome!

I feel like I went from the dryest place on earth to the wettest, both physically and spiritually.

What got me thinking about this is when I was talking on the phone to Leila tonight, I mentioned to her “There is so much life here!” and went on to describe the lizards in our back yard, the sea turtle in the pond behind our house, and the tropical birds I saw walking into the building from the parking lot at Crusade HQ yesterday!

In North Africa, it was so dry, there weren’t a ton of plants everywhere, and it didn’t rain much at all. And spiritually, the people were lost in their lies and had no idea who the Living Water is.

But here in Florida, there is life everywhere. There is so much water everywhere, it seems like things jut come to life! Also, there are Christians everywhere! I see more Jesus-fish on cars then I have ever seen! More beleivers work within 100 yards of me than exist in all of North Africa! I’m swimming in a sea of life here!

But strangely enough, I still feel thirsty. I still long for a more abundant life than I am experiencing. And it’s still a struggle, even though I live around people, who, I assume, are also pursuing the same exact thing!

Maybe Florida and North Africa aren’t so different, or maybe they are and it’s just me that hasn’t changed.

Well, this is going to be my first blog entry exposing my true nature, my hidden self, my real identity: the nerd.

My new roomates (John Boggs and Damien Brooks) recently got pretty excited about the new release of the Star Wars (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) DVD set. Never before released on DVD, this was an exciting day for big geeks like Boggsy and Damien! They celebrated all day by playing the new Star Wars video game that was released today along with the DVDs, and I celebrated with them by watching some of A New Hope (Part 4 of the 6 movie series) during dinner. It was great.

You might not think I am such a nerd at this point. But if you are still willing to read on, I will explain why I am such a nerd. I love my Macintosh computer! And every day, I get teased, ribbed, made fun of, whatever you want to call it, by all the PC weenies at work who don’t realize what they are missing out on, when I bring my beautiful Powerbook G4 into work and sit it at my desk next to that ugly Dell.

But tonight I found something to brag about, so I figured I would at least put it in my blog so that maybe if my coworkers are browsing around and come across my blog, they will be a bit more educated about Macs and how great they are.

Apparently, the company that refurbished the old Star Wars movies used 600!!! PowerMac G5 computers to do all the editing and mastering and cleaning up of the old film copies of the original film versions!

So if you enjoy the new Star Wars DVDs at home, spare me the next morning of jokes about how my Mac is worthless, and we’ll just be friends and just get along.

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/feature/20040916/index.html

And to top it off, I saw another article about how they used Macs to bring several new films to life as well!

http://www.macworld.com/news/2004/09/20/dvd/index.php

I am typing this from my hotel room at a Sleep Inn in Savannah, Georgia. I drove from my grandparents house on Lake Gaston in North Carolina this morning, and will stay the night here and drive to Orlando tomorrow morning.

The great thing about hotels these days is the high-speed, wireless Internet access! I am so glad I have a laptop!

It was an easy drive today, and I was on the road from about 9am to about 4pm with a few stops for stretching my legs, eating lunch, calling Leila to talk to her because TODAY is her BIRTHDAY!!

Well, that’s all for now. I’m gonna go chill by the pool, grab some food, watch TV, surf the Internet a little, or sleep!

Orlando or bust!

Yesterday Leila and I went to the Inner Harbor to celebrate her birthday (which is next Friday) . It was a great time!

The highlight of the date was our visit to the Aquarium to see tons of cool fishies! I can’t learn about all those fish without thinking about how God made them all so perfectly. They are able to swim and eat and hide in all the ways they need to to survive. I especially like some of the special fish like the rockfish (who actually looks like a rock on the bottom of the ocean) and the stickfish (who looks like some kind of stick or plant, not a fish) and the fish that only has one fin but swims just right by controlling the rippling motion down his one long fin that runs the length of his body!

It’s amazing! I don’t know how someone could spend an afternoon at a place like the aquarium and not beleive that God created the earth and everything in it! He did such a great job!

So while I thanked God and appreciated His creation of the fish, I was even more thankful that He made Leila so great and beautiful and perfect 23 years ago! That was something to celebrate and we had a great time doing it downtown in Baltimore!

Something that happened to Leila and I tonight helped me realize something pretty exciting!

We were hanging out with Jocie and Ethan, and after watching a movie together, we went for a walk around Ethan’s suburban development ( a fairly large one ) and walked for a long while. The whole time Jocie and Ethan were like 50 yards ahead of us, but we could mostly see them due to the street lights.

But at one point we looked up and realized that somehow they had gotten far enough ahead of us and it was dark enough on the street we were on that we couldn’t see them and didn’t know how far ahead of us they were! We had some idea of where we were, but because we had been following them the whole time, and because we aren’t familiar with the development (a rather large and complicated one) we weren’t sure exactly where they had gone. We were lost. (In suburban Maryland, nonetheless!)

We walked a bit further and took some guesses at a road to take (we found one that looked like a major road that would lead back to the central area where his townhouse is located) but that ended up taking us all the way around in a big circle, back to where we had originally lost them (or been left behind).

At one point along our big loop, I did stop a car to ask him if he could give us an idea of where we were, but he didn’t live in the development and had no idea where we might need to go. I didn’t have the heart to ring anyone’s doorbell to ask for directions (it was around midnight and all the houses looked dark) After the big circle back to a main highway though, we did have a little better idea of where to go (the long way back). So we just kept walking.

Eventually, Jocie and Ethan, who had made it back to Ethan’s house with no problem, came looking for us in Ethan’s car after waiting for us further up the road, and trying to call my cell phone to no avail. (We had left everything important or that might have been remotely helpful at the house: car keys with the keyring flashlight and cell phones, because I probably said to myself as we walked out the door “why do I need those things just to take a walk around the neighborhood??” )

Thankfully, our friends loved us enough to come seeking for us and bring us home in the car.

But as I was talking to Leila about this afterwards, it came to me that this situation very much reminds me of the human situation. We are all born lost and remain lost for some time in our life, and sadly some are never found. (although humanity is lost by its’ own choice, it wasn’t left behind, and it wasn’t an accident) Like us, humanity is lost and get itself found. Many of the other people around us (like the man in the car in our situation) are also “lost” or at least couldn’t lead us to the right path. And it’s dark, lonely, and a little bit scary.

Leila and I were so thankful to see the headlights of Ethan’s car pull up in the darkness and the friendly voices reaching to us from the car; greeting us and offering a nice ride home. Similarly, as a Christian, I should be so thankful that God, the light, loved me enough to passionately pursue me in the darkness and to rescue me from a situation I couldn’t get myself out of - my sinful, fallen, lost self. If Leila and I had kept walking around we would have eventually found our way I’m sure, but in this spiritual analogy, I believe, humans cannot find their way without God “pulling up in the Car of Grace to drive us down the Road of Salvation.”

If you haven’t thanked God recently for finding you in the darkness and bringing you out, just go ahead and do it right now with me! THANKS GOD!

1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ”

If you are still lost, pray and ask God to come find you and bring you home. Although Jocie and Ethan couldn’t hear us calling out for them because they were too far away, God is never too far away to hear you cry out to Him (He’s everywhere)! So go ahead. He wants to bring you home. He knows you are lost.

Psalm 107:4-9
“ Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.”

Well, because of Hurricanes Frances and Ivan, my departure for Florida is a bit delayed. I am staying for a bit longer until things look better down there. Maybe I will leave next Monday. Who knows?

While the rain and wind might be down in Florida, up here there is Hurricane Leila! I am liking Hurricane Leila. She’s making things exciting in my life right now!

But I am torn between being here and being there. I am excited to go and start working with the IT Team and doing some programming, but I am really enjoying spending time with Leila here in MD, and being together for a bit longer will be really nice. I hate to get so much joy out of a situation that many people are suffering through, but I’ll take it as a blessing from God.

It will be hard to be gone and away from her. Thankfully, I know God has a plan for us, and it is the best thing possible for both of us, even though it might not seem like it right now!

Well, big news in my life this week! I have a girlfriend! Her name is Leila! (pronounced “lee-la”)

When I came home this summer I didn’t plan on meeting a really wonderful girl who I like alot right before leaving for Florida! For the last 7 years, I have never had a serious relationship with any girl, and I have been on only a few dates, so this is something pretty new to me. But it is so exciting!

Although it is exciting and fun, it has also been challenging to me. I have learned that I am a very selfish person, by nature, and I have to fight that sinful nature and let the Spirit enable me to love her unselfishly! Let’s just say I do a lot of praying these days!

I am not sure where it’s going but I am ready for whatever God has for us! It’s going to be an exciting adventure!

Well, I’m leaving this week for Florida. And I couldn’t be more excited, and sad. Ha! You probably think I’m a bit insane.

Well the exciting part is this: God provided just about all my support in a little over 4 weeks! That is amazing! We are talking more than THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! (As of Monday night, I was at 98%) And I am ready to get down there and start working with Crusade as a programmer!

The sad part is this: I have to leave Maryland, where my family and all my new friends are. I have been blessed to gain some awesome new friends this summer — Ethan, Leila, Ted, and Andy, and get closer to some old ones, Jocie (my twin, of course), Aaron, Josh, Amy, Lori, Matt, and Melody! I am not happy about leaving them, although thankfully they are almost all a free phone call away ANYTIME thanks to the good people at Verizon.

Anyway, right now it looks like I will be leaving Friday, to get down there Sunday evening to relax for Labor Day on Monday and then start work on Tuesday!

God is so awesome! He provided for all my needs financially, and I know that even though it will be tough to leave my friends, He will continue to provide for ALL my needs in this way too this year!

I watched About A Boy last night, because I bought it this week, because Scott mentioned it in his sermon on Sunday, and I wanted to see it again. It was SO worth it!

Will, is the main character in the movie (played by Hugh Grant), and at the beginning describes himself as “an island” and describes how he really beleives his life is a whole lot better off without other people to complicate things. And how he fills his time up with meaningless things to keep himself busy and happy (he thinks). He does “nothing” and lives off the royalties of a hit Christmas song his dead father wrote.

But in the climactic scene near the end, which captures the heart of this story, Will has rushed to the school concert to stop Marcus (a 12 year old kid who he has unfortunately become attached to) from singing a solo (where he will be “committing social suicide”) because he has, to his own surprise, discovered that there is extreme joy to be found in making other people happy, not just trying to make yourself happy.

So while Will is trying to convince Marcus to not sing this potentially humiliating song for his own sake, this 12 year old boy challenges this 38 year old boy (and by the way, I’m not sure whether the title “About a Boy” is referring to Will or Marcus… maybe both, and that’s the idea) to think about someone other than himself, and resolves to sing it for his mom.

Here is the scene:

“My Mom wants me to sing it. It’ll make her happy.”

“Look Marcus. Mate, nothing you do can make your mom happy. Alright? I mean, not in the long term. She has to do that for herself. … What I’m saying is the important thing is to make yourself feel happy.”

“I’ve tried just making myself happy. She’s tried making herself happy. But it doesn’t work. You need other people to make you happy.”

“But that’s just it! If other people can make you happy, they can also make you unhappy. You think those people out there [the tough crowd of mocking students] are gonna make you happy?”

[And Marcus steps out onto the stage to sing]

After a short time, Will rescues Marcus from his classmates who had begun tearing Marcus to pieces for his loving but poor performance of “Killing Me Softly.” He steps on stage mid-way through the song with a guitar (even though he had claimed earlier in the movie he couldn’t play the fancy guitar he owned) to save the song, boost Marcus’ confidence and hush the booing crowd.

Will had learned a lot from his young friend. Who seemed to have been brought to him, unasked for, when he needed him most to learn something about life.

Just before the school concert scene I described above, Will had crashed. After failing to keep up a lie with his girlfriend, he comes to believe that his life of “doing nothing” meant that he was “nothing” and sees that for the most part his life was meaningless and worthless.

Here’s how he tells it:

“My life is made up of units of time. Buying a CD, 2 units. Eating lunch, 3 units. Exercising, 2 units. All in all, I had a very full life. It’s just that … it didn’t mean anything. The fact was, there was only one thing that meant something to me. Marcus. He was the only thing that meant something to me. And Fiona [Marcus’ mom] was the only thing that meant something to him, and she was about to fall off the edge.”

And so he ventures “off the island” to get Fiona and make sure she is not going to try to committ suicide again (the reason Marcus wants to sing is because Fiona told him earlier in the movie that when he sings it brings joy and happiness to her heart) And Will goes to bring Fiona to the school concert so that they can stop Marcus from singing, but ends up singing with him! He does something for someone else besides himself. He actually makes quite a fool of himself doing it too! But doesn’t seem to care, because helping Marcus brought him so much joy.

He closes the movie with this little monologue, showing his change of heart.

“Every man is an island. I stand by that. But, clearly, some men are part of island chains. Below the surface of the ocean, they’re actually connected.”

And later as he talks with Marcus about the future:

“I’d created a monster. Or maybe he’d created me.”

—–

Here are the main ideas I picked out that I really liked that I felt were being communicated in this story:

1. It shows that we end up more happy if we are committed to making each other happy instead of just ourselves.
2. It shows that a fuller, happier, more meaningful life is one that is lived in giving relationships with others, not alone.
3. It demonstrates that unselfish love is a powerful change agent in people’s lives. In this movie, it changed Marcus, Will, and Fiona in ways that they would have never changed without it.
4. It shows that true love and commitment to someone requires honesty and unselfishness and a willingness to risk being hurt in the hope of feeling loved by them.

—–

Here are my reflections on it:

We were created for relationship. And I believe that, while real, genuine relationship with others heals and changes us, it is only relationship with God, who created us and really knows us, that will change us and heal our wounds completely.

I think I am like Will in more ways than I care to admit. I like to think I’m an island sometimes, that I don’t need others, and that others don’t need me. And that I don’t need God, and that he doesn’t care about me. But I couldn’t be more wrong, and thankfully, just like Marcus in this story, who would come over to Will’s place uninvited all the time, God comes over to my place every day, even though often I don’t invite him. Thankfully, God is not an insecure kid looking for someone to give him some approval and encouragement. He is a loving friend who knows exactly what I need and is ready to provide for my every need!

The question is, why don’t I invite him over more often?

And if you have no relationship with God, why don’t you invite Him in? He wants to know you. He wants to show you the kind of relationship and love that will really heal and change you.

The chapter I read in Blue Like Jazz today was titled “Problems: What I learned on TV” Don goes into how he got a TV and started watching a news magazine program, Nightline. The special on the problems in the Congo gets him thinking about things.

He recounts a revealing conversation he has with his buddy, Tony the Beat Poet. (that’s what he calls him… kinda funny)

“It’s terrible,” I told him. “Two and half million people, dead. In one village they interviewed about fifty or so women. All of them had been raped, most of them numerous times.”
Tony shook his head. “That is amazing. It is so difficult to even process how things like that can happen.”
“I know. I can’t get my mind around it. I keep wondering how people could do things like that.”

[… and then he asks Don the tough question:]

“Do you think you could do something like that, Don?” Tony looked at me pretty seriously. I honestly couldn’t believe he was asking the question.

Don goes on to tell about how he came to grips with the idea that yes, he could do something like that. He is capable of murder, or rape, because he, like you and me, have a sinful nature, that doesn’t want to do good naturally. He struggles over the idea as he joins his friend Andrew the Protestor to protest the president over his support of World Bank and international affairs. He comes to the conclusion that,

“The problem is not a certain type of legislation or even a certain politician; the problem is the same that it has always been. I am the problem.”

He says at the end of the chapter,

“I think Jesus feels strongly about communicating the idea of our brokenness, and I think it is worth reflection. Nothing is going to change in the Congo until you and I figure out what is wrong with the person in the mirror.”

My point was not to try to perfectly recount everything Don said in this chapter but to just get a glimpse of how Don came to reflect on and understand the problem of sin inside himself and saw his brokenness. I thought I would just take this space in the blog to reflect on that. As Don said, it’s worth reflecting on, that’s for sure!

I too feel like Don, I can see the problem inside me, sin. Sin is what is destroying this world. Sin is what brought terrorism, murder, and rape. Thankfully there is one thing that makes me different from the people committing the atrocities in the Congo. I have Jesus living in my heart, bringing life, love, faith, and goodness where sin had previously reigned in anger, hatred, and evil. But it does scare me to think that I am capable of those other things. At any time I could commit one of any number of heinous crimes/sins. It is only love that motivates me to do good. Just like as Don says we have to train children do know right and wrong and do what’s right, I need to be trained by God’s love to do what is good in His sight.

A verse I studied this year with my team in North Africa comes to mind:

Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

I pray that God would train me in grace to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age!

So I have been watching as much of the Olympics as I can lately. I have seen some really exciting stuff. First off is the men’s gymnastics individual all-around competition. Paul Hamm is my freakin hero. If you didn’t see it, he messed up on his vault (the 4th of 6 events). I don’t know if you have watched any gymnastics lately but, you know how the commentators are always like “Well Tina, this one is really important for him tonight. He really needs to stick this landing in order to be in medal contention… blah blah blah.. one step will cost him a tenth of a point in a competition where a thousandth could make the difference… blah blah blah” Well he did WAY MORE THAN TAKE A STEP!!! When he landed after flying through the air and performing several difficult and amazing looking flips and twists, his feet hit the ground and he fell sideways, stepping over the white line, falling off the elevated landing platform in front of the vault, and fell on his butt in front of the judges table. One of the judges actually stuck his hand out to help break his fall.

Well anyway, he was obviously distraught after the vault that scored him a 9.0 “I thought, `That’s it. I’m done,”’ he said. (from SI article above) I mean who wouldn’t have counted him out????

But like a champ, he got back up and gave his best performances of his life on the final two events. He came back to win the gold because of his great scores and the mistakes of his competitors.

This is what he said afterwards: “I’m happy right now. Shocked, actually,” said Hamm, the first American man to win the Olympic all-around. “To be in first place after that kind of mistake, I thought there was no chance to win.” (from SI article)

The way I see it, you and me aren’t all that different from Paul Hamm. We all made a huge mistake in life, and we probably thought that there was no hope, no chance to win. Well thankfully, our judge is a perfectly loving one, and let us pull an unheard-of-substitution, and let another man perform in our place. And thankfully he scored a perfect 10.0 on our behalf.

I’m talking about Jesus. He stepped in when we had no chance to win, and won the gold for us. Earning for us more than a place on the top of the podium, but a place next to the throne of God! Because I trust Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins, I can say like Paul Hamm after winning the gold medal “I’m happy right now. Shocked actually.”

Ephesians 2:4-10 - “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. ”

Incomparable Riches…. are much MUCH better than a gold medal!!! Thanks God!

In the first chapter of Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller describes his childhood story, and how he came to feel and understand guilt .. the beginnings of understanding God and knowing Him.

Here’s a little bit of what he says:

“All of this gave way to my first encounter with guilt, which is still something entirely inscrutable to me, as if aliens were sending transmissions from another planet, telling me there is a right and wrong in the universe. … My life had become something to hide; there were secrets in it. My thoughts were private thoughts, my lies were barriers that protected my thoughts, my sharp tongue a weapon to protect the ugly me.”

I feel like I can really relate to his thoughts on guilt. As a kid I was exactly the same way (although I didn’t have the guts to lie) I remember feeling guilt and using my attitude and tongue to hide the person I saw and didn’t like because I felt guilty about my sins.

I think I still do it, and I need to watch out for it. I think especially sometimes with my family, because I don’t always have complete confidence that they will accept me and love me no matter what, I don’t want them to see the ugly me, so I act unkind or defensive. (But ironically, this is ALSO the ugly me!) I really need to understand God’s grace and take the leap of faith to speak lovingly to my family and open up to them even when guilt is trying to make me feel bad. I think this is a trick of Satan. He tries to use guilt to get me to abandon loving community with people.

I am ugly sometimes, but that is not the real me. The real me is forgiven, cleansed, and made beautiful in Jesus. I want them to see the real me.

Blue Like Grace is more like it!

So I got a new book yesterday. I’m really looking forward to reading it. It’s called “Blue Like Jazz” and the author’s name is Donald Miller. I have heard really good things about it from my Missions Pastor, Scott Simmons. It seems like it will teach me things through the use of stories and the author’s reflections on the little things that happen in his life. I’ll try to share some little bits from it as I read it! Maybe you will end up picking it up and reading it!

I guess it’s a little bit like my blog here. I hope that you appreciate the things I learn through life and can grow with me!

Today I slept in because that’s my job. Sleep by day, make phone calls and watch movies by night. HA HA Just kidding, although I am rarely up before 11.

I think I need to pray more because it is really hard for me to believe that God can and will provide another 50% of my support in 2 WEEKS! I know it will happen! But it’s so hard to convince myself sometimes.

Today I watched the newest Adam Sandler movie “50 First Dates”. In this funny but meaningful movie, Lucy, played by Drew Barrymore has lost her short term memory and similar to the characters in “Groundhog Day” or “Memento”, she replays the same day over and over again.

The really interesting thing is when she sees how powerful the love of Henry (Adam Sandler’s character) is. She is blown away by how committed he is to “Making her fall in love with him every day, ” even though he knows she won’t even know who he is the next day.

I kind of see myself as being like “Forgetful Lucy” (as Henry calls her in a sweet made-up love song he sings to her) when it comes to my relationship with God. I think that a lot of times I wake up in the morning and forget all about the things that God has done in my life to make me fall in love with Him. It’s pretty sad, but so awesome that God, like Henry in this movie, is committed to doing it over and over again each day.

I think it’s really great the way that Henry chooses to go about dealing with her problem. Instead of lying to her and playing along with her delusions (like her father and brother have been doing for the past year) he makes a tape (“Good morning Lucy”) for her to watch each day immediately after she wakes up , to tell her the story of her life and remind her who she is and who is important to her. She “renews her mind” each morning with the truth that Henry loves her and that even though she does not remember anything from the last year, it’s OK and it will be a great day.

I think maybe I need a “Good morning Scott” tape from the Lord each day so I don’t so easily forget who I am and who He is. Because just like Lucy the first day after meeting Henry, rejected him and didn’t want anything to do with him (even though they had a great time the day before at breakfast) I often reject God just days, hours, minutes after I am enjoying the greatest times with Him. It’s so pitiful.

But thankfully Lamentations 3:21-24 is true:

This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

I am so thankful that God never gives up on me and that like Henry, a full and happy life is only the one where He is with me each day. Would I say the same thing: that the only full and happy life for me is the one spent in daily relationship with God!

I guess I would say I really liked 50 First Dates. See it for fun, and if you want, consider the deeper truths that shine through this fun story.

Well, I finally decided to get into this whole BLOG thing. I haven’t done it before, but I know enough to know that everyone and their mother seems to have one, so here goes! I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts and ideas! Come back often!