Why not to read while walking, Reason #47

Today I was on my lunch and I was reading while walking. I stopped by the rest room and when I looked up I noticed something was different in the layout - I thought there was only 1 stall in the restroom, not two. Then someone came out of the stall behind me and I realized...

I had walked into the ladies restroom. And I wasn't there alone.

Don't read while walking. It's just not safe.

Dave's post about the Zune vs. the iPod reminded me of the big doubt I have about Microsoft's future.

Severe lack of creativity.

It seems that Microsoft takes an idea that someone else came up with and they do it 100 times bigger: someone invents a tennis racket, they build a tennis racket that is as big as San Antonio.

From the Start bar to Internet Explorer, to the new Zune.

Really? The best thing they can add to the mp3 player makert is an iPod with a bigger screen?

I wonder if this will eventually lead to the downfall of Microsoft. Internet Explorer only exists because Netscape did first, so they took Netscapes ideas, bundled it with windows so that everyone who owned a Windows computer had to use it, and so Netscape went down.

Mozilla, Apple, and Google are all creating better products and programs than Microsoft... and Microsoft isn't catching up fast enough to clobber these companies as it has in the past, and they're just not creative or innovative - Microsoft is nothing new, only they same thing done... and just not quite as good.

There's a certain feeling you have on a cold cloudy rainy day. Even when you're in a room with no windows you feel it. The light is different. The air feels different. Somehow you know the sky above you is dreary, and you can feel it's emotion in your soul. Perhaps this is some mystical connection we have with the planet. Perhaps this is just the instinct that makes us know rain is coming so we can prepare for it as our minds interpret changes in atmospheric perssure and temperature, and certain effects of the light.

As bees start gobbling up honey in their hives to save it from the fire when they smell smoke, when we feel the rainy day on it's way, we curl up under a blanket, put on a pot of tea and maybe have a fire or get together and read books or play games to weather the glomminess.

It is such a day here today. the light feels somehow dimmer, the temperature slightly cooler, I'm tired, and I'd rather be relaxing with friends playing a board game or curled up at home with a book. The natural light seems nearly completely gone as just the electric lights are illuminating me. Worse, I'm out of tea, so my teapot isn't doing much good for me.

I looked out the window and the sky is shining, the weather is clear, and I remember that this is all just what life is like in a grey, windowless cubicle.

My camera was fixed. The lens opened and closed and I could take pictures. I took a few pictures yesterday afternoon, then when I tried to turn the camera off, the lens jammed again.

Olymus must have read my blog that I found the secret to fixing their cameras, and sent out a camera gnome to break my camera again.

I guess I will have to get it repaired - I fixed it before by banging it on my desk, but no matter how many times I hit the camera from various angles yesterday, it still didn't fix itself.

I've been reading "An Unstoppable Force" by Erwin McMannis. I've been underlining a lot and am going to read through it again. I wonder if we should do some sort of discussion group or study on this among the leaders of the group I volulteer with. Today this really stood out to me.

Erwin was writing about how the gospel is a message of hope and faith and we so often just get stuck on telling people how aweful they are and how horrible they are. We neglect to talk about how we are also messed up, and don't always seem to get to any hope. He writes:

"Many times we mis-apply our prophetic gifts, and instead of preaching to the church the message of repentance and change, we turn it outward to the audience that needs to hear that God offers them forgiveness and healing."

(Chapter 7: Spirit Design Theory, p181)

So I fixed my camera tonight. The lens was stuck out and would kind of grind when I tried to turn it on or off.

The secret? Banging it against my desk a little bit.

The camera is great, but it would be even better if on the side it said "bang here if camera breaks."

I often listen to talk radio when I'm driving, and occasionally at home. I appreciate hearing alternate viewpoints on the news, and enjoy some of the professors and others who host shows. The excessively short playlists on most music stations probably dulls the mind - nevermind the inaneness of most popular music.

I do flip back and forth between channels, and have observed a few things:

On Air America, aka Progressive Talk in Boulder: On my drive in in the morning, there's a guy yelling about how Christians control the republican party - the extreme religious right wing fundamentalist party (as oppposed tot he party of everyone else), and how everything they do is about hate - if they're not hating gays, its blacks, if they're not hating blacks it's hispanics.

Those Chritians are always hating, and that is what the republican party is about.

In the afternoon there's a show in which the host - in her rather whiny voice - is running a show that is just Bush blaming and Republican bashing.

The shared characteristic is that both hosts will make crazy accusations against Christians, the president, and the republican party, but will follow it up with "is it possible? I don't know. I'll let you decide. Call in with your thoughts." - or a caller will call in and bash one of these feared/hated groups, and the host will let them go on and on, even if they are not making any sense, or are saying things that are untrue - if they are bashing non-liberals, they get as much air time as they need, and they rarely, if ever, correct someone. Usually if they know it isn't true, they let them keep going, and then just say "thanks for the call." When callers do disagree, and actually have a valid argument, they will talk over them, hang up on them, or start playing sound clips to make Bush, or others they are talking about sound bad.

There are times when things like this happen on the other talk radio stations - there are two rather conservative channels, both run by KNUS, and another that seems to go back and forth - I think the guy I hear on that channel is a conservative democrat. Some show hosts seem to be campaigning for republican candidates, and some yell about how both parties are just two parties of crooks, and there's not much difference between the two.

But even the one that seems to be doing the campaigning has his own disagreements with the right-wing party - and I have heard over and over, when someone makes a crazy accusation against "the Libs" or some liberal leader, if it isn't something that is documented, or received by the host directly from the source, the host says that they've never heard that and they think it's an urban myth, or a misquote, and until they see the documentation behind it, they will not put that forth on their show.

My understanding is that Air America has been financed since the beginning by the Democrat party, moveon.org and other democrat party sponsors - and the way they host their shows is parallel to the campaigning most seen from the left-wing party - insult the other party to no end, and when disagreement arises, begin insulting or just cut off the dissenter. I think this is a shame, because there is a lot wrong with the Republican party, but no one will ever know if there is actually anything right with the Democrat party, because they only talk poorly about their opponents, and offer nothing substantive themselves.

There's a local candidate being called by the other campaign "Both ways Bob" as they say he has flip-flopped on issues. But there is no positive campaigning for his opponent - no one knows who is putting the signs and ads out. Fine, maybe Bob has flip-flopped on issues.. but at least he's done something with issues... We don't even know anything about his opponent, why should we think (s)he would be better?

I think the Kerry campaign was an experiment to see if the public would vote for one guy who didn't stand for anything other than not being the other guy. The removal of substance, issues, and platform in democracy - the change from convincing the public of your quality to smearing your opponent. The experiment failed, and the president who had put us into war in Iraq won the election.

Yet this still seams the strategy - don't tell anyone what you stand for, just talk about how horrible your opponent is and remind peope that you, like 6 billion other people on the planet, are at least not the other guy.

Dear Entertainment Tonight:

Late Monday night, the news broke that the Australian Crocodile Hunter had died. I didn't believe it at first, because it all reminded me of when I read that Bill Nye the Science Guy died in The Onion, which is a satirical newspaper.

When I went to the gym yesterday, Entertainment Tonight (E.T.) was on one of the TVs near the eliptical machine I used, and they had a photo of the Crocodile Hunter, with closed captioning something like:

...PAY ATTENTION, YOU'RE ACTUALLY WATCHING A PERSON DIE HERE.

I was disgusted. Yes, of course it was tempting to watch, but I couldn't - it reminded me so much of the colliseum, where prisoners and people who disagreed with emporer-worship were thrown to lions to be torn apart, with the crowds cheering because they were actually watching people die - for entertainment. This of course, helped encourage the worst of people, and was a significtant factor in the degradation of the people of Rome.

I understand you only do this for ratings - and that's not so bad, right?

I mean, what if they could get several people on film getting killed. What if they could have a daily special on E.T. or the evening news of someone being shot to death, or being torn to pieces by an animal? That would be great for ratings.

It's sick because it is the presentation of someone else's death as a form of entertainment. We get a thrill out of watching people die. On film in violent movies, at least it is pretend. At least you know they're actors, with fake blood packets, and special effects.

Watching footage of trageties like the world trade center or earthquakes or the tsunamis are difficult to watch because of the magnitude, and the loss, death, and tragedy that is ensured by these unfortunate events - but that would be different from the camera zooming in on a person being killed, and that marketed as entertainment, or being featured as exclusive footage to where you can acutally watch someone being killed right before your eyes.

But what E.T. did was different and worse. Enjoying watching someone else be killed - is definately part of the dark and twisted side of our humanity, and it is shameful for E.T. and the other programs showing the footage to be attempting to cash-in off the depavity of people, and encouraging people to be entertained tonight by watching someone be killed before their eyes on your show.

I will not be tuning in to E.T. in the future; I'm not interested in being a member of the crowd, being entertained by watching the death of others.

I've been told that many companies work with manufacturers, to ensure that gadgets (or any product for that matter), be built to breat after a certain amount of time. My digital camera, like the one above, wasn't the best, bit it was really great for taking quality photos from what is basically a point-and-shoot digital camera.

I didn't really think anything of it until I started borrowing a friend's digital camera this week; the lighting the the color vary so differently in shots taken seconds from each other. My camera was, or at least seemed to be to the non-photographer, completely consistant with focus and light and color.

It cost me hundreds of dollars 5 or 6 years ago at Comp USA, and now I'm thinking that the repair cost would likely buy an equal or better camera today. I'll check at Comp USA and see what they say- the warantee I bought for it ran out years ago, but they may still be able to send it in for repair.

Anyone know of any places that do digital camera repair?

sidenote: So my attempt to use blogging as motivation to write letters didn't work. I haven't written since Starbucks, and they never wrote back. Instead of encouraging me to write more letters, it resulted in me just never posting to my blog.

I'm currently looking for cubical gear - I can't really stand working in a cubicle - and my cubicle is right at the entrance to the office, so everyone who walks in is looking right into my cubicle, and over my shoulder.

I disagree with at least part of the premise of a cubicle - that workers will be more efficient and work harder if they are never allowed to see or hear or interact with their co-workers. Who thought it was a good idea to have a team of people who were unable to work together because walls were between them. I'm imagining what a football team would be like if they players couldn't see each other. The game wouldn't work too well.

From cubicle warfare weapons (potato pellet gun, and mini catapults) at http://www.x-tremegeek.com/, to Feaux window frames (I had the idea, didn't know people actually made them just for cubicles), to lamps and magnets, I will turn my cubicle to something other than the sterile efficiency that it is now.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Dear Starbucks,

I'm writing to let you know that every time I hear the announcement that I'm listening to Starbucks music and I should subscribe to satellite radio, it makes me far less inclined to come back to Starbucks, and take my business to other places whether coffee competitors, bagel-type stores, or whoever can manufacture the atmosphere I once enjoyed in your stores.

I began enjoying Starbucks stores when I lived in downtown Chicago, during the 4 years attaining my bachelor's degree. Becoming a Starbucks junky is easy in downtown Chicago, as the stores are open late if not 24/7, and there are always 7 within walking distance, from any point in the city.

I don't go to Starbucks for the coffee - I don't like the flavor or aroma of coffee. I got to Starbucks primarily for the atmosphere.

The colors, the art, the furniture, the music.

All undoubtedly crafted by Starbucks' corporate and marketing gurus to addict even people like me who don't have an addiction to the Starbucks-branded acidic caffination. And it worked. I've been addicted. I know it is a marketing scheme, but it is one that has created an atmosphere where I can meet with friends and the students that I mentor, and is a great atmosphere for mini-dates with my wife; great for a break from the office, great for reading a book or studying.

I choose Starbucks because the atmosphere compensated for the presence of coffee, and lack of any good choice of teas. Starbucks has created a sense of elegence and class, even though underneath it's a fast-food chain for coffee and snacks. It felt good to be in Starbucks, it felt like I could lease an experience of class for just a few dollars and for putting up with a bland cup of tea. But the atmosphere was far worth it.

Then a year ago, maybe more, the music changed. I began to hear something like "This music has been brought to you by hear music, the music of Starbucks. Tune in to channel 53 on XM Sattelite radio for hear music," after every few songs.

I couldn't believe it when I first heard it, and it bothers me still. The pseudo class of Starbucks has dwindled into K-Mart's "Blue light special" being announced over the intercom, or the feeling of 25 pieces of "flair" advertising in Office Space.

Prior to this change, different Starbucks had different music, which allowed for slightly different personalities in Starbucks, which I loved. Now, I feel like I'm in K-Mart or Wal-Mart, being told I'm listening to Starbucks music, and that I should subscribe to sattelite radio.

I didn't go to Starbucks for the coffee. I went primarily for the atmosphere. But that has gone, and been replaced with cheap marketing.

The atmostphere was all that got me in the door, and it was something Starbucks did extemely well. Now that atmosphere has been replaced, by a cheap sales pitch every few minutes over the intercom Starbucks co-opted from K-mart.

Most blogs out there are boring. Have you ever surfed blogs? Usually the surfing ends quickly because there is just nothing of substance, and you've got millions of people just putting their little blurb online for the world to see. And I realize there's been no real theme to my blog, or purpose... other than... well.. me, writing what I think deserves to be read.

So, I'm going to try to change it up a bit.

I've always had trouble writing letters. No, not the symbols we use to make up words, the notes to people. From thank you notes to letters to the president I've been told will make me holy if I write them, I've never really written.

Sometimes I think, "This experience is aweful! I'm going to write a letter to Starbucks' corporate office," or "Wow, that was great. That guy deserves a raise or a promotion! I should write his boss a note," or "I'm going to write a letter to a professor I had at college and thank him for his teaching."

And I never write these letters.

So now I'm combining my blogging and letter writing efforts, and I will write the letters, and I will send them, and I will post them to my blog - with as little information excepted from the letters as possible. Anonymity is still of great and perhaps increasing value in this world.

On to the letters!

I thought that when I stopped losing as much sleep, and stopped spending so much time stressing out about my job at home that I had gotten over the stress from working here. But it wasn't true. I've been without energy, more socially withdrawn, and discouraged.

Thanks to my friends and my God, I've lasted... but I'm so glad to see that countdown timer.

I heard this yesterday from Larry Crabb, guest speaking to a group at my local church. For some reason I find it very refreshing when people say things like this. When someone you respect says something you would normally disagree with, it suddenly becomes much more reasonable.

Jesus isn't very good at answering questions. He was talking about the passage where Jesus curses the fig tree, and then talks about moving mountains and praying for anything you want. Jesus saw a fig tree with leaves before fig season.

He walks up to it with his disciples, there's no figs (remember.. it's before fig season), and he starts yelling and cursing at the tree! Doesn't really seem characteristic of the messiah. The disciples ask him about this, and Jesus says "Not only can you do this" -- well... Jesus... I didn't really want to go around cursing fig trees... "but you can say to that mountain 'move' and it will!"

We've gotten so used to the sayings of Jesus, we miss the fact that what Jesus says is hard to understand.

It's confusing.

People who were with Jesus walked away from him because what he taught was so confusing, and difficult to accept. Jesus was extreme - "If you do not eat my body and drink my blood, you cannot follow me", "If anyone does not hate his father and his mother...".

What Jesus said is confusing. It's supposed to be. If you're really interested, you'll try to figure out what in the world he's talking about - that's seeking Jesus. Those who aren't really interested will just gloss over what he says, and ignore the difficulties and seeming contradictions in what he says.

I have a co-worker who recently began to start a life of follow Jesus - she has no church background. For her, everything is new. What in the world is Jesus talking about when he says "Feed my sheep" or "Fig trees don't grow thistles"? My co-worker has said that she has sometimes wished that Jesus didn't always talk in parables.

But what happens next is amazing. She wonders - why is Jesus talking about feeding sheep? But she really wants to know! And she figures it out, and then it just begins to make sense. It's incredibly refreshing and a huge reminder to me that I need to be walking this same journey when I read what Jesus said.

As Larry Crabb pointed out, he's in his 60s, and feels like he's just beginning to understand prayer - the topic about which he was speaking. There is always this crazy mystery in what Jesus says, and we get to figure it out.

Have you ever been telling a story or a joke and someone else interrupts and says the conclusion or the punch-line? It totally deflates the delivery: the suspense, the curiosity, and the drama that you feel and are trying to share.

For many Christians, their faith is just a sequence of story spoilers.

In my house, we're really sucked into Lost, the ABC television show. People discuss the story online, and some people have information about plot spoilers. The real fans will avoid any plot spoilers because they want to enjoy the ride of the story.

For so many of us, we don't even remember that there is suspense in the story of Jesus and what he teaches, and all we do is read and live the spoilers.

I just read this article, published today in Brittain's Daily Mail, about how this British mother finds her children excruciatingly boring. Here's an excerpt:

The lies started when my eldest son was less than ten months old.

Invitations to attend a child's birthday party or, worse, a singalong session were met with the same refrain: 'I would love to but I just can't spare the time.'

The nanny was dispatched in my place, and almost always returned complaining that my son had been singled out for pitiful stares by the other mothers.

I confess that I was probably ogling the merchandise at Harvey Nichols or having my highlights done instead. Of course I love my children as much as any mother, but the truth is I found such events so boring that I made up any excuse.

I wrote a response, but it hasn' t been added to the article yet. Basically, I said:

Finally, we have evolved in human development whence we can again justify ignoring our family and loved ones if we find them boring or inconvenient.

Finally, we can choose hair highlights and text messaging rather than reading to our children or taking them to the park.

Finally, we can cast off the burden of our loved ones if they become the least inconvenience.

Cheers! How much energy could have been saved if people didn't sacrifice for each other! How much drama could have been avoided if people stopped rescuing kids from being hit by cars - that isn't convenient at all! How much time could be saved if we could persue hobbies rather than care for each other!

Finally, our selfishness has been recognized, gratified, and idolized. Those who argue against are obviously out-dated, out-numbered, and out-performed by these psuedo mothers who don't want to deal with their kids.

I had a conversation with my wife last night about the public-ness of blogging, and how it's weird to post stuff out there for the world to see.

So I think I'll anonymize my blog - I'm thinking about Frank the Brazilian, living in Dallas.

But then I found a website, which will supply you with a Brazilian name. My name is now, Greio the Brazilian.

What do you think?

It's going to be very different when I'm no longer working where I work now, because I tend to juggle all kinds of things around the office, from tech support to paying bills, staff management, problem patients, etc.

A lot of this is supposed to be the responsibility of the office manager, but she is new and hasn't picked it all up yet...

I'm so glad I'm not going to be here after I'm gone.

Ok, so the secret agent template wasn't working for firefox. I've looked around for other pre-made blog templates that look good, and haven't run into much luck. I'll be designing my own. Sorry it's boring in the mean-time.

What a relief. I put in notice today.

I've wanted to move overseas for a very long time. When I was in college I thought I'd be overseas within 3 years of graduating. During these years we've spent a lot of time talking and praying about what we're supposed to do. We never had peace when we raced in the direction of moving overseas, btu didn't think we should have peace if we were doing anything else.

There are a few people who are extremely supportive of us, with the primary emphasis being on seeking God and doing what he wants. But the vast majority of people, from relatives to pastors have no concern about us seeking God's will for our lives. They just want us to race overseas.

We have finally gotten to a place of peace where we are so incredibly confident that we we're involved in is what God wants us to be involved in, and we have all kinds of people who just keep pressuring us to do something different.

I still think we'll be overseas in the future. I don't question that. But it's not now. And it isn't supposed to be.

I think it boils down to people just not caring. The problem is that these people who just don't care about us, are the ones who are supposed to care the most. Family. Pastors. Anyone who has taken the time to get to know us in the last six or seven years is incredibly supportive of what we are doing for our jobs, our voluteering, our growing together as a family.

It's just incredibly insulting and discouraging to be told how much we suck because we're not in a certain part of the world

My brother sent me a link to an online political survey. I just took it, here are my results. I was somewhat surprised.

You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test

Every once in a while I find it hard to pray for someone. The only scriptures that come to mind are imprecatory Psalms - you know, the kind like "Stop my enemies, kill them in the night, and don't let their children see the light of day" type Psalms.

Yes, Jesus says we are to pray for our enemies. At the time he was talking about Roman soldiers who would persecute or even torture and kill people. My body isn't being torn apart, yet I still find this hard to do.

A friend said to me the other day, "That just seems like the typical Catholic - he talks about his faith so much until it actually matters."

"Typical."

This friend had correctly diagnosed this person- who crosses himself, talks about prayer, faith and fidelidy; all while leading a very immoral life, and breaking every moral standard he so proudly proclaims that others should be living by.

I have to admit, there was once a time, a few months ago, I was eating lunch in the same room as a person like this, and when he crossed himself before he ate it made me feel sick. I thought to myself, "I can't stand Christians."

As someone who tries to follow Jesus, I understand that's a silly thing to think. But that's what I thought, for a good 30 seconds or so. I was getting really ticked off at how Christians flaunt their faith and act more immoral than most people.

This was a big step for me. I've always thought it silly that someone would write-off Jesus because of one bad experience they had, or one significant hypocrite in their lives. But it's amazing when someone so tarnishes the reputation of a belief system, how much that sticks with you.

I now understand why people who gets cut-off on the highway by someone with a fish on their car may not be able "to stand Christians."

So I think about myself, and what people must think that typical followers of Jesus are like after watching me.

Jesus in a cape: A short look into Superman as the American mythical.


They can be a great people, . They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all -- their capacity for good -- I have sent them you... ...my only son.

Myth: A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society(answers.com)

A myth can be true, exaggerated, inaccurate or purely fiction. But even if a myth is not a true story, it is a story about truth. A myth is a story about what is good and right and true.

Superman is, in many ways, the Super super-hero or American heroes. The story of Superman is an amazing myth, and as myths tend to, typifies the culture in which the story originates. So I started to think of the super-hero of time, at minimum as everyone will agree on in myth, but the story of Jesus of Nazareth was not a comic book story. It is a story grounded in the truth of history.

	Jesus	Superman
Super Powers	Healing, mind reading, defying death	Flight, speed, x-ray vision, defying death
Descends to earth as baby	Virgin birth, adopted by Joseph	Crashed in space-ship, adopted by Kents
Only Son	Of Y-W-H, the God of Israel	Of Jor-El his father, a leader on Krypton (Jor-El may mean "Fed/awe of God")
Sent by father	•	•
Chosen to redeem earth	Through his dealth	through his life
Hebrew Name	Jesus/Yeshua, meaning Savior/Deliverer	Kal-El,קל-אל - "voice of God." (wikipedia.com)

Of course there are many differences as well. Kal-El masqueredes as a clumsy cowardly Clark Kent; chases a woman; tries to lead a normal life. Kal-El's mission was to save the world with his life, Jesus with his death.

Many of these differences are very American. Here is an excerpt of an essay I found online, which I find insightful:

I'm suggesting that Superman raises the American immigrant experience to the level of religious myth. And why not? He's not just some immigrant from across the waters like all our ancestors, but a real alien, an extraterrestrial, a visitor from heaven if you will, which fact lends an element of the supernatural to the myth. America has no national religious icons nor any pilgrimage shrines. The idea of a patron saint is ludicrous in a nation whose Founding Fathers wrote into the founding documents the fundamental if not eternal separation of church and state. America, though, is pretty much as religious as other industrialized countries. It's just that our tradition of religious diversity precludes the nation's religious character from being embodied in objects or persons recognizably religious, for such are immediately identified by their attachment to specific sectarian traditions and thus contradict the eclecticism of the American religious spirit.

In America, cultural icons that manage to tap the national religious spirit are of necessity secular on the surface and sufficiently generalized to incorporate the diversity of American religious traditions. Superman doesn't have to be seen as an angel to be appreciated, but in the absence of a tradition of national religious iconography, he can serve as a safe, nonsectarian focus for essentially religious sentiments, particularly among the young.

In the last analysis, Superman is like nothing so much as an American boy's fantasy of a messiah. He is the male, heroic match for the Statue of Liberty, come like an immigrant from heaven to deliver humankind by sacrificing himself in the service of others. He protects the weak and defends truth and justice and all the other moral virtues inherent in the Judeo-Christian tradition, remaining ever vigilant and ever chaste. What purer or stronger vision could there possibly be for a child? Now that I put my mind to it, I see that John Wayne never had a chance. (http://cc.ysu.edu/~satingle/gary_engle.htm)

Superman is Jesus in a cape - Jesus the way American culture would have invented him. Strong and burly he gets the girl, saves the planet, and escapes healthy and whole.

I've loved the character of Superman since I was a kid, and I think it's because, despite the very American additions/subtractions, Superman reminds me of Jesus. And, as invented or exaggerated myths are created to point to something truer, this makes even more sense. Superman was created to remind us of the ultimate truth.

(Interesting link I found after originally posting this blog, an AP story titled "Superman as Christ figure.")

Jacob, Moses, Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, Jonah, Job... and others... the list goes on, really.

Prophets who didn't like what God was doing to them, putting them through, or asking them to do.

I think about these stories and about how these people of the God of Israel were upset with him to the point of arguing, yelling, screaming, fighting with him, even running away. They still did what he wanted them to do. But they didn't like it.

I suppose I'm in good company. Sometimes your job sucks. Sometimes your plans that were formed in good faith completely fail. Sometimes life sucks. And sometimes that's exactly how God has it.

Reminds me of a Switchfoot song:

I wish I had what I need
To be on my own
'Cause I feel so defeated
And I'm feeling alone

And it all seems so helpless
And I have no plans
I'm a plane in the sunset
With nowhere to land

And all I see
It could never make me happy
And all my sand castles
Spend their time collapsing

Let me know that You hear me
Let me know Your touch
Let me know that You love me
Let that be enough

It's my birthday tomorrow
No one here could now
I was born this Thursday
22 years ago

And I feel stuck
Watching history repeating
Yeah, who am I?
Just a kid who knows he's needy

Let me know that You hear me
Let me know Your touch
Let me know that You love me
And let that be enough

Beta used to mean that a program was still in testing and wasn't really ready for use, unless you were prepared to have your computer randomly crash or all your data be deleted for no reason.

Google has nearly rendered the term meaningless. Over and over Google has come out with "beta" products, and kept them in "beta" stage for a very long time after they have millions of users.

I've been using Google Spreadsheets, and it's a neat spreadsheet, and is sharable, which is nice, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles. Google does that a lot. They do one thing and they do it well
before they move on to anything else. They do it so well, their "beta" version is as good as everyone else's "1.0" version.

Google.com search is rediculously simple. No bells, no whistles until recently with Google's customizable homepage. Then Gmail, years later. Now they're able to come out with more, but there is no awful, unfriendly, or unsuable Google program out there. They do it well before they move on.

I think this is a great principle for business. I work in a doctor's office, with a holistic doctor - he wants to do everything. But what if we started off doing one thing well, like... urgent office visits, then moved on to .... physicals, then moved to horemone balancing.. etc. Getting things down, making it perfect (or close), then moving on.

When I think about business and ministry ventures, I think we can very easily stretch ourselves too thin. After 5 years we might be able to do the same things, but maybe we should start with something small, make that "our thing," like Google had the search engine, then add to it from there.

Just found a very funny blog at http://overheardinchicago.blogspot.com , which has quotes that people overhear in Chicago and post.

Really makes me miss Chicago. It's a great idea though... So I started http://OverheardinDenver.blogspot.com

We'll see.

I am watching a crane (the machine) working across the street, carrying some huge somethings down from a Sheraton hotel to the ground. I remember walking with him in Chicago when we were at college. He pointed out the awesomeness of Cranes, the machinary.

He was one of my best friends, one of my roommates at college.

He was the best man at my wedding, for which my wife and I folded over 1,000 paper origami cranes, and he helped hang them. So much so that he earned the nick name "Crane Man."

For some reason it just hit me, that he is also Crane-the-construction-machinary-Man too.

He's been in California and back and forth to Africa in the last few years and I'm out of touch with him now. Crane Man.

So over the high schooler's summer camp, I told some murder mystery riddles. I've got one more, created yesterday.

Ok, so I've created a separate blog just to host this (these?) as I now feel bad posting on my blog and moving this down. http://murdery.blogspot.com

Here are the rules.

1. You can ask only yes/no questions. Answers can be yes/no/irrelevant/unknown, etc.
2. Once you know, you cannot tell anyone unless you make them figure it out following rule #1.

This castle is the work of one person. Jim Bishop built this castle stone by stone with his own hands. We were there with Dan, omrjunior, and a bunch of high school students last week.

One person's work. He bought the land when he was 15 for $450.00, and has been building since. He is now in his 50s.

One person's work. This castle will last long after he is gone. I climbed up to the highest step of the highest tower (on the left side of the castle), where my head was up against the gold cone at the top of that tower.

One person can do amazing things. What will by my contribution? What will be my influence? What will be my legacy?

Awkward. Even the spelling of the word seems awkward. Doesn't really look like English.

Two of us were placed there from the temp agency. One day our supervisor told us that she didn't have anything else to do that day, and sent us home. She just told us to have a good afternoon off work and she'd see me in the morning. I talked to the other worker, and we agreed that we would both call the agency to inquire - we were contracted for 40 hours/week.

When I called I found out that the employer had called the agency and termed our contract, as the project on which we were working was finished. A few days later someone else at the company who had seen me working wanted my help in their department. So I went in, and the other guy had just kept going back and clocking in and hanging out around the office -- and they kept paying him.

I thought the people at that company must have been really dull.

Today this happened to me - a contracted "employee" finished his time here yesterday. Today he was super early for work. Was he trying to do the same thing? How do you tell someone that they don't work for you anymore? I even talked to him about this last week. Awkward!

Ever heard that someone "has more money than a small African country"?

That country would be Namibia.

With a population just over 2 million and an average household income of just $2,400.00/year, the Pitt-Jolie Enterprise may just have more money!

They haven't bought the country yet, but Namibia's government is giving them whatever they want so far - control over the country's airspace, denying certain individuals (reporters) access to the country.

In October of 2004, Mel Gibson bought an entire island. Maybe this is what Pitt-Jolie is trying to do with Namibia.

In the event that they do start controlling Namibia in more ways than they already are, whether through "buying" the country or just threatening to take their money elsewhere and manipulating the politicians, what will this do to global politics?

Bono and other famous people are investing a lot in Africa to help with poverty, violence, crime, famine, AIDs, and other diseases, many of which are curable.

Will people regret letting Westerners access and influence countries due to Pitt-Jolie and others who try stunts like this, taking over - to some extent - an entire region or country just for selfish reasons? Surely them spending money in Namibia will help people, but they appear to be there for their own privacy than anything else.

Will the reaction be to cut off access to humanitarians? This has happened before in China and other countries.

Like the warriors of the past, will those who overtake regions or countries, will celebrities or westerners begin to be the most despised?

It sure would be interesting if international politics began to revolve, in part, around individuals made excessively wealthy through the American economy, who have taken over other countries.

I finished the book, Gender: Men, Women, Sex, Feminism by Frederica Mathewes-Green.

Quality!

She confronts very controvercial issues about parenting, gender interaction, feminism and homosexuality very directly. And she is an amazing writer. There were a few places in the text where I had to pause and just appreciate how much she communicated in 4 words.

I'll put up some quotes later. Now I'm with some family friends and should go help getting lunch ready.

Well, was at a big family event with tons of extended family that I've never met before, for a dinner. A few observations about Canadian culture from this dinner:

1. Ice Cream and Cake. No choice if you wanted iceceam and/or cake, or what type of cake you wanted. We think that usually in the States you'd get the choice. Not that the caterers value the choice more, but because they are compensating for the expected complaints and dissatisfaction.

2. Less Formal, More Polite. Two aspects of Canadian culture that come together to a unqiue combination: Lumberjacks and the Commonwealth. Lumberjacks: informal, hard working normal guys; Commonwealth, connected to England and the "Miss Manners" politeness.

3. American jokes. We constantly heard American jokes from our relatives. It's quite funny. On the one hand, it's not a big deal - we're still Canadian, we're still family, we don't act differently, with the exception of my father's political arguments he kept starting with extended relatives he'd never met before...

On a political side it is kind of funny - the Canadian government recently took a huge turn to the right - the liberal party that has been in charge for years and years was voted out and the conservatives voted in. Now my relatives are beginning to question the country's leadership under the liberal party. Makes me wonder if this will be a long term change.

Crazy Canadian Mosquitos....

They're so small you don't see them.

Ouch!

1. Spent 30 minutes looking for parking in a lot the sign said was not full. It was.
2. Had to pay for an hour of parking leaving the lot where we just drove around, then went to the $18/day parking garage.
3. Arrived 5 minutes after baggage check-in had closed for our flight. All of our bags were small enough to be carry-ons, but they wouldn't give us boarding passes.
4. Put on Standby for a flight with only 1 unbooked seat.
5. Had to pay for an hour of parking garage parking as we drove out to another lot.
6. Accused of stealing a shrimp dish at Panda express, and had to have the store manager search our food for shrimp before they would let us go. No, we didn't steal shrimp.

But then we got on that flight, and are now back in the home and native land with family.

And that is why... there has been no post about Cooking with Brandy/i. Give me a break :)

News stories about countries I've been to tend to catch my interest.. I usually skim them to get the gist of what's up.

So today's news story about Nepal has me really interested. (I spent a few months there once.)

Mini-history from the little I know of Nepal - there's been a long history of warring factions between Communists, loyalists, democracists (???), and other political groups, and there has never been long times of peace... at least not recently.

Nepal has been the world's only "Hindu Nation," officially. Because it is squished between Tibet and India, there are strong Buddhist and Hindu religious influences, and they kind of get mashed together for a lot of Nepali people - a mix of Buddhism and Hindusim, perhaps... "Buddhindu"...

Now, while limiting the King's power, the Nepali Parliament has declared the nation a secular nation.

I find it very interesting because of the collision of changing social norms.

1. Ethnic Identity: In many cultures, one's identity is as part of the group - I am "Muslim because I am Malay," - for many it seems impossible to draw a distinction between the two ideas. I suppose it is like a family who only drives Fords - they don't drive them for any reason other than that they do... It's the way their family does things.

2. Political Identity: When I was in Indonesia, some of the older people were telling me that the youth are becoming more "People of the Nation" rather than "People of the Tribe." That is, the primary identity used to be as a part of one's family line.... and it is transitioning to be as part of one's nation - more like the idea that you do something because you are a citizen of a certain country.

As family identity weakes, group identity may not, creating a very strong identity as part of a group other than one's family.

Now, I haven't studied Nepali culture, and all the dynamics therein, but I wonder: What sort of impact will this religious move by the national government have on individuals' faiths in Nepal?

Will they become secular because that is the official stance of the government? Will there be a movement to explore other religions after realizing that if the country can change it's stance, so can I?