serotoninrain

i'm outta here

2006-10-31T11:30:00.000-05:00

So long blogger. I'm here now.

Here's your chance to escape (or, if you prefer, you can update your links)

This blog will be sticking around, for sentimental reasons.

test

2006-10-29T11:42:00.000-05:00

Blogger is not letting me publish, and it looks like it's doing the same to lots of people. So I don't know if you'll ever see this post...

This may be the final straw.

Posted to:

bwogger say i sowwy

2006-10-27T11:32:00.000-04:00

The fans in the stands urge him to switch to the other side. The wider world buzzes with the news of unreliability and network wonkiness. But he stands firm in his loyalty (foolishness?).

Meanwhile, the software guys apologize, and apologize.

...our apologies. We really regret these outages, which were a nuisance (or worse) to you. The past week’s performance was not representative of the kind of service we want to provide for you.

Here's my thing, though. The Blogger people, when they apologize, always sound so cavalier:

It was a dark and stormy night. The air was quiet. Too quiet. Yet stormy. Suddenly, a beep rang out from a bedside pager. The engineer woke up, grabbing a soda to sharpen his senses. Blogger was down. He needed to bring it back up.

When I get the chance to write my pulp story of a gritty Blogger engineer struggling to keep the site alive, I may look back on this past week as a prime source of choice dramatic fodder. Until then, I, like many of you, will look upon this past week with irritation, disappointment, and maybe even a bit of anger.

A little bit? Try "a fair amount." It's free, I know but despite that fact, there exists an expectation among users, one propagated by the blogger organization itself, that the service will work.

It’s been a Murphyesque cavalcade of power failures, fileserver trouble, and wonky network hardware, and I hope you’ll believe me when I say that the Blogger staff is even more sick of it than you are.

Oh, I doubt that.

Look guys and gals, my blog buddies are telling me to quit you. I don't want to, but you make it hard to stick around. Shouldn't it be the opposite? And forget about switching to the beta version, there's still too many holes in it to make it worth the headache.

For now, apology accepted, but you really must do something about this guys.

Posted to:

this is your brain on snow

2006-10-26T19:19:00.000-04:00

This is what my pal Gwynne is seeing right now, probably...

Hang in there, Gwynne. Feed the pig and all that.

Posted to:

what-ever

back at ya, music nazis

2006-10-26T16:25:00.000-04:00

Good news from the electronic frontier today as the RIAA gets handed its hat, and a countersuit as well. The Music Nazis fouled up their motion to dismiss in the case of Tallie Stubbs and apparently Tallie's counsel picked up on the error.

I understand very little legalese, but here's the relevant quote from ARS Technica...

After "further investigation," according to a plaintiff's court filing, the record labels decided to dismiss the case. However, they requested that the case be dismissed without prejudice and with prejudice. Likely due to a typographical error, the distinction is important. Dismissal without prejudice means that the action can be brought again in the future. If a case is dismissed with prejudice, it cannot be refiled and the defendant may be named the "prevailing party" and be eligible for attorney's fees and court costs from the plaintiffs, which is what happened in the case of Capitol Records v. Foster.

and, so Stubbs filed for dismissal with prejudice...

If Tallie Stubbs wins her motion for dismissal with prejudice, then she, too, will be considered the prevailing party and will be eligible for attorney's fees and other court costs from the RIAA. More importantly, it would put the RIAA in the position of having lost one of their file-sharing-related copyright infringement case—none of which have yet gone to trial.

Which is cool. Read the full article at Ars Technica.

Go get 'em Tallie!

Posted to:

20 year old teen not so good driver, oh, and another blogger outage

2006-10-26T14:01:00.000-04:00

So apparently 20 year olds are now classified as teens. And looks like this particular 20 year old teen didn't do so hot on her driving test. "Oopsie, I just crashed into the license bureau lobby."

(It was) like a big boom; the building shook a little bit," Stover said. "My reaction was 'Oh my God!'

Williams said everyone was so stunned by the crash that they neglected to call 911.

"Everybody was on their cell phones, but nobody called 911. I came back in and called 911," Williams said.

Is it of any Loony Toons-ish significance that her Taurus was maroon?

And, of course, blogger will be down at 2pm PDT again today. Whoopee! Did anyone notice that blogger was out of commission for about an hour or so last night, in addition to yesterday's scheduled 2pm PDT outage. Ah, blooggler.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Rush Limbaugh's Idiot Hour, already in progress.

H/T: Obscure Store.

Posted to:

defies_categorization

agree and disagree

2006-10-26T10:18:00.000-04:00

Despite certain left leaning tendencies that I have, I have a few rightward prejudices too. I'm mixed up, but not as far as this goes.

I do not like the idea of stem cell research one little bit. Hey, watch Gattaca. You want to live in that kind of world? We can argue later about the supposed medical benefits and such. Really? I'm skeptical. The promise of this stuff is a long, long way off... if it ever comes. But the sad reality of genetic selection, that is knocking at our door even today.

On the other hand I have personally been acquainted with three people who have Parkinson's disease. And Michael J. Fox's on camera movements in that ad look exactly like those of all three of the people I have known. Exactly. If it was an act, it's certainly a good one, and he does have the disease after all. So how would one know?

Well, Rush knows. Like other idiots with media access, Rush knows everything. I've long thought that Rush Limbaugh was a moron. Now I know he's a moron as well as a jerk. I don't care what your politics are, Rush's histrionics are strictly low brow.

Hey R-dude, don't take it back, don't apologize, just shut the hell up! You are making me sick. Go join your friend Pat on planet stupid.

Posted to:

remarkable_stupidity

a rather ineffective euphemism

2006-10-25T20:42:00.000-04:00

Tonight I went with my family to the incredibly lame halloween parade our town trots out every year. There is a lot to like about Pottstown, this is not one of those things.

After the parade my wife said, "It was better than last year," which may be the scariest thing I've heard this Halloween season.

The height of badness occurred about two thirds of the way through when one of three septic services companies drove their float by. The company was called A Honeydipper Septic Services. The float featured a guy dressed up as a bee, waving.

Skip ahead a few minutes. I'm talking with my friend Sissy and she tells me a story of a relative of hers who lived in Alaska for some years. They had a septic system throughout the town and referred to the truck that occasionally came to suck it out as a honeytruck. Euuggh. I never heard of such a thing, but after a few seconds with google, I now know that this is a common misnomer for a septic truck, as well as some other things too.

Yuck, okay. Just, just.... yuck. Honey Dipper is just way too close to honey dripper, and here I assume I need not go into the attendant imagery this similarity calls to mind. Man, we do come up with some whack vernacular in this language.

Okay, so back to the float. There was this guy on it dressed as a bee. I guess this would have to be a King Bee (because no woman in her right mind would agree to be Queen in this particular situation). He must have been the King because, as the truck passed by, I saw that he was seated on a... ummmm... throne.

So, you know, Happy Halloween or whatever.

Posted to:

things_i_know_nothing_about

everything is new, just in time for a blogger outage

2006-10-25T07:40:00.000-04:00

Of course it worked out like this. My car was supposed to be finished yesterday, I have a ton of freelance stuff to tackle (a good problem, but still a problem at this point), I took my wife to work because of the car issue and ran back to the house to wait for a package. So obviously the post office had to call... at 9:20 am.

Fortunately for me, they only wanted me to deliver the short route and they had an LLV for me; in other words, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Just as I was on my way out the door, there was a knock. He's my competition, but I was glad to see this UPS guy.

Once I got done with the mail and picked up my wife from work and picked up the car and paid $60 more dollars for it than I was supposed to, I began the big migration. It is now finished. Yay!

This new notebook is pretty nice. Very fast, sleek looking, and the screen is a staggering achievement. I'm sure you technoids know all about these things, and probably have a name for them as well, but this screen combines the thin sleekness of a flat screen with the clarity and sharpness of a good CRT.

My daughters are happy campers now as well. They've already started to make my old notebook their own.

Oh, and did I mention the Centrino dual core? And courtesy of Mozilla, Firefox 2.0. Life is good.

So now I have to find a way to stop playing with it! Blogger is all about helping me with that; they have an outage scheduled for 2pm PDT today.

Posted to:

technology

jumping the gun

2006-10-23T20:56:00.000-04:00

People have been linking to the new firefox build all day. But I decided to wait until tomorrow, which is the official release day.

And I just now read this by preed of Mozilla.org and am glad I chose the way I did.

It's got a lot of language I don't quite get, but the message is crystal clear:

"Preed the Release Engineer says: friends don't let friends download Firefox before it's released."

So, tomorrow, I'm gonna get me some new Firefox. But not before.

Posted to:

technology

...so i'll just steal stuff from real people

2006-10-23T10:22:00.000-04:00

Jeff just posted this so I thought I'd steal it.

1. FIRST NAME? Jim

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Dad.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Yesterday during worship when everyone stood to sing and put their hearts into it for a change. It was cool.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No and neither does anyone else.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Liverwurst, which gives you an idea of how much I like lunchmeat in general.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? What?

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Yep. It's called serotoninrain and you're reading it.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? No, they were removed when I was 4 or 5.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Grape Nuts. Always and forever.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Sometimes, when I don't feel like being a maverick.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Physically? Not espeically. But I'm stronger than I look.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolate, especially if it has chocolate chips in it. Especially especially if it has chocolate sauce on it. Especially especially especially if it's in a chocolate dipped waffle cone.

14. SHOE SIZE? Not telling. Big! Okay?

15. RED OR PINK? Pink. What's it to ya?

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My big feet.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Scott Schwinkendorf but I'm not saying any more.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? No, but they can do it themselves if they want.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue jeans a yellow J Peterman vinatage tee and brown leather shoes.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Bagel breakfast sandwich with egg cheese and bacon plus coffee. Always coffee.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? I don't know but it's not very good. I think it's Natalie Merchant.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Raw Umber... how the heck should I know?

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Napalm in the morning... no, just kidding... Spring.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? The guy who's working on my car. He told me that the parts won't be in today after all and so I'll have to beg the post office not to call me again tomorrow. I'm feeling just great right now, too, thanks for asking.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Face. And sometimes, but only rarely, callipygousness.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Well, Jeff didn't actually send it to me, I sort of appropriated it, you know? Furthermore, I don't really know Jeff so I can't comment on whether I like him or not, but he sure has a nice blog and he seems like a swell guy, virtually speaking of course. I'm sure he's way nicer than me.

27. FAVORITE DRINK? Hello? I guess that's not obvious enough. Who writes this stuff?

28. FAVORITE SPORT? None.

29. EYE COLOR? Brown

30. HAT SIZE? 7 1/2

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No contacts no glasses. can read the side of a ceral box from eight feet away.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Steak. Medium rare.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Both.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Tough choice, but I'll say summer.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Kisses from my wife, though she can hug me as much as she wants. Hugs from most other people. Polite handshakes for the rest of you until we know each other better.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Tiramisu. Oh yeah!

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I'm not asking for a response, but I'm betting on Gwynne. Just to make it more interesting, I'm not going to link her either. Though it isn't the middle of the night so she's probably not reading blogs right now. Are you Gwynne?

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Jeff, since he already did this.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Garbage Land by Elizabeth Royte and a book of short stories by Tobais Wolff called In the Garden of the North American Martyrs.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Nothing.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The sounds Phil Keaggy makes when he picks up a guitar.

44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rolling who?

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Thousands of miles... France.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I don't have one.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Trenton, NJ (pronounced Trettin by those who live there).

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Well, Jeff didn't send it but he posted it and since I was lamenting the fact that I don't really exist and therefore can't post anything of my own, I stole his. Make sense? Me neither.

Alright, back to unreality.

Posted to:

psyche

ghost blog

2006-10-23T10:16:00.000-04:00

Officially, I don't exist.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

I knew I had no life, I just didn't think it was that serious. Well, I'll be seein ya... or maybe not.

H/T Randy. At least my friends aren't imaginary, just virtual.

Posted to:

meme

red letter day

2006-10-22T14:54:00.000-04:00

aaaarrrggghh!

And that's not because I missed Talk Like a Pirate Day by more than a month.

Before noon today the desktop computer in our little home "office" crashed and our Passat (my mail delivery vehicle) came home leaking oil; so much oil that it left a trail!

This is not good. I've managed (with significant help from a very nice Dell customer service man from India who, once he slowed down his speech, talked me through the process) to fix the corrupted boot sector. Then I was on my own for getting the ATI Radeon 9800 card inside to get out of its "inifinite loop."

Then the car guy called (a shop that's open on Sunday... I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry about that) and told me there was so much oil slopping around on the engine that he couldn't tell where the leak was coming from... and, by the way, my tires are bad and I have a coolant leak too. The tires aren't as bad as he says and I don't know how I could have a coolant leak without the coolant level getting lower but there you go. Things aren't looking too good here just now.

Hope your Sunday is going better than mine.

Update:
Is it still an update if you haven't actually published the post? As I was typing that last sentence above, the car guy called back. They isolated the leaks (notice, it's pluaral) and they vary in severity from 'must get fixed right away' to 'can wait five or six months.' By dinner time tomorrow I'll have my car back and be about 5 or 6 hundred dollars poorer.

At least the computer repair didn't cost me anything.

Genuine Post-publishing update:
The car guy called back again. When you factor in the labor and materials used for finding the leak, I'm looking at close to 7 bills. Ugh. This day just keeps getting better. Now I've got to call the post office early in the am and try to convince them not to call me tomorrow.

Posted to:

things_i_know_nothing_about

dear reader: you're great! and such a wonderful blogger/reader/friend! were you craving that?

2006-10-20T06:48:00.000-04:00

Beth did this one so I know that all the cool kids will have one on their blogs soon.

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people.
You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together.
Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly.
People crave your praise and complements.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

I'm a people person.

Posted to:

my mac story

2006-10-19T06:42:00.000-04:00

Denise mentioned my desire for a Mac in a comment on the previous post so I thought I'd share the story of me and the only mac I almost ever had.

The University of Rochester kept a whole roomful of those little Macs, the originals, this was before the Mac II. They lived in a computer room off the Rush Rhees Reserve Reading Room. Every one of my college papers was typed on one of those Macs. This was before the days of mandatory computer ownership in your dorm room. Kids these days have it all.

In grad school, at the estimable Rutgers Graduate School of Management (located in the heart of scenic Newark, NJ), it was the same thing. A roomful of Macs. Now we were using the Mac SE... 8 Mhz of pure processing power! Man, we were cookin'. Me and my Interfunctional Management homies produced our beautifully crafted presentation to a major oil industry player on them.

Then I got a real job, left the cushy world of academia, and everything changed. I forget what computer I had for the heavy duty quantitative calculations I did for the likes of AmEx and AT&T, but it wasn't a mac. Back then, the way of thinking was that macs were good for desktop publishing and making pretty papers (which they were) and IBM clones were good for the number crunching. I'll admit, I was guilty of this too. Yet I still looked lustfully at the gorgeous numbers in the creative department... macintoshes, all of them. For the next four years, there was a steady stream of progressively better versions. Cappping off with the mysterious sounding Quadra.

I asked my boss for a mac. Many, many times, I asked for a mac. My boss grew weary with my ceaseless yammering about how macs could crunch numbers (maybe not as fast as my smokin' Compaq 386 33Mhz behemoth, but still), and besides I was doing more qualitative research all the time. Of course, he knew this perfectly well. He had a mac. Finally the upper echelons relented, or seemed to. I was told I would have a mac. So I waited.

And waited.

Then God himself intervened and spaketh, "Go ye to Ohio and work with young people!" I said, "wha...?" and God said "You heard me." It took six months for me to actually do what God said, and the promised mac had not appeared.

On my last day at that New York City ad agency, Friday March 5, 1993 (exactly one week after the World Trade Center bombing) I stepped foot in my cubicle to find this with a fourteen inch monitor and a big red bow on top. A post-it note stuck to the CPU said, "Well, Jim, you finally got your Mac. Enjoy!" It was not signed.

Ten days later I was working for a church in Ohio. I mentioned my macintosh fantasy to them and they said, "Macintosh?"

These days, I get by the best I can; using windows and working toward a better, brighter day for myself and my children.

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one.
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will mac as one

--What John Lennon would have written,
if there had been macs

Posted to:

technology

(almost, but not quite) impulsive

2006-10-18T21:42:00.000-04:00

Okay, so... I did it.

Yeah, I had thought about making the switch to a real notebook, but other considerations ruled the day this time.

We have an aging machine that our girls use and it's just not cutting the mustard anymore: the hard drive is making odd groaning and sawing noises, it won't connect to the internet, it freezes without warning, etc. So (now, shhhh! Don't tell them) They're getting the Inspiron 1200 that I'm using to type this post. I've spent the last 18 months training this lovely piece of equipment (I've never had a problem with it or with the company. In fact, I've had very good experiences with Dell customer service. I realize that I'm probably the only person who can say that, nonetheless it is true).

Anyway, my girls are getting this one and I'm getting the new notebook. I've just spent the last hour or so getting ready for the big migration, which should occur in 3-5 working days.

If I had the dough, I'd just switch us all over to Macs. Whew, that's a lotta mail! Maybe someday.

Posted to:

completely unrelated things for which i can't come up with a catchy all-encompassing title

2006-10-18T09:35:00.000-04:00

This morning while lying awake and hoping the phone wouldn't ring (it did, but it was not the post office), I overheard Matt Lauer talking about a list of 101 Most Influential People Who Never lived. Turns out he was talking about this new book.

Intriguing, though I don't think I'll read it. Maybe I'll skim it to find out the reasoning behind their choice of The Marlboro Man for #1. What's up with that? I can think of lots of more influential non-existent people. Moreover, apparently some of the mythical beings on the list are not actual people, like the Loch Ness Monster (besides, the Loch Ness Monster does exist, as everyone knows).

Since we've dealt with that, let's move on to another thing I'll never use; though I can see why it would be useful. It's called Deliveo, a freely downloadable betaware program for sending and tracking large files without choking your poor recipient's email inbox.

Here's the about page, and here's the Deliveo blog, where you can find an interesting post titled 11 Fun Things to Do With Deliveo. For example:

Your powerpoint [or photoshop] masterpiece is poised for greatness, impress your boss [or YLB] with your ingenuity and Dliveo it to your [blog readers] audience before the big [next random Thursday post] meeting.

It looks to me like you can only use Deliveo to send large files to fellow Deliveo users, but that makes sense, I guess. If anyone wants to partner to try it out, let me know. I have some great Grand Canyon pics I could send you.

Posted to:

so, what does this mean?

2006-10-17T17:32:00.000-04:00

The current issue of "The Carrier" (the magazine of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association) recently arrived at my house. At the back of every issue is a section listing RHD (right hand drive) vehicles for sale by owners around the country.

I note this fact because you probably didn't know that such a magazine existed, or that there were such listings at the back of it. And up until today, these listings occupied approximately the same mental space for me as they did for you.

But today, I perused those listings. After a couple of minutes, I found myself musing over what kind of process I might go through to purchase such a vehicle from someone in, say, Ohio, or perhaps Connecticut. Not only that, but I even went so far as to check out one local company's explanation of their conversion vehicles, though I shortly dismissed this option after seeing the price.

When I realized that lingering over the "RHD for sale" listings could only mean one thing--that I'm at least semi-consciously thinking I will be in this gig for the long haul--I put down the Carrier and quickly picked up the Dell catalog to consider the Inspiron E1505 on the cover, sort of as a chaser.

Posted to:

achoo

2006-10-16T18:56:00.000-04:00

See it now at Educat's.

Posted to:

what-ever

wireless pottstown

2006-10-16T17:57:00.000-04:00

According to our local paper, The Mercury, my town wants muni wifi, or at least they're talking about it. The article is a summary of a meeting of some town authorities. If you want to take the time to read it, more power to ya. Be warned, however, it will make you feel like you're at a typical small town government meeting.

If I were a betting man, I wouldn't bet too much money on this ever happening here. Not after reading the article. I'll keep hoping, though.

Posted to:

you ask. i respond. i'm that kind of guy.

2006-10-14T20:41:00.000-04:00

Because some (one) of you wanted to know how King of Prussia got its name, and also because I needed something to post about, here's the scoop (the essay was written by one of the people I interviewed for my next business article).

Now you know. Or, you will once you read it I guess.

Posted to:

what-ever

missing the big story of the day

2006-10-13T20:20:00.000-04:00

I spent the day working on my next business article down in King of Prussia, PA. As a result I completely missed this story, which made my jaw drop.

The Amish have said they’d like some of the money to go to the family of the killer.

There was one bank account set up specifically for his family. In addition to that, the accountability committee, on behalf of the church leadership, has said that if there are needs beyond that fund, they want to make sure that some of the money that comes in designated for Nickel Mines victims [goes to the killer's family]. Nickel Mines victims include [that] family, in their definition.

Remember those discussions about grace? Well, it just got notched up a bit. Thanks to my pal Will for bringing this one.

Here's one additional highlight of the story,

Many of the hospitals caring for the girls have offered now to waive their bills.

One hospital contacted one of the [Amish] leaders saying that they would not be charging for services rendered. Other hospitals followed suit.

It's a contagion of grace!

Posted to:

how to ruin perfectly good dark chocolate ice cream

2006-10-12T20:30:00.000-04:00

Hey Cold Stone!

WHAT were you THINKING?

You seduced me and I was seduced. I walked into your store tonight with my daughter and saw, at the far end of the cooler, that beautiful chocolate ice cream the color of peat moss. "Finally, Cold Stone has dark chocolate!"

I rejoiced in my spirit. But then. But THEN! I stood in front of the case and read the label: dark chocolate peppermint.

PEPPERMINT!

AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!

How could you?

Death to peppermint.

Posted to:

food

hmmm, what to blog?

2006-10-11T19:49:00.000-04:00

Because I delivered the mail both yesterday and today (and being that yesterday was the day after a holiday, which meant that there was a ton--that may actually be an undertatement--of mail to deliver), I haven't been able to think about much. But what little thinking I have done has been on the subject of grace.

The reason for this has to do with the Ralph Paul Incident (latest update here) as well as what seems to be turning into a series of posts at RC's place*.

In addition to these things, Eric is going through some stuff right now but managed to write an update today that is simply fragrant with grace.

And of course, there was the demonstration of grace by Amish mourners last week. That one was stunning; personally I feel blessed simply to be living in the same state as those who live grace so richly.

But the deeper I think about it (not too deep, probably, I mean it is me doing the thinking after all), the more I come back to a suspicion that we don't even know what grace means. Literally. I wonder if we have an adequate definition of the idea. RC quotes the definition of used by one of his commenters,

mercy, clemency or a pardon as well as elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.

All you have to do is read that to realize it's inadequate. Is grace one of those "I know it when I see it," kinds of things. Maybe grace can only be revealed by talking about examples. What I mean is, perhaps grace can be illustrated through story, but not really defined.

And where I see grace, perhaps other people see something else entirely. Interesting. What do you think?

*By all means, do read RC's posts on the subject.

Posted to:

theology

goo(gle)d news or no?

2006-10-09T17:32:00.000-04:00

Kato worried about it, Ars Technica called it hooey, but today we find that Google itself says it's true. Everyone, meet YoogleTube.

Good news or not? What do you think?

Posted to:

technology

this story just keeps getting betterer and betterer

2006-10-09T08:37:00.000-04:00

"I'll be honest. That hurt me. That cut me like nothing else could, my integrity and honor are things that I hold close."

That's Dastardly Diner Ralph Paul speaking about internet posts that call his charcter into question following his dining debacle, his restaurant ridiculousness his gastronomic goofiness. He had no idea, nay, not even the foggiest that his arrogant, egotistical rudeness would lead to "a 'media frenzy' that would engulf the entire nation."

Yep, he's bigger than the Beatles now, or the Foley scandal. He says the public has him all wrong. And you know what? I'd like to believe him. I'm sure he's just a swell guy with a decent code.

If I may, I'd like to suggest a way for this man of honor to reclaim his integrity. The road to the moral high ground runs, after all, through the valley of humility.

So pay the bill, Mr. Paul. That's all.

Posted to:

jesus said: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

2006-10-08T07:36:00.000-04:00

...and perhaps he could have added, 'attend their funerals.'

"It was deeply moving," Porter said of the condolences expressed by the Amish to the Roberts family. "It was a display of Christ's love as I've never seen it."

As you attend worship today, whatever the subject of the service and the sermon, perhaps it would be fruitful to consider the meaning of "grace," and "forgiveness."

Posted to:

restaurant madness

2006-10-06T12:10:00.000-04:00

The story of Dastardly Diner Ralph Paul is getting voluminous and vitriolic response.

I think you know where I stand.

One retaurant owner chimed in, with this straddle the fence opinion:

"In my restaurant, the customer is always right," said Frank Chivas, who owns popular local restaurants like the Salt Rock Grill and Island Way Grill. "The bottom line is that if a customer is unhappy with their meal, they don't pay for it. How else can I put it?"

Having said that, Chivas hopes he won't be stampeded by customers trying to wiggle out of their bills. He believes people are reasonable enough to pay when they should.

But that's just the point. Paul was no reasonable customer. He tried to wiggle out of the bill. Is that kind of customer always right? If someone comes into your business and tries to steal from you, are they right? Are they even a customer.

And the matter of the jury who acquitted Paul. Here's another quote from the article, including the response of a legal expert:

Paul's lawyer argued to jurors that Paul, a 54-year-old retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, didn't intend to defraud the restaurant when he went inside, so therefore was innocent.

The jury foreman said that was the primary reason jurors acquitted Paul.

If that's the case, the jury misunderstood the law, said Robert Batey, a professor at the Stetson University College of Law.

He said once Paul decided to leave the restaurant without paying, his intent was to defraud."

I like what Whisky Prajer had to say about this story. In a comment on yesterday's post, he responded to the "code" that Lieutenant Colonel Paul is said to live by:

I have a "code of honor", too: if you eat the food you pay the ****ing bill.

Posted to:

re-uru

2006-10-06T10:34:00.000-04:00

Uru is returning.

Uru was an entry in the Myst franchise that sought to go beyond the original franchise while remaining rooted in the type of worlds originally created by Rand Miller and Cyan. It was suppposed to be an interactive online game, but it fizzled. The software version of the game, actually three volumes of it, which I bought enthusiastically and played with decreasing enthusiasm, was a big let down. It felt like the story went nowhere, and the endgame involved jumping your avatar off a cliff. That's it.

But despite that experience, I'm interested in this reappearance of Uru Live. Throughout the software version of the game, there were places and items and puzzles that would have been much, much more interesting with other people around.

So, maybe...

Posted to:

i probably woudn't read one

2006-10-06T10:00:00.000-04:00

A story from Yahoo News reports on the blog-book craze. Publishers are snatching up blogs in a mad frenzy. Apparently these bloggers are being contacted by publishers, not the other way around.

Hey guys, I'm right here!

Some observers are saying the trend can't last.

"It's like the dot-com boom all over again," added Paul Carr, Friday Project's editor in chief.

"In the same way that publishers knew they needed a Web site even if they didn't know what that was, they're just buying up blogs because they're hot."

I'm inclinded to agree. Maybe I'm not an average reader, but I do read a lot and a blog is not a book. It's a fundamentally different medium and I wonder about the transition. Eric at The Fire Ant Gazette reported on this trend earlier this year. He also wrote of his decidedly lukewarm reaction to a book of hypothetical blog posts. I have my doubts as to whether the real thing would work any better. What's entertaining, informative, and just plain good about blog writing will not necessarily work in a book. Maybe these new authors will invest whatever time it takes to write, but if not, I can see this bubble bursting pretty quickly.

On the other hand, publishers with any sense should be jumping on this project.

Posted to:

does this mean i can't use that soundbyte of dave bowman telling HAL to open the pod bay doors anymore?

2006-10-06T07:23:00.000-04:00

Kato's gone all Onion on us with this satirical news.

Funny... but prescient? Hope not.

(Note: the first part of Kato's article is quite true. But Orca might be next if we don't act now!)

Posted to:

what-ever

phoenixville, part deux

2006-10-05T21:02:00.000-04:00

For the October article the publisher of the 422 Business Advisor sent me back to Phoenixville to cover a couple of specific topics, one of which was the opening of Iron Hill Brewery. You can find the article here.

Posted to:

writing

how to be a complete a**

2006-10-05T14:22:00.000-04:00

Go to a restaurant, be unhappy with your food, eat it anyway, refuse to pay for it and for your girlfriend's food and the dessert, then leave without paying the bill or tipping.

I don't know who's the bigger fool(s), Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Paul the angry diner, or the jury that SIDED WITH HIM!!!

"It's easy to think, 'Well, it's $46, why go through all the trouble?' But Mr. Paul lives in a different world," Lauro told the jury. "He lives with a code. A code of honor. There are people who are willing to compromise, who are willing to settle. That's not Ralph Paul."

I wish he would stay in his little world and stop bothering those of us who live in the real one.

Big tip to: Obscure Store

Posted to:

remarkable_stupidity

putting EVER at the end of post titles is becoming the most irritating use of a word, EVER!

2006-10-04T20:59:00.000-04:00

Just had to get that off my chest.

Posted to:

defies_categorization

talk as loud as you want at this librarium

2006-10-04T17:20:00.000-04:00

So my blog friend Julie and my non-virtual friend/pastor/housemate/fellow blogger Will have cooked up an online reading group. Pretty cool idea.

It's called The Librarium. Yes, I know that sounds like a newly discovered element but it's actually a blog for readers (book readers, not blog readers).

I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with this. Will and Julie are inviting participation, so swing by if you're interested.

Find details on their first book selection, A Canticle For Leibowitz, here.
And spread the word too.

Posted to:

what's the (vegetable) matter with your eye?

2006-10-04T13:52:00.000-04:00

Monday evening while reading some blog posts and trying to think up one of my own (there's my first problem right there), my right eye started bugging me. I rubbed it and continued working, or not working, as it were. After semi-consciously rubbing my eye a few more times, I concluded that I might have a case of pinkeye so I went upstairs and looked. The eye wasn't pink. I slept well and woke up with lots of eye cookies (or sleepy seeds as my wife has always called them). Now the eye was pink and it itched constantly.

Later in the day as they eye kept on bothering me I took a closer look. There was something in there! I tried rubbing it but the plainly visible dark spot on my eye didn't budge. I shined a flashlight on it and it spoke my name... no, not really, but I was concerned at having a stationary black spot on my cornea. As the evening wore on the spot also wore on the inside of my eyelid. By the time I went to bed last night I was experiencing what has to be called pain; mild to be sure but very irritating.

I called the doctor this morning and count myself fortunate to have scored an appointment for an hour hence. The doctor said, "you'll need to see an opthalmologist." The office across the street said they could see me right away. They tested my vision in the affected eye and, as has been the case with every eye exam I've ever had, the attendant was amazed that I could read even the smallest letters without any effort at all. I've never had glasses but both my parents wear them now, so I know it's only a matter of time. For now, though, at least the offending spot wasn't hurting my vision.

The Opthalmologist himself took one close look at the spot and said, "It's vegetable matter. It's not metallic."

"Whatever it is, I'd rather it were not in my eye just at this moment." No, I didn't really say that, but I wanted to.

It took him approximately 5 minutes to anesthetize my eyes with some drops and "test the pressure in the other eye just to be sure" (a mysterious statement of equally mysterious meaning). Numb eyes feel very odd, as if they are bone dry. It then took him approximately .87 seconds to remove the offending vegatable matter that was not metallic.

He sent me packing with a prescription for some antibiotics just to insure against infection. It took me another hour and half to get the prescription because I didn't have the right card the first time and then, when I returned to the store after retrieving the correct card from deep, deep, deep within a file drawer in my home office, the very pleasant CVS worker could not get her register to work, then could not get a second register to work.

Everything's alright now, though. I've even figured out how to work the outlets at this Panera in Reading, PA.

Posted to:

what-ever

tag my video

2006-10-03T07:02:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard of Veotag? I just did and it's kinda cool.

I was reading this article summarizing a panel discussion about advertising to young people. Host Guy Kawaski (check out his definition of a blogger in the title bar) used Veotag to upload the video. Here it is.

Notice the tag lineup on the right of the video. Click on any one of them and it goes to that point in the video just like chapters on a DVD. This is a case of the medium overwhleming the message. The "insights" in the panel discussion might be news if you've never met a young person before, but the video tagging was muy cool.

I've composed a grand total of zero videos, the lack of a camera being a significant barrier to entry. And I'm sure none of you wants to watch self-shot video of my hand stuffing mail into about 500 boxes. Though, come to think of it, the concept does have a certain minimalist je ne sais quoi.

But enough about me. The Veotag library is available for browsing, and they even have an editor's picks section, though most of the videos highlighted there require activex controls and come with a recommendation to "try viewing this page in Internet Explorer." Are they kidding?

Posted to:

technology

bugs in the wild wild web

2006-10-02T19:24:00.000-04:00

Or not. Apparently the hackers are hoaxers and have now been caught with their pants down. In other words, use that Firefox kiddies! Here's what ars technica now adds to their article (the same one that is linked below)...

Mischa Spiegelmock has now said that the talk "was to be humorous," and that the presentation covered a "previously known Firefox vulnerability that could result in a stack overflow ending up in remote code execution." In other words, they didn't discover a new flaw.

Spiegelmock said that the code they presented to attendees does not not actually work, lowering fears that a true zero-day exploit could be in the wild. To make matters more embarrassing, Spiegelmock also said that no one has successfully executed arbitrary code using the attack.

So... looks like Firefox has a bug problem on its hands.

Says Ars Technica:

"Firefox is loaded with security flaws, according to a hacker duo that presented at this year's ToorCon. Mischa Spiegelmock and Andrew Wbeelsoi used a session at the show to highlight what they have called "a complete mess" that is "impossible to patch" in Firefox's JavaScript implementation."

The article also notes that Firefox has the largest number of vulnerability disclosures in the last six months (the good news is that Firefox also has the shortest turn around time in patching them).

I suppose this was inevitable as Firefox increased in popularity and usage. Looks like we're in for another round in the open source software debate.

The Ars article mentions this post at the Mozilla Developer blog. Here's a link to that blog's main page.

Posted to:

technology

the new campaign for hemispheric seasonal awareness

2006-10-02T19:06:00.000-04:00

This just in from Starbucks Gossip:

Starbucks has recently introduced the Pumpkin Spice range (latte and muffins) to New Zealand, complete with the requisite advertising etc. We're invited to enjoy the "warm comfort" of a Pumpkin Spice latte.

Great, except it's spring, and generally getting warmer by the day in the southern hemisphere.

Which caused me to imagine a Starbucks product group meeting in which guys in suits say things like:

"We predict our Pumpkin Spice line will warm hearts in New Zealand and create proactive synergistic profitability actualities."

"Hold on guys. Do they have pumpkins in New Zealand?"

"The guys from feasability are checking on that. But we ought to move quickly on this since it's already October."

"Do they have halloween in New Zealand?"

"uhhhh..."

Posted to:

what-ever

time for more feeding

2006-10-01T12:13:00.000-04:00

Google reader has undergone some changes. It's much better now, but still not my choice. Reader now has an easier to read layout and it's not a chore anymore to make it list stuff in different ways.

They've also reworked their OPML import function, and therein lies the problem. It still doesn't work. No, that's not entirely true. It partially works. After numerous tries, I could not get Reader to correctly import the OPML file I made from my bloglines subscription. The original Google reader wouldn't read this at all, or maybe I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. The experience left me so frustrated I've kind of blocked it. Now it reads most of my subscriptions but leaves out whichever ones it chooses. So Google Reader is close (at least closer than it was), but no cigar.

Why not keep using bloglines, then, Jim? Well, of course I'll continue to use bloglines. It's still the best web based reader out there and has itself undergone some improvements just this week. But every so often, bloglines craps out. I need a backup so I can read all your glorious posts!

So you know what I did? I checked out Netvibes import opml utility. Guess what? It worked the first time, no problem. Now, Netvibes is not really a feed reader, it's a personal start page somethingoranother. But Netvibes is constantly updating and increasing their functionality and they respond almost instantaneously, and even personally, to suggestions and/or problems. Think you'll get that from Google? I doubt it.

Netvibes also lets you make tabs, like firefox does, so as I make folders in bloglines for all my feed categories, I can make tabs for those same categories with netvibes. Which I did. It took a few minutes but it was gratifying since I felt like I actually was accomplishing something, whereas my efforts to get Google Reader to work just left me scratching my head.

But wait, there's more! Netvibes just went live with their Cinnamon release. I'm not sure what changes and improvements have been made, exactly. Netvibes was and still is an excellent tool, so at this point whatever improvements they make are just icing.

Netvibes is still, in my opinion, the most worthy of your consideration as a customizable browser start page and feedhouse. And I know y'all were wondering what I thought.

In case you'd rather use a hard drive based reader, you ought to check out Will's recent comparison of a slew of downloadable desktop offerings. He has way too much time on his hands, don't you think?

Posted to:

technology

back to work and business as usual

2006-09-29T16:51:00.000-04:00

I haven't touched mail in three weeks, but it's back to work tomorrow. Since I've been gone one sub has been canned (the new one, the one whose presence raised me a notch in the food chain) and another regular has changed his day off to Saturday, so now all the regular carriers but one are off on Saturday. As a result they shifted me around so I'll be battling the monster; it's Jim vs. Route 5 tomorrow, Monday too.

Hope I remember how to do this.

Posted to:

what-ever

oh look, a baby squirrel... run!!!

2006-09-29T07:58:00.000-04:00

Mountain View, CA is having a bad squirrel problem. The furry little creatures are attacking. This sounds silly, but not if you're little Andrew, who will never go into a park with trees again.

"It was such a horror," his mother, Jennifer, said of the attack, which left her boy with a trail of red claw marks, a bite on his upper arm -- and a regimen of painful rabies shots"

Ouch! None for me thanks. So Mountain View's gonna come out shootin'! Well, okay, not shooting...

"Over the next three weeks, the city will set tube-like traps in the trees of Cuesta Park and euthanize captured squirrels "in a humane way," said David Muela, Mountain View's community services director."

That quote comes from the local CBS affiliate's story (which features video! Nice).

This situation is not doing much for America's image abroad. German based Short News is running with the headline Rogue Squirrels Jumping Into Strollers, Attacking Picnickers, and says,

"A series of ferocious squirrel attacks has residents of a California neighborhood on edge, with some wondering how to curb their recent aggressiveness. Picnickers are being bitten mercilessly; some of the animals are even jumping into baby strollers."

Posted to:

defies_categorization

wow

2006-09-28T20:06:00.000-04:00

this stuff is good. just thought you'd like to know.

*Browse around the Cafe-Tasse website. Spiffy design. I didn't even mind the flash intro (note to all flashophiles:if you're going to subject me to flash, at least show me chocolate!).

Posted to:

food

serotoninmix

2006-09-28T18:49:00.000-04:00

Julie posted a mix of hers and I wouldn't denigrate her idea by calling it a meme, but it is sort of like that. This link will take you to her main blog page because for some reason, I can't get a post page. At the moment her mix post is the top one (as an aside, I'm not sure why I was surprised to see that Julie is into Philip Glass. I must have missed her post about him back in May).

This is a cool idea. I like it much better than those random iPod posts people were so heavily into some months back. In fact, it's so cool that I think I'll share my own perfect mix. This one kicks a##, IMHO. It took an effort of will not to grab this disc every time I opened the CD case on The Road Trip:

Learning to Fly by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Saturday by The Judybats
The Way by Fastball
Singing In My Sleep by Semisonic
Still Greater by Joel Hanson
Makin' Some Noise by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
When I Believe It by Dogs of Peace
Turn to Me by Political Suicide
Secret Smile by Semisonic
Out of My Head by Fastball
In the Event by Dogs of Peace
Steam by Peter Gabriel
Innocent Man by Tony Congi
Secret World by Peter Gabriel
It's You Jesus by PFR
Cry Holy by Sonicflood

And now, of course, I'll have to make another mix. This time I'll put some Beatles and some Phil Keaggy on it. Oh yeah! Or perhaps I'll find the obscure, and only, recording of PFR doing a Beatles song with Phil Keaggy (yes, there is such a recording... here's a sample).

Posted to:

psyche
music

my surreal life

2006-09-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

As soon as I saw this meme at Gwynne's, I knew how I would type out!

Lo and behold, I was exactly right...

You Are Surrealism

Dreamy and idealistic, you've created a world that is all your own.
It's very likely that you've either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy.
You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society.
You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.

What Art Movement Are You?

Posted to:

psyche

that's mr. barista to you

2006-09-28T13:07:00.000-04:00

So I haven't been called to work at all this week, until today. But I didn't get called by the post office.

Today I'm single-handedly staffing the best (only) coffeehouse in Pottstown. I'm a friend of the chef/owner and she was short handed today. And it's been busy too, I've been making lattes, macchiattos and chais by the score since 8:30.

It doesn't pay nearly as much as shoving mail into boxes, but I get to write the occaisonal blog post during lulls.

This is that post. Excited? Of course you are.

Cool happening of the day: A couple of guys came in as soon as I opened the doors and sat down on one of the new comfy couches Tanna (the owner) put in here while I was roaming the country. These guys didn't order anything, they just sat down and started talking, so, being the good salesman that I am, I said, "Can I get anything for you guys."

"Nothing for me thanks," said one.

"I'll have a coffee. Oh, and between now and 9:30, we're buying the coffee for whoever comes in."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yep."

And they did too. Props to the two angels from Mainline Financial Advisors, who apparently, Tanna tells me, do this on the last Thursday of every month. Wow!

Posted to:

what-ever

no good deed goes unpunished, unless you're in... boston?

2006-09-27T12:24:00.000-04:00

Do a good deed in Boston, get some donuts.

"Jim Monahan , the T's deputy division chief of bus operations, was dispensing the good will yesterday at Park Street, Ruggles, and Haymarket stations, and got off to a slow start. By 7:15 , more than two hours after he began searching for the courteous, Monahan had given out just two of his 20 gift cards.

About an hour later, however, he had just nine left. About 30 minutes later, he was down to five. By 9 , he was out. Four hours, and 20 acts of kindness."

Slow start alright, but a start nonetheless. It Almost makes me sorry I didn't go there on the road trip.

Almost.

H/T: Obscure Store

Posted to:

community

peace is stupid

2006-09-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: I'm changing a few words in this post that seem to be creating an impression that it's about either being "for peace" or "for war." Which is really not at all what I'm getting at. I'm not changing the scriptures, though. They say what they say.

Blanco posted a rant on his blog, some of which is thoughtful and some of which is, well, wrong and some of which is just a tad reductionist. If you'd like to read it, go ahead and form your own thoughts about it.

What got me fired up was this, because I'd heard it before:

anyways, there we are (my wife and i), driving around austin, killing some time before our concert, when i spied in a yard a placard that read, "american for peace." after thinking about it for a second i began to get a quizzical feeling brewing in my mind (and probably on my face), then a feeling of frustration and finally one of outright resentment and anger.

you see, the very premise of that placard was falsely come to by this "american for peace," as though he/she were somehow taking a noble high road by choosing non-violent coexistence with, well, whomever they felt we were at war with. certainly that included iraq, flaming "war" that it is, but could also mean afghanistan or kosovo or darfur, or basically anywhere arms are being used to either make or keep peace.

the notion that being "for peace" somehow makes peace a reality is, flatly, stupid.

As I said, I'd heard this before, though Blanco doesn't go as far as the first person I heard articulate this sentiment. Now, I can't remember who said it but I remember where and when I heard it. It was on the Mars Hill Audio Journal and it was the last issue of that usually fine and thoughtful publication that I received. The subject of the particular interview was the theory of "just war." The statement was (and this is not an exact quote) simply that anyone who advocates pacifism is stupid, that anyone who doesn't subscribe to the concept of a "just war" is stupid.

I'm not even going to bother with disagreeing with such a statement since it is patent nonsense and not even worth the space I'm taking up now talking about it.

There are lots of arguments to be advanced to justify war; the war(s) we are currently engaged in and all others besides. Some of them do make sense, I can see where the people who voice them are coming from, but honestly I've yet to hear a single argument for war that is in the least bit compelling as far as I'm concerned. War is failure, miserable failure on all sides. It may in the end be necessary (though this word doesn't describe the current one, in my opinion) but it is still failure.

Certainly thoughtful people can be "Americans for peace," --and do you know anyone who isn't? Though I don't know what to say about anyone of any stripe (red, or blue) who puts glibness on a sign and sticks it in their front yard; whether that glibness shouts "American for Peace" or "Support Our Troops."

Now, Mars Hill Audio Journal claimed to come at their issues from a biblical point of view. With that in mind, I'd like to offer a few scriptures to close this post. Believe me, I'm well aware that God is a God of wrath and that under the command of this God, actions were taken and statements made in the scriptures that would at the very least have to be called 'violent' and 'warlike,' anything but 'peaceful.' And Jesus is the one after all who said "I do not come to bring peace but division," (or, in another place, "but a sword"). Notwithstanding this, and so we don't forget, here is a small sample of what a person with a biblical worldview must contend with when thinking about the arguments for peace versus war:

Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. -- Psalm 34:14

Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshech, that I must live among the tents of Kedar. Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.-- Psalm 120:5-7

Deceit is in the mind of those who plan evil, but those who counsel peace have joy.--Proverbs 12:20

When the ways of people please the Lord, he causes even their enemies to be at peace with them.--Proverbs 16:7

Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." --Jesus, in Mark 9:50

"There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one." "Their throats are opened graves; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of vipers is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." -- Paul quoting from a couple of Psalms in Romans 3

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.--Romans 12:18

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.--Paul from 2 Corintnthians 13:11

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. -- Paul describing the Gospel of Peace in Ephesians 6

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. --Hebrews 12:14

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.-- Jesus, weeping over Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-42

Posted to:

reasons, as if i needed them

2006-09-26T13:38:00.000-04:00

Whisky Prajer gave his own spin to a meme that I find interesting. So here's my spin of the wheel of possibility, wherever it may roll (with apologies to Fastball)...

Why I Blog: Reasons I Can Come Up With Today

1. DarkoV has perfectly stated my number one reason so I'm just going to steal it verbatim: Blogging's a porch where you can bring out your opinions, your verbal skills, your life experiences and, usually, have positive connections and comments from folks climbing those 3 short steps from the Internet street.

- I could probably write a longish magazine article to unpack this statement, but maybe D himself ought to.

2. I like it. Originally I was going to make this the number one reason, but I don't do anything just because I like to (I'm not saying that's good or bad, it's just what I do, or don't). I enjoy the experience of putting stuff up and inviting others to look at it.

3. There aren't enough polite, mostly apolitical, non-vulgar, blogs. That's the only kind I can write. It may not be the most interesting blog but you'll never find something on this one that you won't be able to quote in mixed company. It's what I write and it's what I like to read.

4. I've met some interesting people virtually, and have recently met some of those interesting people in person. If you read about my recent trip then you know what I'm talking about. In every case, I felt like I was almost instantly able to connect with the other bloggers I met. These aren't all the same kind of people either, in fact, my views and the views of a couple of these others are miles apart, especially in terms of theology and politics. This didn't seem to matter to them and it certainly made no difference to me.

After I visited Midland, TX and saw three other bloggers at one time (my head is still spinning), one of them, Jimmy Patterson, wrote...

"But when people like Jim come through town and you have lunch and talk like you've been friends your whole life, there is a certain shrinking of the global community occurring. If technology helps us build new friendships and introduces us to good and decent people... there's good in this whole technology thing."

I offered a strong Amen to that.

5. Because I'm still repenting for thinking that blogs were stupid and juvenile. They don't have to be and one day maybe mine won't be either.

6. Why not?

That's what I can think of for now. Anyone else care to share with the rest of the class?

Posted to:

bursting the travel bubble

2006-09-24T15:19:00.000-04:00

I went nuts at the Grand Canyon gift shop and bought something for everyone in my household, myself included. My gift to myself was a mug, a beautifully crafted ceramic number with a southwestern design scheme featuring little petroglyph-ish horses doing laps around the outside and "Grand Canyon" in a plain-yet-lovely script on the inside. This same mug is presently employed in the containment of some french roast coffee I am sipping.

So, yesterday when I returned home, I doled out the gifts--to the delight of everyone I'm sure. Minutes later my wife, my soulmate, my bestest friend in all the world picked up the mug and, reading from the pricetag which I had neglected to remove, called out in a loud, clear voice:

"made in China."

Posted to:

laugh of the week

2006-09-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

I heard about this a few days ago on the road and you all probably know about it already, but Hewlett-Packard is co-sponsoring an award, the Privacy Innovation Award. This award is given to organizations that have "embraced privacy as a competitive advantage."

That in itself is a scream, as I'm sure you've heard. Although, I guess HP's a worthy sponsor of the award since technically it's about privacy as a competitive advantage and HP was spying on its own people. So, they got that going for them.

Even funnier, in my opinion, is what HP's co-sponsor (IAPP - the International Association of Privacy Professionals) had to say in the wake of the HP scandal, as related on the story page at NPR:

"HP's co-sponsor says the company is good on privacy issues, once you set aside the acts of its board."

Um, yeah.

Posted to:

remarkable_stupidity

gwynne, can't you do something about this?

2006-09-24T11:59:00.000-04:00

There's a Kansas City man, a teacher, who is campaigning for Oprah as an '08 presidential candidate.

Says this article, he's even selling t-shirts.

Oprah's not down with it though. She and her flacks are trying to shut the guy down and have accused him of copyright infringement. Because...

"A spokeswoman for Harpo* said that Winfrey has said she has no political aspirations."

Let us all pause in a moment of silent thanksgiving for that.

Harpo is the O's media conglomerate, her name spelled backward, and yet another display of her endless creativity.

Posted to:

defies_categorization

whoa! where am i: home

2006-09-23T20:13:00.000-04:00

Well, the bags are unpacked, a load of clothes is in the wash, the Beige Bull is safely back in his stall and I am already trying to capture my thoughts for the book, as you can see.

It is good to be home, though a little bit strange I must admit: strange not to be checking in to a room right now, strange not to be putting together a list of free hotspots for tomorrow, strange to be thinking about delivering the mail again. It wasn't strange at all though, getting a hug and a big smooch from my wife and from my kids. Delightful, yes, but not strange.

I'd like to say thank you again...

to Gwynne who had a major impact on my trip with her suggestion of the Grand Canyon,

to Cowtown Pattie and her beau who were so much fun to hang out with and whose house is such an amazing home,

to Eric and His Lovely Bride who took time out of their busy lives to open their home to someone they've never met and who certainly must be two of the most gracious people on God's earth.

to Jimmy Patterson who gave me some road music and much else besides and who is just a terrific and humble man,

to Jeff McDonald who wrote such a flattering post today (the feeling is mutual, my friend) and who gave me that delicious Pecan Toffee (dude, that stuff rocks!),

to A. C. Mattern who gave me food for the body and the soul.

to Kate who just radiates sunshine all the time,

to Brian and Jenn who have an amazing ability to launch a friendship with weird strangers from Pennsylvania,

to Ashley and Carrie who hung out with me last night. Gosh, I love you guys... well, you're not guys but... oh, you know what I mean.

to Sam and Stefanie who let me crash at their place last night and woke themselves up early only a few hours later to see me off.

and also to Ashley W. and her mother who I just happened to run into at the restaurant in Westlake, Ohio and who insisted on having me join them and then wouldn't let me pay for my dinner. You'll probably never see this post, but what a blessing you always have been to me, and still are.

I'm home and I'm gonna be staying here for some time now. But even though I just spent the last two weeks on it, that road still beckons.

At the Sideling Hill rest area in the Pennsylvania Appalachians, looking west of course.

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: final stop

2006-09-23T01:59:00.000-04:00

T. Blues closed down tonight and my buddy Sam was invited to play their swan song. Great show, of which a digital live recording was made to be freely distributed to everyone present. Sam played smokin' hot guitar, as usual including his trademark "All Along the Watchtower" during which he plays an unbelievable lead, made all the more incredible by the fact that he puts the guitar behind his head to do it.

Here's a pic from the show and one of the band with T. Blues owner (who got to sing a sizzling lead vocal to Little Lover Boy to close the show).

The Sam Getz Band, from left to right: Tom Getz (Sam's dad. Drums, vox) Club Owner whose name I don't know, Sam Getz (guitars, vox), John McElwain (bass, vox), Jeff Alten (keys, vox).

My next post will, Lord wililng, be from my favorite chair in my living room.

See you down the road.

Posted to:

whoa: where was i -- getting a complex

2006-09-22T20:23:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is freaking me out. I pass through Las Cruces, NM and the next day the news comes over the wire that they've received an anonymous threat and demand for ransom. And then I pass through Denver and again, the next day comes a news story about a dragging death in one of that city's suburbs.

eeeugh. Think I'll stay home for a while.

Posted to:

almost home

2006-09-22T13:59:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

before i left columbus

2006-09-22T12:56:00.000-04:00

I wanted to chat with another blogger and longtime friend, Kate.

You know how sometimes the image you have of someone is sort of frozen in the past and it takes a totally new encounter to shatter and replace the old, inaccurate picture? Well that's what happened this morning. Kate was, some seven years ago, a student in the youth ministry I used to lead. She used to babysit my kids, and they loved her of course because Kate was a sweetheart. And even though I've seen her a few times since leaving Ohio, I had this image of her in my mind as the teenaged former babysitter.

So when this beautiful, professional yet stylish woman stepped out of a car and into the parking lot of Panera this morning, I believe I had to pick my jaw up off the pavement. Kate will correct me if I'm wrong about that but it sure felt that way. In my usual traveling outfit of shorts and a plain t-shirt, I felt (and, in fact, was) completely outclassed. She will perhaps forgive the fact that "Sunrise/Sunset" started to play on the iPod in my head. One thing hasn't changed: Kate's still a sweetheart.

We had a great time and caught up on too many things. Many blessings to you Kate, thanks for supplying a healthy dose of sunshine to this dreary, rainy day. And I hope those classes you're taking go... um, smoothly.

After saying goodbye to Kate, I left Columbus. Tomorrow I head home but in the meantime, I've got one more stop to make...

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: two of columbus' finest

2006-09-21T23:17:00.000-04:00

I actually hung out with three of Columbus' finest today, but I forgot to take a picture with A. C. Mattern who writes Agape's Stable. He cooked up some awesome sish-kabob.

Meet Brian of Beanquest and Jenn of Jennifer's Nest

This winsome couple of the drastically differing heights is letting me crash at their pad, er, um, nest tonight.

Synchronized blogging. You know what they say, the family that blogs together... well, I can't think of a good rhyme. Anyway, the three of us immediately got to work blogging when I stopped by. We began by checking out one of our favorite blogs. Can you tell which it was?

We were going to do much more but those posts about baby squirrels left us plum tuckered out, so it's time to turn in. Brian's redoing his basement and after digging out that coaster from underneath a huge pile of discarded old stuff, we found there was more than enough room for me to sleep down there.

Seriously, thanks Brian and Jenn for a wonderful visit.

These are some great folks they got here in Columbus. If you're real good, you might even meet one more!

Posted to:

whoa! where am i:september 21

2006-09-21T14:24:00.000-04:00

I have arrived in a place not too far from the place I once called my place. It's in Ohio, I suppose you can tell that much from the picture. I'm in another sports town, one which has a huge and pleasantly fierce rivalry with yet another sports town in a neighboring state. Right now, I'm blogging from a shopping megaphenomenon which, like the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, seems only to get bigger with time.

There's a special surprise (and perhaps special surprises) here, too. Oooh! Just you wait.

Where am I?

Posted to:

a champaign breakfast for brian

2006-09-21T14:19:00.000-04:00

You know, I didn't take any pictures of the place, I was so tired. So I ran out early this morning and snapped a few just for you. And I said a special hello to Green Street from you. It was eerily quiet in response.

Posted to:

whoa! where was i: iowa

2006-09-21T14:08:00.000-04:00

I heart Iowa! This state has a reputation for being flat. Now, come on! Does this look flat to you? If it does than you've obviously never been to West Texas, Western Kansas, or Nebraska.

Judging by the driving displays I saw in Iowa, these (yes, I saw more than one) warnings are absolutely necessary.

This place just gets huger and huger:truckers' museum, barber shop, showers, laundry, movie theater(!), "family den" with large screen tv. You could live your whole life here and I think some people do. The only thing is, they have no Chipotle, so you'd have to go out once in a while.

Posted to:

whoa: where am i not

2006-09-20T23:58:00.000-04:00

Okay, I did not go to North Dakota. Apparently some wagering was going on.

I've been to North Dakota, twice. Both in the same year. It's a lovely place. It would be great to make another visit. The only reason I'm not going there is because I forgot to make a left turn at Omaha.

One day I do hope to visit North Dakota and see the vast tracts of state-itude that exist to the left of Fargo and Grand Forks.

So there.

Posted to:

whoa: where am i -- for you sports fans

2006-09-20T23:11:00.000-04:00

This midwestern Big 10 college town has a mascot known as The Chief but that's not what its football team is called.

Where am I?

Sorry, no pictures. I got bored today and slept most of the way here.

Posted to:

so far (almost)

2006-09-20T08:43:00.000-04:00

We've had a couple of erroneous guesses so far about my current destination. Here's another map of where I've been and a hint: I did not go south or southeast from here.

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 11

2006-09-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

I'm at one end of this state, but the whole thing looks like this...

Well, except for this...

Dig those bugs on the windshield. It's still summer alright.

Posted to:

whoa! where was i-- rainbow curve

2006-09-19T21:03:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: Blogger is now accepting my photos. Here they are...

Okay, since blogger doesn't want to load photos here are some links to what I would have posted this morning from Estes Park. These are especially for you mission trip veterans, both of you. I'm in Estes Park how could I not?

Posted to:

HEY BLOGGER!

2006-09-19T20:52:00.000-04:00

Hey you guys!

Why can't I upload photos? Do you even know what there's a problem? Do you give a rip?

Posted to:

remarkable_stupidity

we interrupt this vacation

2006-09-19T10:49:00.000-04:00

...to let you know that BLOGGER SUCKS!!!

You get what you pay for, I guess. Once again this morning blogger won't upload my pictures. Of course this would happen today.

And also, I experienced my first blip of the whole journey. Somehow, despite checking and double checking my bags yesterday, I managed to leave my attache bag in Taos. Not a major problem but it necessitated a trip to the Estes Park Safeway (once I came down from the mountain). I tried very hard to avoid breathing on anyone while I was in the store... I might have been arrested under the patriot act if I had.

Posted to:

so far (almost) further up and further in

2006-09-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 10

2006-09-18T21:37:00.000-04:00

Hopefully I'll have better luck uploading these photos than I had earlier today at Panera in... some other town.

Some of you who've known me for a while, particularly you younger folks should have no trouble with this one...

Posted to:

front seat at 4000 miles

2006-09-18T15:41:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 9

2006-09-18T00:14:00.000-04:00

A view from downtown...

Posted to:

whoah! where am i: day 9 part deux

2006-09-17T19:30:00.000-04:00

Hint: I can't yet bear to head east, but I'm no longer heading west either.

Posted to:

just for eric

2006-09-17T19:25:00.000-04:00

I only counted seven different kinds of olives... must have been a slow day. However, there were 43 different varieties of strange people inside. Woah.

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 9

2006-09-17T15:16:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

driverview 917

2006-09-17T12:18:00.000-04:00

Me and the Beige Bull sneaking out of Gallup, NM before dawn.

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 8-- That Was So Yesterday

2006-09-17T12:05:00.000-04:00

"Today's day 9, why are you still stuck in yesterday?" you ask.

Because there's this one more thing I wanted you to know, sort of as a warning.

Heading west out of Flagstaff yesterday toward Winslow, AZ (where you can get your picture taken with a girl in flatbed Ford; I didn't) I came across a sign that said "Meteor Crater." I'd forgotten all about the meteor crater! I remember seeing pictures of it in an Astronomy book I used to page through when I was a kid. It was a graduate level astronomy book, which I still wouldn't understand and would probably still only look at for the pictures.

The signs had a tourist trappy tone to them, and there were about 500 of them, give or take, so that was another clue. Yet, at the last minute I cut off the 18 wheeler I was passing a made for the exit. Driving down Meteor Crater Road I noted how well maintained it was. This should have been another clue.

So I get to the Meteor Crater visitor center and R/V park and get out hoping to take one quick picture and then be gone. But, see, there's no way to get up to the crater. There's a fence around it; one of those fences you see lining federal prisons, with the razor wire on top. You think I'm jokind don't you. So I would have to go through the visitor center to see the thing. I approached the window where a sign said "Ticket Sales." and below that "Adults $15"

So, here's a picture from Google Earth instead:

Driving away at a high rate of speed, I repeated the DJ's voice over from the Winslow promotional station, AM 610: "METEOR CRATER! Experience the impact." Go ahead, try saying that in a really intense voice. Eventually I began making up my own slogans...

"METEOR CRATER! Experience the impact on your wallet."
"METEOR CRATER! The biggest friggin' rip off in the United friggin' States!"
"METEOR CRATER! We'll take your money and use it to maintain our nice road!"
"METEOR CRATER! Less fun than you'll have all week, for more money!"

& c...

Posted to:

driverview 916 -- post canyon

2006-09-16T21:46:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 8 -- more canyon

2006-09-16T21:31:00.000-04:00

It is almost devastating, one's first ever view of the Canyon. People gasp when they pass out from behind the pinons and see the whole vast multicolored hole in the earth. I felt like I might actually cry. We're reduced to "LOOK AT THAT!" "WOAH!" ... almost mindless expressions of awe. The reality of the canyon actually makes the whole Chevy Chase "Okay, then" moment from Vacation especially funny. You should only watch that film after your first visit to the canyon. There's absolutely no way to be dismissive about it. It stops you in your tracks, maybe makes your heart stop momentarily. I grabbed the railing and not from vertigo.

The shuttle buses run by the parks service travel three routes. I took the Hermit's Rest route. All the pictures below with the exception of two or three are from that trail.

One never knows where the ant will take its next bite.

From right to left, languages heard as I passed by: French, Asian, Indian, German, English. Pretty cool.

*A special thanks to Gwynne who talked me into actually making a plan (shudder the thought) to include the canyon in my trip. I am in your debt, Skinny Latte.

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 8 -- no words

2006-09-16T17:03:00.000-04:00

*oops, this one was sideways. All fixed now.

Posted to:

cowtown pattie scores big

2006-09-16T00:47:00.000-04:00

Cowtown Pattie correctly surmised that I am in Arizona tonight.

But where? I'll give you one hint. It's not Yuma.

Posted to:

driverview 915

2006-09-15T20:19:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

driverview smorgasboard: updated with locations

2006-09-15T15:41:00.000-04:00

A couple of driverview pics that I don't have time to put in order 'cause I gotta fly!

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" --- Somewhere in Arizona on Friday.

---West of Midland, TX on Thursday with some pretty heavy thunderboomers.

--In El Paso, Texas on Thursday looking at Mexico

--Just over the border of New Mexico, south by southeast of Las Cruces on I-10 Thursday evening.

--between Lordsburg, NM and Wilcox, AZ early Friday morning.

Posted to:

whoa where am i: midland memories

2006-09-15T15:21:00.000-04:00

Eric and HLB took me out to dinner and I experienced asado for the first, and certainly not the last, time. HLB had to leave to back to work and after she left, I said "she's great" because HLB is a wonderful person. Eric replied, "Yeah. I definitely married way above my class," or something like that.

Now, this is somewhat true. But not completely. His wife is cooler, for sure, but not by much. Eric is one class act. Humble, gracious, and funny too. It was a pleasure meeting the man behind the Ant.

Plus, as if that weren't enough. I got to meet Jeff of Archeotexture too, and of course, Jimmy Patterson of Sticky Doorknobs who was the impetus behind my devotional blog earlier this year. As you saw from the previous post, we all had lunch together (the food, though not pictured, was terrific--good pick Jimmy).

But wait, there's more! As if that weren't enough, my visit made the paper. It was in 9 point type at the bottom of page one, but it was there. Cool, huh?

But all of that aside, here's the real reason I made the 2000+ mile trip to Midland:

Posted to:

blogues gallery: midland, tx september, 2006

2006-09-14T23:11:00.000-04:00

Left to Right:

Jeff McDonald, Me, Jimmy Patterson, Eric Siegmund

Posted to:

spiritual reminders from mundane road experiences

2006-09-14T07:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday upon arriving at my current destination, I went to a certain famous grocery store to look for a certain product that had been pleaded for.

While there I sat down briefly at a table to pop open the laptop and retrieve a certain phone number. I set my brand new sunglasses, the ones I had purchased the previous day in Oklahoma City, down on the table.

I accidentally left them there. Typical of me, actually.

Realizing my mistake shortly after my unsuccessful attempts at searching out the chocolates, I ran back to the table only to find that someone had absquatulated with my sunglasses. I don't know who she was. I never saw her face, all I saw was a rapidly retreating, and admittedly callypigous, female form with what appeared to be my new sunglasses riding atop a head of long, chestnut colored hair.

I mumbled a few choice words. Just now however, I read this week's lectionary passage from the book of James:

If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!

Indeed.

Back in my car, chastened, I proceeded to my host's abode from whence I type these humble words and eat a small portion of crow.

Posted to:

frontseat @ 2000 miles

2006-09-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

driverview 913

2006-09-13T23:56:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

pedestrianview

2006-09-13T23:52:00.000-04:00

Abilene.

Posted to:

driverview 913

2006-09-13T12:31:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 4

2006-09-13T12:04:00.000-04:00

Where the trees squawk.

This city, home of the One of A Kind Texas Lady and her husband is also home to uncountable Grackles. They roost in the trees and make an unholy racket that can be heard from behind the tinted windows of top floor corner offices

We strolled through downtown last night, following the jen-yoo-wine Texas BBQ, admiring angels with trumpets poised and ready to sound a strong clear note. They say it will happen when a virgin passes by. A man on the street dressed in a work vest of municipal orange wielded a strange looking device like a gunslinger itching for a fight.

"He's probably frying grackles," I joked.

The Lady said, "The laser annoys them so they'll fly away." I replied to the effect that she couldn't possibly be serious, but she insisted she was. I maintain that it only makes them grackle all the more.

Later we enjoyed bluesy Telecaster perfectly picked by this man at this place.

And hospitality? These two Texans are its very embodiment. Their house is a thing to be treasured with lots of books, art--both pleasurable and practical--and neighborly love. Their backyard, as I told them yesterday afternoon, is a revelation. My exquisite host should post a whole slew of backyard pictures. It wouldn't be nearly as refreshing as being there in person but at least you would understand what I'm talking about.

Thank you, thank you, thank you my fine hosts and Texas friends.

Posted to:

so far (almost)

2006-09-12T16:07:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 4

2006-09-12T14:41:00.000-04:00

recunize this?

how 'bout this?

If not, don't worry. There's more to come from this locale.

Posted to:

driverview 912

2006-09-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

Roger, team leader. Target acquired.

Posted to:

trip soundtrack

2006-09-12T14:36:00.000-04:00

sonicflood's Cry Holy...

every sun and moon and star
all declaring who you are
we fall silent in amazement
every word who and deep of man
every sea and grain of sand
all creation speaks
and now we sing to proclaim your majesty

Posted to:

it's what's for breakfast

2006-09-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

Coffee
Hash browns scattered all the way.
And grits. Definitely grits.

Posted to:

fuelpumpview 911

2006-09-12T09:27:00.000-04:00

Posted to:

whoa! where am i: day 3

2006-09-12T09:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday a lovely, endlessly interesting and anything but shallow CPA bought me lunch!

So... where was I?

And a huge thank you to my fellow Starbucks fan with the skinny latte. That was fun.

Big hint!

Posted to:

driverview 911b

2006-09-11T22:59:00.000-04:00

patriot's day

Posted to:

trip soundtrack

2006-09-11T13:11:00.000-04:00

The soundtrack into town today included this...

When I first spoke Your name
I used it like a blade
Cutting and sharp
A mask to hide the pain - when I first spoke Your name

When I next spoke Your name
I could no longer bear the weight
Of years hiding behind the ache - when I next spoke Your name

But when You spoke my name
Oh I swear the angels sang
Peace came and stole my shame
when You spoke my name

Now when I speak Your name
I sing it like a sweet refrain
No longer curse You for You broke my chains - I sing Your name

This post especially for Brett. May you be moved to sing the Name today.

*Sing Your Name from the disc "Broken" by Joel Hanson.

Posted to: