Live Writer

For those of you interested in writing a blog, you might be interested in a product called Windows Live Writer.  This is client software that allows you to write your blog locally and publish to the blog when you’ve finished.  You can use it to create drafts to store for posting later, or to remind you what to write about.  Take a look: www.live.com.

Kstan.

A response to the question "how's work?" from a buddy of mine to is wife in an email:

"work isn't as insane, but it is still busy as a beaver in the midst
of a forest, with dull teeth, a blindfold, and two broken arms, with a
washed out dam, a 50 yard walk from the forest to the river, and in
the middle of a blizzard, with a family of handicapped beavers waiting
for him to finish repairing their dam-house. plus he's chewing gum.

and you can quote me on that."

Live Mesh

www.mesh.com

This is a pretty interesting service from Microsoft. It offers 5 GB of storage and the ability to access your computers from anywhere. This is especially appealing to people who have multiple computers and would like to keep everything in sync.

I’m impressed

 

A Clean Inbox

http://www.43folders.com/2005/02/18/quick-tips-on-processing-your-email-inbox

I’ve recently begun keeping my gmail inbox virtually empty, under 10 emails.  A few technological features of gmail enable this; fast searching for finding emails later, archiving, and labels.  Along with the functionality just described (which is common to many email programs, not just Gmail) I apply a checklist to each email to determine what happens to it. 

After reading an email I find that it falls into one of three categories; needs a response, requires and action, or is purely informational.  For purely informational emails, I determine if needs a label (or in some cases an automatic filter) and then immediately archive it.  If it requires a response I respond to it and then archive it; it will reappear in my inbox if my response does not close the issue.  If I am unable to respond right away I leave it in my inbox.  The article above suggests using labels like “requires response”, but you go with what works here.  If it requires action I star it and leave in the inbox.  If I ever get to the point of checking my starred items folder more frequently it’s possible that I won’t even leave those in the inbox.  By doing that I’ve greatly reduced the number of emails in my inbox.

I’ve found that a vast majority of the emails I receive don’t require any response or action.  Because of this I’m able to keep my inbox tidy.  This practice made me realize I should probably do the same with all the “stuff” in my house.  There is no point in keeping stuff for the sake of keeping it.  I hope to apply a checklist of sorts to all my stuff with the goal of reducing clutter.

Giving

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121418580830795863.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The article says that US citizens gave over $300 billion to charities.  Giving to religious organizations is up over 4% and totaled over $100 billion.

The crazy thing is that in the US, collectively, $300 billion is a drop in the bucket.  What I mean is that most people who give could give more and still not really feel it.

Nerf

http://view.break.com/521743 - Watch more free videos

Got this from another blog I read.

Another Million Dollar Idea

http://www.cozi.com/

I had something like this floating around in my mind for the last year or so.  I imagine I could get very similar functionality by using Google Sites though.

The Beach

Got back from the beach this weekend.  Had a blast down in Waves, NC.  We rented a house from Outer Beaches Realty called Getaways.  It ended up being just right for the group that came.  I got a little sun, plenty of sleep, and had tons of fun.  Next up is a summer camping trip.

String Theory *WARNING: Contains Long Scientific Video That Might Bore Some of You*

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/251

In the next few years the Large Hadron Collider will be operational.  By using enormous amounts of energy scientist operating the LHC will slam particles into each other and perform calculations to compare the before and after energy states.  Many scientist believe this will ultimately explain the origins of the universe.

Optical Illusions

Cool:

Sparkle

Appreciation

Saturday was such a good day, thanks be to the Creator.  I'll just retrace my steps for you and hope you can appreciate it.

I should probably begin on Friday. 

The great thing about the Internet is the fact that, while wires and computers are all on Interconnected Networks, so are people.  Using a Google Group on the Internet, I invited several of my friends from Tech over to hang out.  We played cards and video games until midnight or so.  Everyone eventually went home and shortly thereafter I went to bed.  The late hour was not a problem because the next day of the week was Saturday.

My Saturday was busy. 

Thankfully, Saturday didn't begin for me until 9:30 or so.  The morning is somewhat fuzzy, but I do remember enjoying a bowl of cereal while watching an episode and a half of "The Spectacular Spiderman."  I coordinated the remainder of the day's events and drove out to the softball field.

We warmed up and took the field.  We played well.  Tim pointed out our team had only 1 error in two games that day.  Amazingly, I too, didn't play too poorly.  Dan Boersma made a great throw home and I caught the ball cleanly and made a play at the plate.  It certainly wasn't a close play, but could have been had the throw not been perfect or I not catch it.  In extra innings during the first game, I was up first and managed to get a triple because of a fielding error in the outfield.  We ended up winning that game.

We had a break for about 20 minutes, during which my mom was gracious enough to get food from McDonald's.  I ate in between innings as we played the second game.  This game too came down to the wire, and, like the first, we were victorious.  It was definitely a team effort with everyone getting involved.

My mom and I decided to head over to the theater to watch "Prince Caspian."  We got there just in time for the 3:15 showing.  I was stunned by the picturesque landscapes in which the movie was shot.  It was an entertaining film, though I felt like it wasn't all there for some reason.

As I walked to the car the wind blew.  I felt it all over, it unsettled my hair and gushed across my arms, it rippled my clothes.  Alive.  I realized then and there what a joy it was to experience the wind, experience God, experience worship.  I wasn't singing, I was existing in God's grace and attributing to God the beauty of the creation; worship, in spirit and in truth.

As soon as the movie ended we returned home in time to enjoy leftovers and catch a bit of TV before the Hafich's showed up with Stevie's stuff.  Dave and Micah were super helpful and we made quick work of the task of unloading.  Like the wind, I recognized how loving each other looks.  We are all family.

I finally returned to my home, but only for a enough time to change clothes.  I drove up to Sterling to welcome back a friend from a year away in Chile doing ministry outside the comfort of the norm.  It was a pleasure to see so many friends, family.

Saturday was good.

Creation is good.

Family is good.

Worship is good.

I still color

Definitely, spent about 10 to 15 minutes coloring in the dentist's office yesterday.  It was busy and the only chair left was in the little nook that had a preschooler-sized table and chair.  I sat down, noticed the coloring book and box of crayons and then went to town.  I didn't do the greatest job staying in the lines or sticking to a color scheme, but I had fun anyway.  I should have ripped out the page and taken a picture for you.  Oh well.

I hope you still color...

Evaluate vs. Measure

In the red corner weighing in at 215 pounds fighting out of ThisIsn'tWorthIt, TX is "Evaluate."

In the blue corner weighing in at 216 pounds fighting out of MeaninglessArgument, MN is "Measure."

Today in our EA planning meeting there was a 10 minute discussion about the differences between evaluating and measuring.  It could have easily gone on for another 30 minutes, but thankfully we moved on.  While I could very easily admit and defend that there is a difference, I could also not.  It was a ridiculous conversation and further evidence of the over-thinking that can occur in business world.

More evidence came a few minutes later while reviewing the goals.  The team decided that we can't have goals yet because we hadn't decided what "framework" we were going to use (e.g. mission, vision, goals vs. something else that I forgot.)  It was a little absurd.

Books.

This post is more for my sake than anyone else's (I really think they all are, but whatever).  I've done a lot of reading over the past few months, not as much as some, but plenty and I wanted to see what all I've read.

Jim and Casper Go to Church - Barna

unChristian - Barna

Lincoln on Leadership

Quiet Strength - Tony Dungy's book

Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell

Why We're Not Emergent (from Two Guys Who Should Be)

Ok so it's not as much as I thought, unless I'm missing some (which i think i am).  But these books have spurred a lot of thinking.

Google's Contact Manager is Terrible

I really like Microsoft's Live Contacts.  It is leaps and bounds ahead of Google's contact manager.  I wish they'd some how integrate.  It's not a problem when I access gmail in Windows Live Mail, just when I use gmail's web interface.

Pointless post, sorry.

Boo!

My alarm went off this morning at 6:40 and then about 2 minutes later my toilet flushed by itself.  I'm not married, my roommate wasn't awake yet, and I was still in bed.  I guess it is more than possible that I imagined it.

God's Quarter

The other day at work I wanted to get a soda from the vending machine but didn't have enough money.  I had finished lunch and was thirsty, so I started looking around the floor for a spare quarter.  While doing that I decided to ask God if he'd give me a quarter so I could buy the soda.  I looked around a little bit more and headed back to my desk thinking that God decided not to give me a quarter for a soda.  No more than 10 minutes later did my coworker walk by my cubicle and say "Did anybody drop a quarter?"  I jumped up and said, "Yes, I did, well I didn't but I'll take it!"

God gave me a quarter.  Would he have had I not prayed? Maybe.  Would I have known it was from Him had I not prayed? Maybe.  In any event, if you ever question God's existence remember God's quarter.

Haggling

I am going to haggle for everything from now on (or at least try to remember to.)  I recently read an article that said Best Buy and Circuit City sales associates are encouraged to make the sale even if it means knocking off a few bucks from the retail price.  That article and the fact that I just called up Oneida to cancel my order because the same silverware set was going for less at Walmart but decided not to because the Oneida lady that answered the phone ended up giving me a 15% discount.  I think it still ended up being a little more expensive than Walmart, but not by much.

Robots in Disguise

Pictures to come later, but I finally got around to buying the greatest toy ever. I'm sitting here at work, bored and can't wait to get home to play with it some more.

*Update - I don't think I'll get around to getting pictures up, unless the video my mom made ends up on my computer.