Beginning Anew

Blog moving!

2007-05-24T20:45:00.000-05:00

This blog is dying... flatline...kaput!

Head on over to the new diggs at http://blog.plunkettshack.com/

It's more gooder!

An intimate place with God.

2007-05-23T09:12:00.000-05:00

I was reading a former boss, and friend's blog this morning and he had written about going to a Christian writers conference at a retreat center in the mountains of North Carolina. His blog post got me to thinking about the time I spent at Camp Sumatanga when I was younger.
Camp Sumatanga is a United Methodist owned and sponsored camp in the lower Appalachian mountains several miles from my home. I started going there the summer before my freshman year of high school expecting the usual "Church Camp" stuff. You probably know what I mean by that. I was expecting to be beat over the head with the "30 pound Bible on a stick" but in such a way that we were having "fun" and by "fun" I mean we would be forced into silly activities and games that would make us look like complete dorks.

Well, I guess to some extent that was true... at least my first day or so there. We did play some games and were forced into activities like dancing (I know.. Methodists...) to some silly songs and doing hand motions during the songs at "service" times.

What I didn't expect was that we would dive into really loving God and finding him in the quiet that made up a large portion of every day. Every morning at 6:00 am the music played over the camp to wake us up so we could get a shower and be ready to eat at 6:30 (NEVER... I repeat NEVER eat the eggs at breakfast.) 6:00 am. Who were they kidding? IT'S SUMMER! I'm not supposed to be up at 6:00 am! Well, the truth is, it was such a beautiful time of day in the valley of that camp looking around at the mountains that by the time I made it to breakfast every day it didn't matter. Now, realize I am a stupid 14 year old kid... but somehow I managed to appreciate the beauty of the sun coming over the mountain. Just one of the little "tricks" they had that got my attention.

After breakfast there was morning watch. We were given a sheet of paper with some scriptures to look up (yes, we had to look them up, not just read them from the page) and some devotional material on it that related to the theme of the week. We had to be completely silent during this time and we were supposed to go find a place in the camp that was isolated... somewhere we could be alone with God. Then there was a prayer at the end. I am not a big fan of reading a prayer that someone else wrote for me to pray. I've always felt like that was someone else's prayer and that I needed to do my own thing... these prayers were different. Somehow those prayers managed to set the tone of the entire day and really get me ready for the message God had in store.

During the course of a day we would have two worship services, one was very focused, one very laid back. We had time to spend doing whatever we wanted and we had time where we would meet with a small group and discuss our "lesson" for the day. I hate using that word "lesson" because it really doesn't describe it.. I think journey might be a better word, because every day started another journey. If you can imagine putting a group of high school kids who don't know one another in a building with no air conditioning in June.. (remember, this is in Alabama) and that those kids could have a real experience with God and really get some meat from the word.

Of course, given that this was a high school group there was always drama. There was always some kid who didn't want to spend a week in a cabin with no air conditioning, no TV, no radio and a hefty crop of mosquitoes and chiggers but their parents made them come there. There was almost certainly by Tuesday a number of "romances" going on that would more than likely end by the time Saturday came around. I guess even in the most intimate places with God there are going to be distractions. I was guilty of some of that myself, but thankfully God managed to get me focused back in when I needed it most.

I can't really put it into words, and I know this post has been disjointed, but I can't remember any other times in my life that I have ever felt like I was really immersed in Him. I came away from that week with a greater understanding and passion for God. It was in that place, at that time that knew God was really there. I knew that God was not only attainable, He was waiting on me to get quiet enough to hear His voice. A lot of days now, I miss that intimacy.

I've got to find a place and a time to get away and find that again. I still talk to God daily, and I still hear his voice, but it has never been so clear and so strong as it was when I got out of all the clutter and let myself focus on him.

One more memory... on Friday night we had a service where the lights were down in the chapel and we sort of "developed the film" of the journey from that week. It helped make things real. We had communion together, as a group of believers and as a group of people who had just spent a week in constant communion with God. We lit candles and walked out into an open area in the camp under the stars and the enormity of God's creation and we prayed. We had a time to pray for each other, to laugh, cry and be a family. We had spent the last week on an accelerated journey together, and through it we had become a family. It was our chance to say goodbye to one another, because come Saturday morning we would have to go back into the world that had crowded our head with so much noise and clutter that it was difficult to hear from God. When we left that area we left in silence, no words were to be spoken, no music played and no unnecessary noise of any kind. We just soaked. I just got to absorb it all, to really feel the connection. I got a chance to hear from God, and to make my peace with him before going back out into the hectic world outside the gates of Camp Sumatanga. The silence was never awkward. Everyone knew that the silence was filled with praise and basking in God's glory.

Update

2007-05-16T15:40:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that this blog has been pretty much dead for a while now. I guess I just haven't had time for it in a while. Imagine that, huh?

Well, the update is that we are doing well. Ann is healthy, Micah is healthy and growing so fast! He's up to 9lbs 4oz, as of yesterday! We're so proud of him. It's amazing to watch him learn about the world. I never realized how special it really is. He's so alert and it just seems like he's thinking something and can't tell us what he's thinking! (So we have to guess...)

Ann and I bought another car. It's a 2004 Suzuki Aerio SX. Pretty neat little ride. I'm using it for work right now while gas prices are so high. My truck is great, but man it sucks the fuel (and it really isn't that bad... i can't imagine driving something that gets less than 25 mpg.)

I don't have much else to say!

What any Christian church should really be....

2007-04-10T10:45:00.000-05:00

Responsibilities & Expectations

It is important for the pastor and congregation to have a clear understanding of their respective responsibilities and expectations. One of the best such covenants we’ve encountered was written by Dr. Hayes Wicker upon his call to the First Baptist Church of Naples, Florida. Note also the insightful way this defines the character of the church.

Covenant Understanding Between Pastor and People

1. We must discover the activity of God and adjust to it.

2. Undergird everything with prayer.

3. We must walk by faith. Think big not small. (“With God nothing is impossible.”)

4. The bottom line is not “can we afford it?” but “is it God’s will?” (Where He guides He provides.)

5. Everything should be done in the light of this mission statement, “To know Christ and to make Him known.” (We glorify God by reaching people.)

6. All matters should be subjected to the Scriptures. (The issue is truth not tradition or convenience.)

7. The Church is a hospital for sinners not a country club for saints.

8. Problems will be dealt with, not ignored.

9. Hard work is necessary. (William Carey said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”)

10. Strive for week-long and year-long ministry (not just Sunday or the season).

11. There must be constant adjustment for growth. We cannot get overly comfortable. We must create new Bible study units, new ministries, and constantly improve the quality of education.

12. Recognizing that most people have limited time for church, then we must maximize time and do the most important.

13. Ministry is more important than meeting (committees, etc.).

14. Each Christian should discover his/her gift, passion and ministry.

15. We must seek to understand our cultural context and minister to it (baby-boomers, Florida leisure lifestyle, etc.).

16. We should strive for quality and excellence in every area (appearance, music, publication, etc.)

17. The Pastor and staff should be allowed to initiate and lead with trust, support and prayers of the church.

18. Criticism, murmuring and slander must not be allowed to disrupt the fellowship. The Deacons act as peacemakers.

19. We must recognize the need for additional staff to equip believers. (Rarely does a church have too many staff. They pay their way.) This involves more ministers and support personnel.

20. The family must be strengthened not undermined.

21. Outreach must be the priority.

22. We must be vitally concerned with meeting needs and healing hurts through ministries and developing relationships.

23. Biblical doctrine is nonnegotiable; methods are open to evaluation.

24. Since all sin and make mistakes, an attitude and atmosphere of grace must abound.

25. We must seek to develop a lighthouse ministry to all of Southwest Florida.

Drafted by Dr. Wicker and reprinted with his permission. The Body, Charles W. Colson, 1992, Word Publishing, pp. 423-425

Goal of the Church

1. To exalt God in worship.

2. To evangelize, bringing people to a saving knowledge of Christ, with a church attitude that is outward oriented rather than a holy huddle mentality.

3. To edify, taking new Christians and maturing them in the faith.

4. To extend, reaching out into the community to meet physical, spiritual, relational, and emotional needs.

Great new CD I picked up

2007-03-26T07:54:00.000-05:00

I gave this a listen on my way in to work this morning... what a great worship experience! Very acoustic, earthy and genuine. All the lyrics are based directly on scripture, so you know you're not going wrong there either.

Altogether, a GREAT record.... go pick it up!

Nobody Defies Chuck Norris!

2007-03-02T14:56:00.001-06:00

Evaluating Vista and Blog post 100!

2007-03-02T10:31:00.000-06:00

Well, this will be post number 100 to this blog. Pretty sad really, seeing as how I've had this thing for nearly two years. I'm a bad blogger. I know.

I'm sitting in the office right now waiting on a file to download because once again I've tried the new Windows Vista, and as much as I have tried to make it work it just doesn't. Busted. No-Go.

Ok, first, it does look pretty sharp.. I mean it's got some pretty nice features that around service pack 2 will probably be great. I'll be waiting til at least SP1 to try this again. The problem is that the new "Aero Glass" feature actually runs as a service (read: a separate program). This service crashes every time I highlight text, which if you've ever seen me read a site on the computer you'll know that I highlight the paragraph i'm on in case I get distracted.

Second: Playing media in any player, be it WMP 11; Real; Winamp; Streams in proprietary players; etc STINKS

Let me say that again it STINKS.. You can thank (at least partially) DRM or Digital Rights Management which essentially is MS sticking it's nose where it doesn't belong. This nice little program makes my media players hang, and even with 2gb of RAM it makes processor use go to 100% and just stay there until you open task manager and force the process to end.

Sigh... I had higher hopes for this one... but i'm downloading an ISO of Freespire Linux to try out as a dual-boot when I format and re-install XP later this afternoon.

Baby stuff

2007-02-15T17:46:00.001-06:00

Things continue to go well with our little one. We're getting very excited... Ann is preparing for Baby Showers, I'm preparing for hauling things from the baby showers. Thankfully one is in a place with what I lovingly call a "Man Cave": a basement with a 60" TV, a pool table, dart board and other manly things. A bit of refuge for us manly type people who have to be on standby for these things. The only thing I don't look forward to at this point is putting more stuff together. Furniture is done, walls in the room are mostly done (just have to finish the trimming) and all together things just go well.

He moves around... A LOT. The good thing is that he seems to be on a schedule. Lets hope he keeps that up! We had another doctors visit today. Ann had some tests, which turned out good, and then the usual "Hey you're 30 weeks" doctors visit stuff. Next Dr. Appointment: T Minus 2 Weeks. That's right, we're down to the every 2 week visits now. Basically signaling that at any point my wife could come running down the hallway, panting heavily and screaming "ITS TIME!" in a very cheesy 80's sitcom kind of way... except that it never actually happens that way because usually the women folk second guess themselves and aren't even sure if they are in labor (unless the water breaks).

Either way, i'm ready to meet the newest edition of the Plunkett household. After the troubles with the first pregnancy it is hard to believe that we are where we are only about a year later.

Went by the cemetery today, which I honestly feel like I don't do enough. It's nice that we are close by, but it's in the opposite direction from most of the rest of our lives. It's weird to see your son's name on a large stone in a cemetery. It is healing in an odd way too, though.

Well, i'm off to life group in a few minutes. We are settling in there very nicely and having a blast with ministry at our new church.

New Life Group

2007-01-22T11:41:00.000-06:00

Had lunch with the worship pastor and his lovely wife yesterday. We had a great time (although, not so great food). The restaurant was overpriced and the food was mediocre... but ya don't know until you try, right?

Ann and I managed to make it over to our new life group last night. We had the best time, and a pretty good Bible study. The fellowship was awesome. First time in a long time we've felt that at home in a Life Group. Right now there are only 3 couples. One of those couples didn't make it last night so it was just us and the Thornton's. They are an unbelievably on fire couple who really want to see relationships forming and an opportunity for us to help one another grow.

We're finally settling in to a church. It feels good.

Leon's Theory of Ambient Fat.

2007-01-21T15:25:00.000-06:00

or "What I got out of Life Group this Morning"

Wow. So out of everything I got in Life Group (this particular instance is more like Sunday School... but either way), the most memorable of all is the teacher, Leon, has a theory that if you hang around people who are losing weight they leave stray fat molecules in the air that are picked up by those not losing weight.

Hence, "Leon's Theory of Ambient Fat".

We're trying a new life group tonight too.

Heath

and THAT is why you aren't an administrator.

2007-01-05T15:34:00.000-06:00

This morning, I had the conversation that I end up having with every new employee who is moderately computer saavy.

"No, I won't give you administrator privileges. It's bad policy, it gives you too much access to things you don't need and you will break it eventually if you are admin. Not going to happen"

I was then informed (by that wonderful "i'm joking, but i'm not really joking" tone) that the user would annoy the crap out of me until I did.

"Feel free to come by and let me know what software you need installed, they pay me to maintain these machines, I don't mind."

So it took all the way until this afternoon before I get the e-mail.

(Paraphrase) Since i'm not administrator, I can't put shortcuts on my desktop (end paraphrase)

That's all well and good, except that it is in no way the truth. A guest user (which has virtually no privileges) can put shortcuts on the desktop. Now, they won't be there when the user logs off or shuts down the computer, but it will place one on the desktop during that session.

Anyway, i'm rambling.. sorry.

So, I walk down to the users office and here is where I am validated...

"I guess it won't let me move it because it's in my system32 folder".....
...
...
...

That's right... he was screwing around in the folder that (as administrator) deleting, renaming or possibly thinking bad thoughts about a file can corrupt and damage the entire OS.

And THAT is why users can't be administrators....

Geez.

Little Rock flashback

2006-12-31T14:49:00.000-06:00

Those of you who were involved with the youth groups at Grace Church in Little Rock (you know who you are) will appreciate this.

Last night I was sitting at dinner with my wife and my brother's family when from a nearby table a group of kids begin to pick at one another and the argument was ended abruptly with the phrase "Yeah, well.. YOUR FACE!" (Reference here)

It's not original... but I'll always associate that phrase with LR.

Face.

More updates, but no one reads here anymore I guess

2006-12-18T12:49:00.000-06:00

Well, that's okay. It's more for my own sanity anyway.

Things at the house have been good lately, the wife is getting stronger and looking more and more pregnant every day. I wish I could explain how much nicer this pregnancy is going than the last one, despite some bumps in the road. We're so blessed.

We're at 6 months.. 21 weeks, if i'm not mistaken. In some ways April can't come soon enough. In other ways, I know that we're not ready yet. Oh, we're ready as far as "just can't wait to get Micah here"... but the baby's room is still full of stuff from the move, no furniture yet, nothing done to the walls etc. We've got some time, but it's passing pretty fast.

We had another scare since I posted last, but I won't get into those details here... just suffice it to say that things are okay now despite a few tense hours.

Ann and I have found a church... finally. Seemed like we'd never find a good fit, somewhere we actually WANT to get up and go every Sunday. We spent lots of time "looking", though I guess that the morning service at Cracker Barrel doesn't really count. We took some time off and found ourselves again... a most important step in determining what church to go to. We needed the time to find out what we needed and what we needed to give to a ministry. I guess we've found a place to be fed, but i'm still not sure what kind of ministry we'll land in.

With the baby coming soon, it seems like there may not be much point in getting started on something given that we may have a few weeks in the spring where we will be otherwise occupied. I know we won't backslide though, because we just passed the perfect opportunity.

It's odd that most Sundays we woke up to go to church over the last 3 months we ended up skipping it in favor of being home and talking... probably the most time i've spent not "in church" in my life. I guess I decided somewhere along the way that going with the wrong attitude probably wouldn't do me any good. I may have been wrong, but a break from all the politics in church did me good. I feel refreshed.

The church we're going to is similar to most of the churches we've attended in the past 3 years (due to moves, etc... we're really not church gypsies.. I promise). There is one important difference here (and it's not that this is actually a Baptist church)... we don't know anyone. No one I have encountered before goes here... we weren't invited. We just kind of wandered in one morning. We visited a few more places, but this week we landed at this church's early service and for the first time in months I felt God's presence. I've missed that.

Maybe this is a time to rest, just find some comfort in God and quit being so "busy" about church. I worked so hard in the last church that I often missed God... that's something I'll have to be careful of in the future.

I miss just meeting God, which I shouldn't restrict to Sunday morning (and I usually don't). I felt very distant for a long time. I know that was because I allowed myself to be distant. I also know that having a relationship with anyone, much less God, is not all about peaks. I think the valley I have been in over the last few months has been a good experience. I think the rest I needed both physically and spiritually has helped me bounce back more than ever. I'm actually excited about music again. I have played more over the last two weeks than I probably have in years (church stuff excluded).

So here goes... I'm about to dive back in and enjoy some more times of Worship and maybe start climbing out of the cynicism I have been in lately. That's gonna take some time, I'm afraid.

The long awaited update on life.

2006-11-25T19:12:00.000-06:00

Well, where do I start?

It's been a while since i've posted. I guess that is probably the most obvious statement you've heard all day, seeing as how you can see my last post from here.

Work has been kind of the usual except for the last couple of weeks when the company moved locations. I, being the only IT guy for the company had the distinct pleasure of moving all the servers and about half of everyone else's crap. The day before we moved, I found that someone in the downstairs suite had removed and unwired my network patch panel, so after explaining in no uncertain terms that I would mess up someone's Armani suit for them, I spent 5 hours rewiring the patch panel. This puts me somewhere around 1:30AM.. and I have to be back by 8am to get the phone system moved. As it turns out, we didn't need to get in any hurry because Bellsouth was 4 days late getting our phone lines installed. Fun.

Anyway, I survived that little adventure.

So about a week ago now, my loving wife got sick at church and for reasons unknown would not go to the doc. So we spent Wednesday night in the hospital because she was dehydrated which kicked off contractions. That's a bit of a problem at 18 weeks. So anyway, we get her some fluids, and on Thanksgiving we head on home. We pretty much 86'ed the family stuff, except I slipped over to my Nana's house for some lunch. It was very good as usual.

So this brings us up to yesterday.

Ann's mom came over to visit, and so I decided (in my infinite wisdom) to get in the truck and go over to a nearby field in hopes of spotting a large deer which would be so kind as to get within range of my gun. (Not too much to ask, I think).

Just as I get inside the gate, I hear air escaping my drivers side front tire. Well, this is just a minor setback. I'm just a few hundred feet, maybe 150 yards from my parents house. I'll go up, change my tire, and ol' split toe will soon be in my sights. Except that when I get up to the house, my other front tire is now loosing air as well. Apparently in a moment of brilliance I managed to hit whatever I hit the first time again on my way back. So now I have two flat tires.

Great.

This is more than a setback, this is a day-ender. I won't get to see any deer today unless one crosses my path while i'm changing tires. But all is not lost, I've got plenty of time. The tire store doesn't close for another 3 hours. I'm good. As usual, there is a farm truck nearby to get me back and forth (since I only have one spare, getting my truck there isn't going to happen). Just as I get my tires loaded on the spare truck my phone rings.

It's my wife: "Hey, I started having contractions again and the doc wants me to come back to the hospital."

Remember what I said about having plenty of time? Well that just ended. This farm truck might get me to the hospital, and then again it might not. Great. At least her mom is with her, so off I go, to get my tires repaired. After winning the prize of the slowest tire repair in the history of modern automotives, I finally get back to my parents house and with some assistance I manage to get tires back on the truck and on my way to the hospital.

Fast forward a bit, and it's this morning. I get a call from my father-in-law from the parking lot.

You guessed it.

"Your right rear tire is F-L-A-T"

ugh.

So now, i'm to 3 tires in less than 24 hours.

Through a process I would rather not discuss, I managed to get my jack stuck underneath my truck in a position that rendered it completely useless.

So after acquiring another, more reliable jack, I manage to get my tire changed and my 4th tire checked, just for good measure.

Next I make it to the gas station, and just as I get about $6 in the tank, the station runs totally and completely out of 87 octane gasoline... and 89... and there is no way i'm putting 93 in the truck. But I can get my truck washed, so i'll do that. Except that as the car wash gets into the second cycle (the one where my truck is covered in soap), it stops. Dead. Just a drip drip drip on the windshield. Nothing.

So after getting my truck rinsed off from a good old fashioned, reliable water hose I managed to get back to the hospital. I'm sitting here, using the free hospital wi-fi and listening to my son's heartbeat on a fetal heart monitor. It's kind of nice, you know? This pregnancy is going so much better than the last one.

I just hope that my day tomorrow gets a little better.

Calling on Christian Bloggers

2006-10-05T15:14:00.000-05:00

For years now, especially since the 9/11 attacks, people have been calling on the so-called "Moderate Muslims" to denounce their radical counterparts.

I think that it is only appropriate that we as Christians also denounce any association with the most radical among us. This only applies to the most vile and extreme so-called "Christian" cults that are plaguing us today. More specifically I would like to personally denounce any association with Fred Phelps and the members of the "Westboro Baptist Church" whose message of hate and damnation goes directly against the Bible and all Christian beliefs.

These people do not represent Christianity in any way, other than by name. Jesus' entire philosopy and purpose was to reach the lost in a loving way, not by telling them that God hates them, because this is not true.

I urge each of you who call yourself Christian to post a similar message on your blog. I don't want this to turn into a "forward to all your friends if you love Jesus" kind of thing, but I think it is important that these people are not the voice of Christianity that people hear every day.

Real ministry, or church as usual?

2006-09-14T19:12:00.001-05:00

I've been in ministry my entire life. From the time I was 2 weeks old I have been in church with my dad who is a pastor. I have sat in hospitals late into the night with people I don't know. I have visisted numerous nursing homes, again to see people I didn't know.

I have spent many a night in a funeral home for some church member's great Aunt Suzy who she loved dearly but hadn't seen in 20 years and Sally-church-member will just be devastated if her pastor (and his family) don't come to the funeral home and visit, nevermind that Sally-church-member got mad at the pastor 5 years ago over a sermon he preached about tithing or coveting or gossiping or something like that and hasn't been back to the church since except once a year just long enough to stir up more trouble and leave again.

I have also been in ministry positons where I saw hundreds of people come to the alter and make a life changing decision to follow Christ. I have seen mighty moves of God, where revivals break out and last for weeks on end. I've spent time in church services in a tent where worship started at 7pm and didn't end until the wee hours of the morning, dozens of people were saved and the word was never preached from the pulpit.

So i'm rambling, but what is it all about? It's about focus (I know, irony, huh?). We as christians have got to learn that it is not all about "US". The Great Commmission doesn't say "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost... if you feel like it and things are done your way and if no one has hurt your feelings lately."

Unfortunately, the Christian community has allowed themselves to spend more time fighting amongst themselves than they spend spreading the word outside of the four walls. We worry so much about how the sanctuary looks or how the preacher dresses or what he preaches on. We fret about things that offend our asthetic, we groan about whether the air conditioning runs during the week or not because obviously God isn't big enough to supply our needs and pay our power bill.

Really makes you wonder why people find other things to do on Sunday morning, huh? I mean, we all need more stress and argument in our lives. Just something to break up that monotony known as "the rest of our lives".

As for me, this week i'm going on break. I think breakfast at Cracker Barrel is going to be on the agenda this week. Maybe the next week i'll start looking for somewhere to attend church, but it has become evident that my ministry cannot be tied to a church anymore. I am looking into options with other people i've been in church-independent ministry with before (which was the most successful i've been involved in, when you evaluate number of lost people reached)

Church has managed to get in it's own way when it comes to reaching people. The mentality of "the lost people know where we are when they get ready to dodge everlasting retribution" has got to go. Until that time, i'll attend and i'll worship... and i'll promptly go put my time into a ministry that actually reaches people.

Tired of Church

2006-09-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Ever been burnt out? Ever just said "To Heck with this!"? I'm there. Today, my pastor resigned, and though I know the reasons I cannot discuss them here. The problem is that it all comes down to politics. What the church board says happened isn't really what happened, not that what they said isn't true, but it does not address the real issues.

When this church started, we had a vision... that vision was to reach lost people, to engage them where they live. Now the things I hear from the elders and a portion of the membership is "we like our 30 or 40 'family' members"

Not me. I want to see lost people reached.

So today, I also resigned as a member of the P&W team, something I didn't think even a week ago i'd actually do. I wish things could be different. For now, though, i'm going to go to the beach. I will try to turn my mind off for a few days. After that, i'm not sure where I will land, but i'm almost completely positive I will not be jumping into another church based ministry. Don't get me wrong, I intend to have a church home and somehwere that I can go and worship, but as for ministry I will be doing something evangelical, not just politics... oops I mean, church as usual.

I hate politics and I hate it worse when it becomes more important than God.

Real Christians of Genius

2006-08-21T18:28:00.000-05:00

ME Church

2006-08-19T12:19:00.000-05:00

"Nobody Listens to Heath..."

2006-08-16T09:14:00.000-05:00

I don't know how many times in my life I have said this phrase. It is one of the few exceptions to my "don't speak in third person rule".

I am by no means an expert on all things. I have a subset of knowledge on a few topics that I am confident with.

Today's example:

Yesterday, I sent an e-mail. It essentially says: "Effective immediately, everyone should log off each evening and log on each morning. " This is a simple request. I did not state my reasoning, because I shouldn't have to, and if I did no one would get it. I set IT policy. It is my job.

So this morning, I have a co-worker ask "Doesn't it automatically log you off anyway?".... *Slaps forehead (but not in her presence)* "No... that's why I asked you to do it".

This leads me through a conversation that results in the realization that 3 employees are working an old version of the database, because they did not follow my instructions. You see, this morning when they logged on (or were supposed to log on) a new fileserver came online. It is faster, and more reliable than the old one. But some of them said "Oh this request to log off doesn't apply to me... i'll ignore it." So they lost an hours worth of work this morning, and it would have been more if someone hadn't asked me about why they need to log off.

Is it really so hard???

Nobody listens to me.

Things you never thought you'd see

2006-08-04T22:40:00.000-05:00

I was watching the news out of Birmingham tonight, more accurately it was on in the background and I was vaguely aware of it's intrusion into my living room. I perked up when I heard a familiar name, and glanced up to see a picture of 2 people I went to college with. Rewind on the DVR revealed that a young woman I went to college with, married less than a year, was carjacked on monday and shot while trying to escape. Thankfully she is recovering, but she is short a kidney and her spleen. I would have been okay, but her husband (who I also went to college with and knew as an acquaintence) was on there at a press conference and the pain in his eyes cannot be described with words. It is even more powerful if you had ever seen him in "fun zone" mode like I had seen him in many times before.

Amy was a missionary, and she was going back to school to be an elementary school teacher. She'll be great at it. She was always very nice, and I remember her hanging out at the BCM in college (I never did, but I know she did.) We had several classes together, especially the first 2 years. It's just kind of strange when someone YOU KNOW is the subject of these horrible stories on the news. It really catches you off guard because it makes you deal with the possibility that it could be you next.

The full story on this is here

Everyone say a prayer for Amy and Adam tonight. They need it.

Visited States Map

2006-07-23T20:39:00.000-05:00

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Life update.

2006-07-19T13:15:00.000-05:00

Well, since i haven't posted in about 10 days now, I decided i'd take a few minutes break to let you know what's been going on in our lives. Don't get the impression that it is terribly exciting stuff. We don't live exciting lives anymore. No more Celebrities, no more late night transmitter runs, no more fun broadcasting or college pranks. Mostly we run the rut... we work, we eat, we sleep. Lately though, we have been having a little more interesting stuff going on.

First, I have to take back what I said about nothing being exciting. Our church is growing by leaps and bounds. We have made a contingency offer on a building, that offer has been accepted and we have started the process of finding the right bank to loan us the money. This was a church building previously. It will seat 1,000 comfortably, as many as 1,400 squeezed in tightly. That's just the sanctuary. There are also 2 full childrens church facilities, 2 nurseries (Infant and Toddler), a youth room that seats 300-350. Then there's the fact that it comes with 8.53 acres, so we have room to grow! That has been very exciting!

For Ann and I things have been pretty normal. Ann's job has pretty much petered out, so she's home most days. We are saving a good amount of money by her being able to cook every night and have left-overs for lunch. Too bad Gas is nearly $3.00/gal again, and I have a 45 minute drive to and from work every day. Nearly $100/week just on gas... that's a real pain, but God is providing.

I have started another new phase of my job. Not only am I the network administrator, I now have a project to work on for the Government guys... researching a command, control and communications architechture. Ugh. Doesn't get much more boring than that!

My world is pretty much eaten up by work and church now. I have Wednesday night youth band, Thursday night worship band practice, Usually something happening on Saturday with church, of course Sunday morning, then youth band practice on sunday afternoon. For a while i'll be having "special project" meetings every couple of weeks. I need a vacation, and pretty soon, something (probably youth band) will have to go. I can't keep up this pace forever. I've done this to myself before. It rarely keeps working.

Pirates 2

2006-07-09T21:52:00.000-05:00

Yo ho-ho and a bottle of rum.

Good movie... all I have to say is:

"LOOK! An Undead Monkey!"

Today's episode "Setting up the pool" OR "Baptism Wal-Mart Style"

2006-06-26T13:11:00.000-05:00

So, as most of you who read this know, I was in on the ground floor of a church that started up near where I live... now mind you I was 300 miles away when it started, but I was involved a long time before that. When we moved back, after lots of prayer and visiting other churches, we felt like God was leading us to continue our ministry in this church. To give you a vision of the background this church has, it is about to celebrate it's 1 year anniversary. One year ago, we started this church in a storefront that one of the new members had as a Mary Kay facility. In a few weeks, the church moved to the local City Hall, and then on to it's current facility in a former machine shop located in an Industrial Park. As you can imagine, lots of hours of work has gone into this place... a stage was built, Accoustic curtains placed on the wall for decoration and to help soften the effects of the concrete floors and steel beams, a sound system installed, rooms built for youth and kids ministries, and the list goes on.

One thing that had thus far been overlooked was a baptistry... some place for the new converts to carry out the obedient act of being baptized.

Hmm... problem. There really isn't a way to install a baptistry. We could go to the nearby lake, but getting everyone there and relying on the weather this time of year would be a big downside. Pastor Jeff, in his infinite wisdom decides we need a pool. Off to Wal-Mart I go. We begin the process of filling this 3,000 gallon monster IN THE BUILDING (Remember, old warehouse sized machine shop..) about 11:00 on Saturday... we filled and we filled... for 5 hours... and it's just now a little over half full. We can't possibly get this filled and do everything else by Sunday, but the good news is something has come up and we can't do the baptisim on Sunday. So, this week in the evenings I will go over and add water until I can't take the running water anymore and i'll shut it off to try again later.

The funny news is that there is now a picture of my brother and I (To say we look alike would be a vast understatement) in the pool, up to our knees in water trying to get the wrinkles out of the bottom of the pool. That picture will surely go down in church history, and in 10 years, i'm sure that will end up on the big screen in the sanctuary.

The point of all this is that probably by now some of you have thought.. "a wal-mart swimming pool... in the church building... full of water... and you are going to actually use it for baptism?" The answer is yes... Jesus never asked us to go be dunked in the river, not to be sure we have a nice fiberglass pool with a water warmer. (We did simulate a breeze by putting it under the A/C Vent LOL!) What is required of us is found in Acts 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

We all stil get so caught up in how things look, or if we will be accepted, when in reality we should be more worried about if we will be found acceptable to Christ through our obedience.

See ya on the big screen in about 10 years!

Reposting a classic...

2006-06-26T08:12:00.000-05:00

From my blog about a year ago.

There is no way to be cool while buying a toilet plunger....

Let us never mind why I had to buy a toilet plunger... I believe we all know that sometimes these things happen.

What I cannot figure out is why it is impossible to be cool while purchasing a toilet plunger.

If you see a guy buying feminine products, you say to yourself... "gee what a guy, sacrificing his dignity for the one he loves... "

If you see someone buying toilet paper.. it's not a big deal, right? I mean we ALL require that product... so why then does buying a toilet plunger become such an uneasy experience?? Here's why...

After parking in another county in order to walk about a half mile to the front door of what I refer to as the "Ghetto Wal-Mart" I begin my search in the place I feel to be most logical... cleaning supplies. Seems reasonable, here we have things with handles... mops, brooms, etc... and we have cleaning supplies, toilet cleaner, draino these sort of things right? So it seems like a great place for me to start.

Wrong.

After much searching I decide to approach a rather grandmotherly looking Wal-Mart employee, thinking that if anyone can discuss toilet plungers without giggling... this is it. So I say, in my most confident, but non-attention drawing tone "Excuse me ma'am, but I am looking for the toilet plungers"

"SAY WHAT?!?!?!"

Great... Gramma here didn't put in her new hearing aid battery today... so I say little louder... "Toilet Plungers"... gigling from behind me begins....
"TOILET PLUNGERS"....

"OH TOILET PLUNGERS!!!" She says "THOSE ARE IN HARDWARE RIGHT NEXT TO THE PLUMBING SUPPLIES"

Smirking continues in the background...

Hardware is, as fate would have it, on the entire opposite side of the store from where I parked.. not to mention that it is in the back corner. So I proceed. I quickly pick out the most sturdy looking one and start the seemingly mile long trek to the front of the store.

Lets keep in mind that I have no buggy full of goods... you know, milk, bread, magazines, toilet plunger... nope.. I have one item... that's right just one...

I carried it with pride, as if someone had given me an award for excellence in... something, anything...
This was NOT easy.

I finally endure the journey to the front, where i see a line that is short and seems to be the quickest way out. The folks in line ahead move along and the lady just starts to walk away. I'm holding a toilet plunger... I don't want to draw too much attention, but I do want to get out some time today. So I say nicely "excuse me? Ma'am?"

"I'm Closed"

"Oh, but I only ha..."

"I said, i'm Closed"

Great.

I get my items scanned and out the door... But lets remember where I parked. Yes friends, the journey the half mile back to my car was quite possibly the worst of all... people are free to laugh loudly in the security of their cars. I don't know if anyone did, but I can imagine. Maybe i'm paranoid, but I still conclude that....

"There is no way to be cool while buying a toilet plunger. "

Yep.

Every time you think life is going to get boring..

2006-06-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

It comes around to smack you in the back of the head. Things here at work are heating up, I know things others don't and they probably think I don't know what they know. I might not, but I do have good connections.
The good news is, I have been assured that my job is safe. It is funny to me that I left the "unstable" world of broadcasting to come to the "safe" world of IT work... and now the tables have turned.

Fun stuff, to be sure.

Not so sure I agree with this result...

2006-06-05T09:22:00.000-05:00

I disagree with one statement here... that is "The government should use its influence in the public square to support traditional values." A more accurate statement would be that "The Government should not regulate or interfere with the harmless excercising of religion" (Just to cover radical Islam and the like)

You scored as Socially Conservative Republican. Social conservatives share a belief in traditional morality and social mores and the desire to preserve these in present day society, often through civil law or regulation. The government should use its influence in the public square to support traditional family values.

Pro Business Republican

100%

Socially Conservative Republican

100%

Foreign Policy Hawk

80%

Old School Democrat

55%

Libertarian

50%

Green

45%

New Democrat

40%

What's Your Political Philosophy?
created with QuizFarm.com

2006-06-01T08:23:00.000-05:00

Losing Weight

2006-05-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

Not nearly as easy as just 'eating right and exercise', but lately I have started loosing a few pounds here and there. I do have a significantly larger amount of physical activity in the new job, and I have been eating salads for one meal almost every day. (So I take weekends off... shoot me). It has made a tremendous difference. Ann on the other hand is loosing weight too fast because of being kinda sickly for the last 6 or so weeks. She's on her way back from the Doc as we speak. Maybe we'll get her leveled out soon, but the good part is that she's starting to fit in clothes she wore in high school. I'm not arguing, I just hate that being sick was the cause. (I'm also not catching up right at the moment... *sigh*)

We have a good opportunity to drop the weight now, i've lost a pant size already with only minor adjustments... I can probably keep this up. I just know that one meal per weekday I eat a salad. It may have some meat on it, perhaps some boiled egg or something to give it a little protein.

Caught up with an old friend in Wal-mart today. It was good to see her. Ya know, 2 kids later, she still hasn't changed much physically or... well mentally either for that mattter. Ann and I are going to have her and some of Ann's friends from high school over for a cookout sometime soon. That is if we ever get all these blasted boxes unpacked!

Progress has been made on the boxes, we have a very large pile of empties on the back porch, and slowly but surely the closets are gaining clothes. It's the "slowly" part of that phrase that kills me.

I just realized how much i'm rambling. You probably aren't even reading by now. You are thinking "Geez... he hasn't posted in over a week...and this is what I get?" That is if you are, in fact, still reading. Oh well. I'm gonna shut up now.

To borrow the phrase... "love, peace, and chicken grease!"

On the road again...

2006-05-17T11:31:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, i'm not quite as happy about it as Willie Nelson is in that famous song. I know it's almost done, but we have 2 more stores. They are small stores, which is good. The bad news is, the smaller stores usually have the least maintenance, therefore they are the ones with gremlins. Last night, we had 4 workstations. It took 6 hours. First a dead workstation... then a dead printer. Stuff just kept going wrong.

As a note, if you have never been to Chattanooga, there are some pretty interesting things to do here. The Aquarium is a great visit, just make sure there aren't groups of 400 screaming children already on the tour if you go. Be sure to hit the IMAX while you're there.

We are going to take a couple of days off next week to try and get ourselves settled in the house and all of the boxes unpacked. Sounds like great fun, huh?

The end is in sight.

2006-05-09T16:29:00.000-05:00

Always seems like i'm looking toward the next big event in my life.. I finish one thing, excited about the next until I get into that thing and then start looking forward again. This time however, I have a better reason! On May 18th we stop travelling for the business and come home. This means those boxes stacked up everywhere might get unpacked... furniture might be put in place... and just maybe... I could have a meal cooked in my own kitchen again.

Anyway, in the way of news, I traded in the Malibu last week. Got myself a truck, which I reason to be an acceptable move since I now live in the country.I got an 06 Chevy Colorado.

I've already had it out in the pasture getting some mud on the tires. But hey, I caught a 5 lb bass in the process ( gotta love them ponds in the middle of a pasture!)

Things have been quiet other wise. They delivered my son's headstone last week. It's another step in a process that will never completely end. We are so glad to have a permanent marker there. I can't really explain the psychology of it, but it gives yet another level of closure.

Anyway, Ann is grumbling cause i'm making her wake up from her nap so we can go grab some supper. We are in the Eastern time zone, so it's actually 5:30 here.. gonna hit some grub and then go to the pharmacy for tonight. Only 7 more stores!!!!!!!!!!!!

It lives again

2006-04-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

at least this blog gets one more entry!

Sorry for not updating, and I know there are some folks in LR that haven't heard from us since we moved.

Well, the move went quite well, I didn't get to help much, since I wasn't home for the entire week before the truck rolled up to the door.

To give more of the story, I came home from work on Friday afternoon during the really bad tornado outbreak in TN/AL. I had to get to Little Rock... so the family and I loaded up and went. God is faithful, because we drove right between 2 tornadic supercell thunderstorms. The worst weather we encountered was moderate rain.

We got to LR about 2am, crashed, got up about 8:30 and got started packing the rest of the house, and going to get the truck. Finally about 6:00pm we finished up and got on the road, which in a 24ft truck means we still didn't get home until about 2am. We finished unpacking the truck on Sunday afternoon and Monday I went back out on the road. Ann stayed behind and started her new job (same company) and worked some on the house.

SIDE NOTE: Say a prayer for Ann, she is not feeling well.

Anyway, this week, Ann is on the road with me, which is a good thing... she's assisting me on these Server upgrade deployments and we are getting to spend some time together after 2 weeks of only seeing each other on the (very hectic) weekends.

So that is the update... the new job is fine... the contract i'm on right now is pretty sucky, but i'm working for great folks who are really trying their best to take care of me. Hopefully i'll be off the road for a while after may 4th.

God Talks like a southerner

2006-03-26T08:30:00.000-06:00

Lewis Grizzard once said that people shouldn't make fun of the way southerners talk, becuase "God talks like us". I think he is right. Laying in bed this morning about to get up, I was saying a little prayer... I said "God, I know it's a little late, but another confirmation would be nice... just to make me feel better"...

Immediately I got the reply "I sent you 2 rowboats and a helicopter.. what do you want?" (The punchline to one of the greatest Lewis Grizzard jokes ever)...

Yes Sir.. and thanks for the laugh.

Heath

Moving home

2006-03-25T15:51:00.000-06:00

Well, it looks like things are resolving, and that soon I will be moving back to Alabama with my Wife and puppy dog in tow. Unfortunately it looks like leaving work will be a "bad breakup" despite my efforts of giving them over a month's verbal notice, but with no firm date to back it up. (So I do understand where they are coming from... at least). It looks like I might have to start as soon as this week, yes I mean THIS week, as in the one starting on Monday. Not sure how this is going to work yet, still ironing out details.

Good news is, i'm getting to move home, make more money, Ann has a job in her field, also making more money, and that we will be able to work together.

Bad news is, i'll be travelling a lot at the beginning of my job, but there is a good side to that... Ann will be going with me on the road with a laptop to do her work. Not so bad overall. They will also be paying my expenses on the road above my salary. Pretty nice.

Anyway, it really isn't about the money, it's more about going home and Ann being happy about something for the first time since November. She's more excited than I am, although my lack of enthusiasm comes from the stress of these big life-changing decisions that i'm making. As soon as all the decisions are made i'll feel alot better and the happy dance will ensue!

Funniest picture i've seen in a while.

2006-03-23T09:26:00.000-06:00

So it's probably not a shock to anyone that i'm a fan of Star Trek. I would imagine that most of you are sitting back in your chair right now and saying something to the effect of "Thank you Captain Obvious... you like Star Trek.. who would have thought..."

Well, I know... shocking indeed. I ran across this picture though and I just knew that i had to re-post it here. If you are a fan of Star Trek TNG (That would be "The Next Generation" for all you non-trek nerds out there) You'll get this one instantly. The good news is, there is a little extra pop culture thrown in there from Saturday Night Live.

V for Vendetta

2006-03-19T22:32:00.000-06:00

Well, I just returned from seeing V for Vendetta. While technically a well done film, as are all of the Wachowski brothers movies, I disagree with the politics of the film. But who wants to hear about that?

The real story here is this: That creepy mask.

This guy is the main focus of the film... now we could start on a long drawn-out discourse on his reasons for wearing the mask, or his blank face being expressionless as a way of semiotic message that shows how he represents all those in the revolution.. but NAY! I think I have uncovered the real meaning here....

He was introduced into show business by his cousin: None other than "Burger 'King'"

Yes, our masked friend above couldn't have been introduced if our society had not already been desensitized by the creepy "King" waking up people in their beds with a sandwich that has more pig than a BBQ festival. It's a PLOT I tell you! A PLOT!

My shame...

2006-03-09T23:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I know i'm setting myself up to get major heck for this. Man, i'm not even sure I want to admit this... It's kinda sad. I think i've been hanging around middle schoolers too much, almost!

Ok, here it is...

I'm actually kinda enjoying American Idol this season. There is one real reason I think i'm interested this time...
Yep... Taylor Hicks. Not only is he from Alabama, (that would be Sweet Home Alabama, the name only preceeded in sweetness by the names "Jesus" and my wife's name "Ann")

So, score points for him for being a 'Bama boy, and for doing his own thing. No hair dye, no extra stuff, just a starving musician with a groove. And, hey, I only wish I could cut a rug like that guy. Talk about someone who just wants to sing and be heard. If that man is self-conscious in the slightest, he doesn't show it.

Really, have you seen this guy dance? It's not exactly what i'd call "hip", but just go watch it.. it's addictive. Next time I get pulled out on the dance floor at someone's wedding you can bet i'll be excercizing the "Taylor Hicks" moves. Seriously, just go watch it. Of course, there's always a chance that I would end up looking like this guy. **Disclaimer, possible language violation... not sure if he's saying "busted" or something else**

I'm diggin it. Here is a link to an mp3 from his album.

I think i'm gonna try to find his stuff.

*sigh* ok, well. Let it fly.

Studying for the MCDST

2006-03-08T11:59:00.000-06:00

First a programming note: you'll notice that I have changed templates once again. This is due to some complaints about comments not working. Seems that my brilliant custom template was not allowing comments. I, not getting many comments, had not yet noticed. Thanks for pointing that out, readers.

So anyway, it is likely no secret now that I am looking at other job opportunities, and while this is an exciting time it brings some real hard work in with it. I am studying for the Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician exams... yes I feel dirty. My disdain for M$ is not a new thing to those who know me, I prefer a more open development environment, and the ability for everyone to keep the big company honest (on things like data mining and reporting). It also adds to stability and functionality if more people can see the code.

Anyway, to survive I must feed the beast and comply with this detestible... test..thingy. Now, I use MS WinXP on a daily basis, and support over 100 users of it on a regular basis. You would think I could just up and pass this test like nobody's business, right? Nope.. the trick is, you have to answer the "Microsoft Way" of doing things, which, in the real world does not happen.

Oh well. Anyway, just an update since I haven't blogged about anything in quite a while.

A man, a sheep... a love story?

2006-02-22T14:47:00.000-06:00

Ok, this one can just speak for itself.

Get the audio here

Ah... Arkansas...

Makes me really glad to be headed back home to alabama today.

Here we go again.

2006-02-11T17:15:00.000-06:00

I hesitate to put any details here on the blog, as it is open to the world and therefore open for ANYONE to see if they looked for me.

What I need from you guys is prayer... prayer that we won't be distracted from our purpose and where God wants us to be. That we will search for him in all things and not be quick to jump at something because it looks good on the surface.

Also pray that the wordsmithing I just did on a document will do the trick. I'm sure it will, if God has in his plan for this to be the way things will be.

Man, when will life settle into sweet boredom??? Why does MY life have to always be interesting?! (If not to anyone else, then to myself)

A hard couple of weeks

2006-02-09T22:33:00.000-06:00

Yeah, it has been a hard couple of weeks. We have just been surrounded with great folks, and more importantly God's love!

Doesn't mean that the road ahead isn't bumpy, and probably still pretty dark. But... God is providing.

I'm back to work... Ann is recovering nicely... getting to spend some time home resting and being with some friends. We plan on going back to 'bama when Amery Lynn makes her entrance. Don't know when that will be, but we're gonna try. I know that will be a time of very mixed emotions for us. We are SO INCREDIBLY happy for J & R, but also still reeling from our own loss.

That isn't going to stop us from being there for our best friends! We love those guys, and they've been through the loss before too.. they know where we are coming from.

You can see that the blog has taken on a new look... something I tried for a few hours before Caed was born. I'm sure you'll grow to like it.

Anyway, keep those prayers and thoughts going. We still need it.

On a happier note... I did my taxes today... wait, that isn't such happy news either.

*Sigh*

Caedmon Lucas Plunkett

2006-01-28T22:46:00.000-06:00

My first child, a son, was born last night at 6:37. We knew it was an uphill battle. We lost his little heartbeat yesterday morning. He weighed in at 3lbs exactly, and 15 3/4 inches long. Full head of hair. A truly handsome little man.

I love my son. He will always be numbered among my children.

The staff of the hospital was absolutely fantastic.

Ann and I are resting and doing well. We will be with family for the next few days.

No real words. Love... that's really all. We had a good time tonight with our families. Some laughing, some crying... all comforting. God has truly blessed us. We could not ask for a better support structure than we have been given. We want HIM to be glorified by this.

We appreciate all your prayers, thoughts and kind words.

Much love.

Easy on the Eyes... Hard on the Liberals.

2006-01-26T21:27:00.000-06:00

Tonight, I had the rare and unusual privilege of meeting a nationally known figure. Some love her, some hate her... to the extent that each person had to be searched before entering the auditorium. I speak of none other than the lovely and talented Ann Coulter.

Now, I fully acknowledge that to some that name and slender mass of sex appea.......I mean, very sophisticated and controversial woman... yeah... is repulsive. If you disagree with her you almost certainly cannot utter her name without including some explitives that would otherwise refer to members of the female side of our friends, the Canine species. In fact I first heard of her through a very liberal friend of mine who described her as a "ultra right-wing conservative nazi B****". I knew then I must research this person.

I like her becuase she's snarky... she really believes what she says, and she always sticks to her guns. I do agree with *most* of what she says, but of course being two different people we diverge on some issues. It's during those moments in her speeches and regular TV appearances that I stop hearing the words and admire the beaut..... I mean sophistication... yeah.. of her... brain... right.

So while I don't like to get political on this blog very often, I will say this: I likes me some Ann Coulter.

Too funny to pass up.

2006-01-25T20:52:00.000-06:00

From a Photoshop contest themed "People who take their jobs too seriously"

My wife has been captured by pod people

2006-01-08T12:45:00.000-06:00

//disclaimer

Now, mind you i'm not complaining.. I am not saying in any way that this is a bad thing. I LIKE this change. I have already had this conversation with her, so she knows that i'm saying all this stuff... don't be offended for her. None of those

//end disclaimer

I have known my wife for coming up on 7 years... we have been married for 2 of those years, we dated for 3 and a half years before that. I have seen her almost every day in those 7 years. Not one time in the history of my knowing her have I heard these words: "I need to get up and cook breakfast".

I NEED to get up and cook breakfast?? You NEED TO?

And then we top that off with "Can I make you some coffee?"

I thought for a minute I was dreaming.. never, in somewhere around 2500 days that I have known this woman has she expressed the NEED to cook breakfast, and it would be a most rare occurance for her to offer to make coffee! Oh, sure she's said "I think i'm gonna cook breakfast" before... and that is kind of unusual, but not shockingly so.. more usual is "Can we go to Cracker Barrel" but this NEED?!!?!!

I had regained composure, got up and got ready to take a shower when I hear dishes clanking... SHE'S LOADING THE DISHWASHER??? I HAVEN'T EVEN MENTIONED IT!

Oy vey!

So, pod people.. whoever you are.. thank you for leaving me a wife that is still as sweet and beautiful as my original wife, but man that coffee was good... Biscuits and Gravy... Eggs.. I like her.. good job.

Funny about priorities this time of year, isn't it?

2005-12-25T19:58:00.000-06:00

... mostly relating to the fact that my blog has basically died lately because my good friends Ham, Turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, and red velvet cake have come to visit.

Just as an aside, it occured to me the other day that I don't think cranberry sauce would be as good if it didn't have those ridges in it from the can.

But I digress.

Things in the house here have been pretty nice and calm, we slept in this morning, but kinda made up for it this evening by listening to the podcast from church. (what an age we live in, huh?)
Ann's cooking today has been fantastic. Yesterday we exchanged gifts, and had a great time just relaxing around the house.

It seems like lately we get lots of uplifting words, and we really appreciate it. Things can get pretty down if you let them, but thankfully we have lots of folks praying and agreeing on our behalf. It's truly an awesome feeling to know that you are being brought into the Throneroom of God every single day by so many people. It's really more than knowledge though, it is more like a presence.

I know that my reactions to our situation are not considered "normal". I actually struggle with the way I feel. I do not go about fretting over the end result of our pregnancy. My struggle centers around why I do not go about fretting over that end result. Is it my faith that God will heal my child, and this is a reassurance from Him? Is it my faith that God is in control no matter what happens, and this is a reassureance from Him? Is this just a defense mechanism in my mind that, because it creates an overload condition, has shut down my emotions?

I said that, and my wife just started talking to the baby because he (or she) is moving. That happens alot. Anytime we start talking about the baby, or one of us starts to hit a time when we are scared out of our minds, the baby starts offering taps of reassurance. It doesn't matter which of us... in fact Ann didn't even know what I was typing.

We don't doubt at all that their Dad (not me, THE Dad) is moving in them. Coincidence? I'm learning more and more each day that if I believe that "All things work together for the good for them that love the Lord", then NOTHING can be coincidence. Everything must be set in motion.

I'm also contemplating a post on truth, and how truth does not require believers in order to be true. That one has just started forming in my brain, and it may get wadded up and thrown in the wastebasket before long. Don't hold your breath for that post... just a thought i'm having.

A great concert.

2005-12-14T23:34:00.000-06:00

So Ann and I had some tickets to the Steven Curtis Chapman/Mercy Me Christmas Tour tonight at the Alltel, and after a hustle getting there after work we finally made it. About 3 minutes into the first number (a medley, no less) 2 of our co-workers arrive (we all had tickets that people didn't come pick up from the radio station). Then about 30 minutes in, another co-worker and associated family make it in.

At this point, i'd like to take a moment for an aside. Why is it that even when I buy tickets... I get stuck in the middle of a row?? I've never been to a concert that I didn't land in the middle of a row.

Anyway, so Mercy Me does the first set, and SCC comes out to do a small thing before intermission... during intermission, one of the co-workers pulls out backstage meet and greet passes!! So, I actually got to meet SCC and they guys from Mercy Me and spend a few seconds with them... No camera.. just the one in the phone which of course the guy had no idea how to use, so I have no pictures, but I did get autographs from each (Not that I really think an autograph from a Christian artist should be a big deal, just on a servant's heart kind of principle... but I needed SOME proof!)

So overall a great night... although the Alltel sure gives the movie theaters a run for their money on food!!! $4.00 for maybe 8 peices of popcorn chicken and a few french fries... and $4.00 for my drink!!!! The drink should never cost as much or more than the food...

Extra points to myself for the over use of elipses and parenthesis in this post. I'm tired and it's late. Deal with it.

A new level of Geek-dom

2005-12-11T08:31:00.000-06:00

Just when you thought I couldn't get any geekier... sitting on my desk now, where once only a server installation of Linux resided now lives 2 installations... one as my primary desktop.. yep i've abandoned M$ as my primary desktop OS now. I'm using openSUSE 10.0, and so far I love it. I still have my copy of XP Pro on the disk... and i'll use it for some stuff still but not as a primary OS for a while. Looks like i'm gonna have to get myself a bigger hard drive... the 6gb linux partition is filling up quickly.

Oh, and just to add another level of geekiness to the mix.. i'm trying to get a broadcast automation system (Rivendell) working on my new install of linux. Why? A new challenge... it's definately not just "Install" and play.. i've been working on it for 4 days now.

Farewell for now my geeky friends...

Well, that sucks...

2005-12-07T23:32:00.000-06:00

Apparently the lighting show in the previous post got a little too much attention... now, he's shut it down.

Here is the link

I still think we should do it!

I must do this for my house at some point!

2005-11-24T19:27:00.000-06:00

OK, had a friend e-mail this to me... the title of the e-mail was "What happens when a rock concert lighting engineer decorates his house."

Take a look at the video... quite funny.

Ahh... finally some time off

2005-11-22T23:04:00.000-06:00

Yep, starting tomorrow i'm gonna be off for a few days and get to head back to 'bama to see the folks.

We need the break. More accurately we need some time to go to a tropical island where no one knows us and have a few drinks with little umbrellas in them (Ann's drinks would be virgin, of course).

But, Turkey and dressing will have to suffice.
My Nana is gonna love the beard... haha.

And it continues...

2005-11-15T22:00:00.000-06:00

For those who have not gotten the update from today's specialist appointment:

We have essentially the same news, but at least this time I didn't want to strangle the doctor before we left. He leveled with us and was as honest and sincere as I would expect anyone in his situation to be. Zero hope. Essentially, no one survives this condition (Bilateral renal agenisis).

We are still believing for a miracle. We know that God is bigger. We also know that sometimes his ways are not our ways, and that it may be real that his answer to our prayers is "No". That does not make him any less faithful or worthy. We are not angry. I ask lots of tough questions that I know i'll probably never get an answer to. I'm coming to terms with that.

I am very appreciative of all the support that everyone has offered over the last couple of weeks. I could not possibly let each of you know how grateful I am for your words of comfort. Right now, though.. we just need your prayers. I'm weak from the battle, and I just can't talk about it all the time. We're ready to progress on in faith that God can heal, and get on with life as best we can.

For that reason, i'm going to disable comments on this post. It's nothing personal or at all in anyway against anyone. Please don't be offended. If you'd like to communicate via e-mail, that would be great... if you know my e-mail feel free to send me one.

A tough week

2005-11-10T19:10:00.000-06:00

Well, I guess it has probably been noted that it has been nearly 2 weeks since my last blog post. The day of my last post will likely be a day that changes my life forever. As many of you know, we were going to be heading to the doctor that day to find out the sex of our baby.

To make a long story short, the ultrasounds came back with some pretty devastating news... our baby has low amniotic fluid and does not currently have functioning kidneys according to the doctor and a specialist. We are seeking another opinion from a fetal medicine specialist soon, hopefully.

There is so much stuff to write here... so much to say, and there is no way to condense it all into something that wouldn't take you all 2 weeks to read. Let me try to give you the high points.

We know that God is faithful. We know that He loves this baby more than we ever could, and that he loves us and knows the pain we feel. We also know that God is a God of miracles and healing and that more than once, doctors have been wrong. Along with our friends and family, we are praying for a huge miracle to come out of all this.

These last couple of weeks, I have discovered how many friends and "family" I truly have. It's so easy to just say "Oh, that's awful" or something and move on. Not this group. They have been truly lifewalking with Ann and I. The phone calls, cards, meals, and just face time have been something that I will always remember no matter what happens with our baby.

Another great thing from all this is that my faith has increased 100 fold in the last few days. After reeling from the shock of this news for a few minutes I realized that this was something much larger than me. It is in my nature to fix things, to make it better somehow. This time there is nothing I can do. There are no steps that I can take that will fix it. There is no solution that will cost X number of dollars or amount of effort to fix it. I don't think I realized that I was capable of laying something in Gods hands as completely as this. All I can do about it is pray, trust God to work either supernaturally or through doctors and nurses, and keep my insurance paid.

Work has been hectic as usual and not surprisingly I have worked about 60 hours this week. Long, long week... but like this blog post, it's coming to an end.

I'll leave you with something that has been of great comfort to us this week. It is from the part where Jesus is about to go heal/raise from the dead Jarius' daughter, and the people came to tell Jarius to leave Jesus alone, because his daughter was dead.

Mark 5:36

"Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe.""

Judge Alito

2005-11-01T08:49:00.000-06:00

"Alito's selection today was immediately opposed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America."

"Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice, said that instead of unifying the country, President Bush 'has chosen the path of confrontation.'"

"NOW is strongly opposed to the elevation of Judge Alito and will activate our members in communities nationwide to defeat his nomination to the High Court,"

I like him already.

You guys rock.

2005-10-30T20:52:00.000-06:00

High schoolers.. Thank you for showing up tonight at open mic night. You guys rock. You showed a a great deal of initiative. You have no idea how much our middle schoolers look up to you.

I have made a video about being real. It contains footage from tonights event.

We had a blast! Enjoy the video!

Oh yeah... I forgot about my blog...

2005-10-25T20:01:00.000-05:00

Haha, so not really.. just haven't had the opportunity to get around a non-work-related keyboard and type out anything lately. Work is unusually hectic, but going well.

A week from tomorrow we get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl... that's exciting news, of course. We'll be posting something here, i'm sure. I'm pretty sure that I had a blog rant stored up, but don't really remember what it was now.

I looked into doing the Google Adsense thing on my blog, but I decided that 1) I don't want to commercialize this blog so that later I can rant about how Christmas is so commercial, 2) It could turn into a tax hassle and 3) I'm not a fan of exposing my alleged readership to even more media onslaught.

So, there you go.. i'm sacrificing money for you people.. so send me some, ok?? Great.

I'm waiting.

Nothing?

Well... I guess what they say is true... you can't buy a true friend.

I'm so proud!!

2005-10-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

According to this article, Chewbacca will become a U.S. Citizen.

XXXchurch.com ????

2005-10-09T19:56:00.000-05:00

With all the talk about P&M going on at Grace Church lately, when I ran across this news story and subsiquent web site I couldn't pass it up.

http://www.xxxchurch.com

Yes, it's a safe link. Actually a church (found in this news story) started this site.

Give it a vist. I really think it's worthwhile for guys. Even got a peice of free software that runs on your computer and once a month it e-mails your accountability partner a list of questionable sites you've visited . "Oh i'll just close it" you say? Well, it logs everytime you manually close it too. So your accountability partner will know if you tried to circumvent the system. Why did you close it if you weren't doing anything? (It uses minimal system resources, so "It made my computer slow" doesn't work either)

When does it stop?!?

2005-10-05T16:37:00.000-05:00

This article is truly disturbing.

So now we have decided that the Bible is not true? Such relativism and "pick and choose" christianity.

It's like people are saying "Well, I like this part, but that part.. well that just doesn't mean what it says, surely! That's so politically incorrect" or "That doesn't make me feel good so it must not be from God... Oh i'm sorry I mean to use a lower case g for god.. I don't want to offend anyone."

Man this stuff is getting too frightening. I makes me sick to my stomach.

I just have to remember that God is in control.

Should he be elected?

2005-10-04T09:35:00.000-05:00

We all probably remember the Roy Moore Ten Commandments battle in Alabama. Yesterday he announced that he will run for Governor of Alabama in the upcoming election.

I really do agree with Judge Moore on a moral level and in principle. Yes, this country was founded by Christians and the 10 commandments were and are the backbone of our judicial system.

What I don't agree with is his method. Would Jesus have violated the law in the way that Judge Moore did? Would he have made himself a criminal to prove a point while alienating everyone around him who disagrees? I can't really answer that right now. I think that perhaps going the legal and judicial route would have been more appropriate. We know it is right, nothing in the constitution says that the government can't display religious documents or monuments.

Contrary to popular belief, seperation of church and state is never mentioned in the constitution. What is mentioned is this: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Now, I read that to mean that the Government should stay out of the church's business. Not just Christian churches but all religious institutions. I don't see anywhere in there that it says the government cannot be influenced by a religion. In fact, are not Christians being denied the "free excercise thereof" on a daily basis?

I'm off topic.

So I don't think I could vote for Judge Moore in the upcoming Ala. Gov. election even if I was there. Unfortunately I don't think the alternatives are very good either. I find that the Incumbent has really screwed things up, and the likely Democratic guy is a known mafia guy and he screwed it up worse than Riley.

Ugh, politics.

But here is my question. Do you agree with the way Roy Moore went about his Ten Commandments fight?

Back from my blogging break...

2005-10-02T14:20:00.000-05:00

After a week or two of a break from work, Arkansas and blogging I have returned.

The wife and I enjoyed a few days back home with friends and family, a couple of nights of great concerts and some EXCELLENT Japaneese food. I may very well be in love with Japaneese food from Mikato Steakhouse. I'm glad my wife doesn't mind. She almost has the right to be jealous.

We stayed a couple of nights with each of our parents, and 3 nights with Josh and Rebekah. Rebekah's sister Anna and friend Rachel tagged along for Big Spring Jam, which was cool except that the ONE FREAKING SHOW I WANTED TO SEE GOT RAINED OUT!!!!!!!!!! Yep, the Charlie Daniels concert was rained out. Now, I would have saved myself a buttload of money if it hadn't have been for the CDB show. I didn't really give a flip about the rest of it. A day pass to see Third Day might have been all I would have bought.

Ok... deep breath... i'm good.

How about Rowland said "Pissed off at God" this morning in church.. funny stuff. Write your comment cards now.

Ok, i'm distracted.

Anyway, so as you can see my train of thought left the tracks a long time ago, and i've got to really get back into the swing at work this week. Lots to be done.

Chappelle's show is funny. (I'm RICK JAMES!)

That is all.

Vacation es muy bueno

2005-09-30T11:22:00.000-05:00

I like vacation. More later.

2005-09-19T16:14:00.000-05:00

Jeremiah 2: ²⁶"Like a thief, Israel feels shame only when she gets caught. Kings, officials, priests, and prophets--all are alike in this. ²⁷To an image carved from a piece of wood they say, `You are my father.' To an idol chiseled out of stone they say, `You are my mother.' They turn their backs on me, but in times of trouble they cry out for me to save them! ²⁸Why don't you call on these gods you have made? When danger comes, let them save you if they can! For you have as many gods as there are cities and towns in Judah.

I read this passage the other night when I had to go sit at a remote tower site to let the tower guys re-lamp the beacons. I'm sure I had read it before, but it kind of struck me this time. Maybe it's the NLT version that made it clear up.

How many of us are like this? We go out an do our own thing and manage to get ourselves in trouble, and suddenly we are the most God fearing person on the planet! Only because we got caught do we feel the need to apologize or ask forgiveness... not because we know it greives the Father.

Our lessons in youth have been centered on identity lately. This is a great subject for Middle-School folks. Last night we talked about "Inside-out" Christians versus "Outside-In" Chrisitans. "Inside out" means that we let Jesus into our heart and he works from the inside out and crucifies our sinful nature (See Galatians 5:16-17 and 24-25). An "outside-in" christian trys to make themselves good by making external changes that don't start by changing their heart (i'm going to quit *insert bad thing here*).

Where do you fall in this? Am I way off base? Let me know what you think!

One of the most important days of the year

2005-09-19T11:07:00.000-05:00

Yes friends, it's that time of year again... it's still hot, but the beginnings of fall are coming around and all over the world people are gathering to celebrate.

Magical season, it be mateys... Avast ye! This be one of the most important holidays each year... International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Aye, it be no Christmas or Easter, but coming in first isn't all life is about! ARR!

So if you read this too late to celebrate this year, smartly mark next September 19th... for TLAPD will continue!

One more thing..

2005-09-13T19:08:00.000-05:00

What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor.. or was that the Sunken Trailer. :-)

Inside joke for my guys from Fastbreak. :-)

I had a great time with you crazy guys this weekend.

Rambling...

2005-09-13T15:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the time between posts, I could continue my previous rants but it's just not worth it any more. I'm so tired of this stinking mess that our politicians have become. I don't know if it's gotten worse or if i'm just more aware.

But enough about that. Got a chance to make it out to Fastbreak with the youth this weekend. I didn't get to stay as much as I would have liked because i'm a dodo and didn't ask to be off-call. I ended up working 'til about 1:00 AM on Friday night/Saturday morning. Made it out for most of the day saturday. Had great fun and some great discussions with our guys. I'm hereby calling for the middle school boys to talk more. I'm not gonna eat you alive for expressing yourself. Let us know what's going on in there.... we know you are noodling something.

I went canoeing for the first time. That was a blast... of course there is the beginning of a bad joke that could be made... "A preachers kid and a pregnant woman in a canoe". I am contemplating the purchase of a canoe when I get some $$$. That won't be this week.

Other than that, we've been busy but in a slow kinda way. It's been the usual busy, nothing special. I really hope I don't get a phone call at 5am about a remote on the news/talk station. We are doing a food/clothing/neccessities drive at War Memorial Stadium here in LR.

Looking very much forward to our vacation in a few days. May have found a new (much smaller) puppy... wait and see at this point.

New Orleans in shambles... and then there is the hurricane damage.

2005-09-05T12:19:00.000-05:00

Before I go on this rant, I want it to be noted that I in no way want to discount the tragedy and horrible loss of human life and property on the Gulf Coast. I understand first hand from my own life experiences the desperation and suffering that goes with a natural disaster.

Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans went on an extended and emotional rant on radio station WWL a few evenings ago. In this rant he blamed the state and federal government for not doing enough to help them. This is my response to that broadcast. It is posted here, as well as on a Broadcasting forum as a part of a discussion. It is slightly edited for context here.

BEGIN RANT

It's about time that someone stood up and took some responsiblity and quit pointing their fingers at everyone else. Local government is the first line of response, and that is where the failures began. Having lived through, or been involved in several natural disasters in the past, I can tell you that LOCAL response is the short term, with state and federal coming in for the long term.

People were warned for days that this thing was coming. The federal government provides NOAA, which has the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather service. We have sattelites, RADAR, planes, ships and other detection and forecast implements... all provided by the government. Broadcast media is licensed with a condition of PUBLIC SERVICE to disseminate this kind of information. What more can the federal government do? If they had come before the storm with military helicopters and forced people to leave their homes, the outcry would have been unreal! "How dare you force someone to leave their home"... yet now they act like George W. Bush himself should have been there holding each person's hand guiding them individually to safety.

Was the Federal response sufficient and timely? No... but with this scale disaster, how could it have been? Days before Katrina hit land the resources began to move. One person this week said it quite well.. "turning around federal resources is like turning around the titanic. It doesn't happen quickly"

But really, New Orleans should have been more prepared. They didn't learn of this tragedy just a few days ago... they learned of this many years ago. It has been known fact for decades that if NOLA took a direct hit from a big hurricane that this would happen. They may not have had a date circled on a calendar, but no one can deny that this was predictable.

Again, I don't want to be insensitive, rather I want people to snap out of it and start taking some PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY! Having an evacuation plan for the poor and handicapped of a city with the circumstances of NOLA should be a given. There should have been hundreds of busses (now all sitting underwater, ruined.. another thing my tax dollars will have to pay for) bringing people out of there starting on Friday or Saturday.

If I walk out in the street and stand in front of a fast moving 18-wheeler it's not the truck driver's fault, much less the contractor who built the road!

We have become a nation of finger pointers. No one wants to stand up and take responsibilty for their own actions or incompetence. I for one am sick and tired of hearing the talking heads on both sides screaming at one another over things that are clearly their own fault, or even worse neither side's fault!

I could go on a totally different rant inside of this rant about how it all starts because parents won't tell their children that they are not always right and teachers have stopped telling children that they failed at something, but I digress.

When will people learn that failure is a part of growth? If we would use this opportunity to learn from what went wrong on all levels, next time it might not be so bad.

END RANT

...and i'm not even on call!

2005-09-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the length between posts. I haven't been on call now for quite a few days, probably 2 weeks. This is the longest i've been off call in months.

It isn't that simple.

I have arrived at that point in my career in general, and this job in particular, where even off call doesn't mean I won't get called back into work. Last night I had 2 seperate calls in the period of an hour, and about 5:30 this morning I had to get up and help with a Codec problem at our Hurricane Katrina relief drive. I have been going ever since.

Our big news-talk FM is on generator because the junction box that supplies commercial power had a meltdown. We are down to about 38 hours of fuel left, and what great timing with the fuel price increases.

So even though i'm not "on call"... don't let that fool you. I still have to go whenever the phone rings. But also don't think i'm tore up about it. This is the most fun job on the planet 99.9% of the time.

Don't tick off the techies...

2005-08-24T14:45:00.000-05:00

When I worked in theatre we used to have this saying "Don't tick off the techies... without us you would be standing naked on an empty, dark stage and no one could hear you." This will loosely apply to the following scenario.

I hate being lied to. I totally despise it, and lets remember that I have a degree in communications, i've been taught to see the signs of deception.

This morning one of our fine talent comes in to complain about the fact that we haven't put in this piece of equipment he bought and wanted installed (immediately, I might add). He thinks we are totally out to get him and ruin his show.

I explained that the equipment wasn't up to the standards we require as a part of our audio airchain. A $99 vocal effects processor, not pre-approved by engineering, doesn't go on the air. Period.

He proceeds to rant that this is the processor that the "big boys" use and we are just narrow minded and out to get him... how dare we!?!

I asked which "big boys" were using this equipment... His reply made me smile. "Mark and Brian"

Mark and Brian are a syndicated morning show out of Los Angeles. Mark, it just so happens graduated out of the same communications program that I did. We share a common contact. So I pop an e-mail off to a former professor who then gives me Mark Thompsons e-mail address. Not his work address mind you, but his personal address.

I ask him if they use a Vocal 300 Digitech processor on their morning show, and get a reply from him showing a converstation with his producer who says "No, we use some kind of harmonizer" And offers to get the exact technical name of it for me. I have requested it, but I now know beyond a doubt that I was being lied to so he could get his way.

So here is a lesson... don't lie to me. If I would go to the trouble of tracking down a nationally syndicated morning talk show host who is on vacation in order to find out if a co-worker is lying to me... what makes you think I wouldn't do the same to you?

Man, having connections is great!

Goodbye puppies..

2005-08-23T13:28:00.000-05:00

Our morning began rather uneventful. That soon changed.

We have been having some agression problems with the dogs, so yesterday we took the older one (otto) to the vet to get "the snip". We went to get him this morning... paid the bill ($185! SHEESH!), all is well. We drive home with Otto, and as soon as we get out of the car the dogs start barking at one another.... then growling... soon, Ed runs off to see what Ann is doing, so I (thinking the other dog is already chained) bring Otto into the fence. In about 3 seconds they look like a tumbleweed flying through an abandoned mining town. Growling, blood, guts, spit... well you get the idea. I still have Otto by the leash, so I tried pulling him out, and even tried pulling them apart. One of them managed to bite me on the hand...

It was at this point that I decided that one of us had to have some relief. Ann stopped me before I could get my .38 from the bedroom.

This is what happens anytime my family spends money on an animal...

Finally got them seperated (after much more blood, guts, spit...etc) and chained them on opposite ends of the yard. (We had to chain them because of otto's stiches.)

Animal control picked them up around 9:45 to take them to the shelter. We can't have this kind of thing going on with a baby on the way. I'd never forgive myself if Ann or the baby got hurt because I didn't want to give up my dogs. We know it was the right decision, but it's still not fun.

My hand (well, finger to be more accurate) hurts like crazy, but it'll be fine.

Anyone need some retractable leashes and a doggie car harness?

I think a goldfish might be a good choice as a next pet.

Not In my back yard!!!!

2005-08-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

One of the biggest problems we face in the broadcast industry, and all RF related industries in general is the NIMBY attitude. People are constantly complaining about the flashing red beacons on towers, and heaven forbid you want to build a new tower. Then the NIMBY folks really get fired up.

A great example.... read the full story here. I'll summarize:

A struggling church has agreed to allow a cellphone company to put an antenna on their steeple in exchange for rent. It would be flush mounted on the sides, painted the same color as the structure and would be hardly noticeable by passers by.

This church is in a residential area, and when they heard about this what did they do? The community didn't rally around to try and help the church avoid this or give them some money to help prevent needing to rent (essentially) tower space to T-Mobile. Nope... they started a petition against the church. Did they have good research? Nope... they had unfounded fears and myths that they blindly followed.

Their argument centers around the health factor. They say that we can't be sure that these antennas won't hurt our children, mabye even cause cancer. This is relatively new technology and we don't know all the facts. WRONG!

This is NOT new technology. We have been aware of Radio Frequency energy for decades. We know it is totally safe at certain distances, and usually an unsafe distance is totally unattainable by the general population. Here is a fact. I am legally allowed to be exposed to 10 times the amount of RF that most of you reading this blog are. Why? Well, the FCC decided it was safer that way. I had to go through the training and be certified in high RF environments. Radio engineers mostly live to be very old people, in their 70's-80's, even some into their 90's. No more people in RF related jobs die of cancer than the average of any other jobs. Why?

RF isn't harmful in the right dosage. All RF will do is heat your skin, or at certain frequencies it can cause some cell damage IF YOU STAY IN THE HIGH RF FIELD TOO LONG! Here is the trick. Cell phone antennae, at a proper height are totally harmless. Your microwave oven can be more harmful! Now, if you got a ladder and stood in front of one for about 3 hours, you'd be sweating and very dehydrated... if you were looking directly at it, you might even develop a cataract in a few years. But who is that stupid???

I'll end this rant like this. Get your facts straight before you start attacking something you don't understand. Those of us who work in high RF fields are not at any danger if we take the right precautions... and it is our responsibility to you to make sure you are exposed to less than 1/10 of what we are... if we are safe at 10x the amount of exposure... don't you think you'll be fine?

And don't be a hypocrite. How many people on that block do you suppose have cell phones?

I've finally found my inspiration!

2005-08-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

Here in Little Rock I find myself surrounded by nothing but rabid Arkansas Razorback fans. The buzz of anticipation is growing louder and louder as the Kickoff of the 2005 football season begins. I can't seem to find any inspiration to be excited. I am just starting to get back into watching college football, and now that I am living in this foreign land known as Arkansas, I think i'm going back into my football-less state of mind again. I can't openly say "Roll Tide" without fear of being beaten with these God-awful rubber pig hats I see in stores around here.

But finally it occured to me in the shower yesterday what i'm looking forward to this fall! I am looking forward to Razorback football games! I really am.. I can't wait for the hard hitting, grass stained, "woo-pig-sooie" of it all!!!

Why this sudden change of heart you ask???

It's very simple. It means that all these rabid fans will be at home watching their beloved team on TV, and I will be able to get a seat at my favorite restaurants more easily! By my estimation, about 4 in every 5 cars here has a razorback sticker/tag cover/window cling/toothless redneck yelling woo-pig on or in it. That is actually more people than have tags on their cars here. If only 3 of those 4 are actually watching the game, that means that for a period of several hours they will be otherwise occupied! Me and the other of the 5 will be out enjoying a nice quiet meal.
So there you go, Arkansans... that's my deal. When I say "YEA! Arkansas, everyone should watch the game!" What I actually mean is "I'll have the orange peel shrimp and an appetizer of Crab Wontons and Diet Coke" at P.F. Changs.

Knock on wood!

2005-08-13T11:42:00.000-05:00

You ever say something and then say "Knock on wood" while trying to find anything resembling wood to knock on? Well perhaps I should have done that yesterday while posting to my blog. (Please note that I am quite aware of the bad voodoo theology on "Knock on Wood"... its just a figure of speech!)

Not 2 hours after I typed my message to my great readers here on this blog, I recieved an e-mail from Corporate MIS. Basically saying "BIG Vulnerability has been exploited... all machines must have current updates and virus definitions ASAP. This means today!"

We have great tools for doing this sort of thing. I can patch every machine in the building simultaneously with just a few mouse clicks. EXCEPT: On-air automation systems. They require a bit more finesse. You have to time when they reboot much more carefully. Guess which machines were most vulnerable??? You guessed it!

I started at 1:30pm. I finally finished patching just the automation systems at around 9:00 last night... with no real supper break. Thanks to my lovely wife for bringing me a sandwich.

Then I had to contend with patching the rest of the building. Which isn't a huge deal, except that it is time consuming. I finally got home around 10 last night, and I probably will end up running another patch scan today to make sure that everything took (Which it never does).

Here's to having 10 hours of overtime on your paycheck! (But the weekend isn't over yet!... Knock on wood!)

What a week!

2005-08-12T11:07:00.000-05:00

Well, things around here have been very hectic! The boss has been out of town, which means I assume a good number of the duties he performs. Namely I have had 3 different transmitter sites that had to have some attention in the last 2 days. Starting at midnight Thursday morning I had a tower crew climbing one of my towers, requiring me to turn off one of our stations. The estimate was 2 hours. 5 hours and 5 minutes later I actually got to turn the transmitter on, just in time for Morning Drive.

As I hit "Plates On" on the transmitter my phone rang, and people from work letting me know that a critical peice of our Newsroom software had crashed. I'm 45 minutes away from broadband, there is no way I can troubleshoot from where I am. So they have to wait, meanwhile not recieving any state news!

I finally hit the pillow at 6:05am. My alarm sounds at 7:45am because I have to put another of my transmitter sites into directional mode for a cellphone company to do a proof after they built a tower in our protected area. Of course this didn't work right the first time, so my phone rang at 8:07am . Finally get that going. Actually slept until about 10:30 and then a short nap until 11:45. Then more fun. Wiring trouble at the studio!

I finally hit the pillow again at 8:00pm last night. I slept from about 8pm until about 5am... and then i woke up.... no going back to sleep this time. 8:30am appointment with the cellphone guy on another site where they are about to build a tower in our protected area.

I'm gonna be getting some good sleep in this weekend, as long as my cellphone doesn't ring!

But if you know me, don't hesitate to call if you need something. If you just want to chat... make it sometime after noon!
Go check out my other blog to find out about the progress of our little one!

Before everyone gets on me about not updating my blog...

2005-08-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

Here you go.

Vacation plans are forming, slowly but surely. Original plan was to head to the beach. We evaluated the current hurricane forecast, and then we got some news and things just started looking like it would be better if we went more conservative on vacation plans this year.

Then we found out some other news... our best friends who we were going to vacation with, are pregnant too! So that brought us into the even more conservative realm! So we are going back to alabama for a few days in September to catch a music festival and visit with friends and family.

We attended youth last night for Minnesota Golf. It was truly and experience. It always is. Of course I liked this time better, seemed like the course was better planned than before! Afterward we had a very productive meeting and got some stuff set up for the fall. Which reminds me that i need to go send an e-mail.

How do i get roped into these?

2005-07-29T13:02:00.000-05:00

How many books do I own?

We counted at least 10 pretty big boxes that we moved with us. I have sold countless numbers of them in college, so I have owned more than that. Also, many of them live at my parents house... and one of them is on loan to my good friend Josh... he needed it worse than I did at the time. (It is about becoming a Dad... he's getting twins on the first try!)

What was the last book you bought?

The last book "I" bought was Perl for Dummies... can't get too much of that programming knowledge...

What was the last book you read?

Glenn Beck's "The Real America" Great book...

What are FIVE books that have meant alot to you?

The Pursuit of God - A.W. Tozer
The Bible - God
The Real America - Glenn Beck
Grace for the Moment - Max Lucado
(And just because it's my favorite fiction work of all time)
Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank

TATER TOTS????

2005-07-25T13:54:00.000-05:00

I demand a re-count!

You are Tater Tots. Go get your own!!

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I'm usually not stumped by this stuff

2005-07-21T21:47:00.000-05:00

Go over to MysticalBall.com and follow the instructions. Try to beat it, but make sure you did the math correctly.

After your brain has twisted a few times with "How'd they do that" go read this message board and get the answer... someone way smarter than I did this one!

Rest in Peace, Chief Engineer Scott...

2005-07-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

I didn't know him personally, but his character gave us engineers who are constantly asked to do the impossible some hope. Somehow he always managed to figure out a way.

God Bless you, James Doohan... aka Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer: USS Enterprise NCC1701. RIP

Movies good.

2005-07-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

My lovely and talented wife and I decided that in lieu of the sure to be rained out performance of "Much Ado about Nothing" in the park, we would venture out to the opening weekend of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We forgot that our free passes don't work on opening weekend, so we decided to go see Batman Begins.

GOOD MOVIE!!!

Oh man, what a great flick... dark, yes... kinda scary at times, yes.... would I take my kid, probably not... but I don't have a kid YET...

Grant was right. This movie would have been great to show the youth group from a storyline perspective, but it would be hard to sell the parents of 13 year olds on going to see that dark of a movie with a church group. But for us grown-ups... GREAT FILM! The best of the batman movies by far.

So afterward, we are both still very awake and not tired of sitting yet so we decide to splurge and buy tickets for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I must admit, I was previously unfamiliar with the story. Sure I knew that Willy Wonka was in the movie, and he had a chocolate factory, but I had never seen the original movie or read the book. This movie was very good too, though. I have to say that immediately after Batman Begins, it was a little calm for me, but hillariously sarcastic and dark in true Tim Burton fashion.
Johnny Depp did an excellent job with making the character silly but creepy.

Speaking of Johnny Depp, they are doing two new Pirates of the Caribbean movies. WOOHOO!!!

Here is some info I found about it:

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest Premise/Synopsis:
This time around, Johnny returns as Captain Jack Sparrow and is caught in yet another tangled web of supernatural intrigue. It turns out, Captain Jack owes a blood debt to the legendary Davey Jones, ruler of the ocean depths and captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman. If Jack can't figure a crafty way out of this one, he'll be cursed to an afterlife of eternal servitude and damnation. And as if that weren't enough, Captain Jack's problems throw a huge wrench into the wedding plans of the blissful Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who quickly find themselves thrust into Jack's misadventures.

So very cool. I can't wait!

Still can't reveal what i'm preoccupied with just yet. Looks like it will be next weekend before I can talk about it on here. Some of you already know what it is, but i'd appreciate it greatly if you'd keep it down until I write about it here! Thanks!

Working on it, but preoccupied.

2005-07-15T01:34:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, but the one thing that is occupying my whole life right now, I can't discuss just yet. Bear with me.. I promise to have a good post soon. It will be a doozie. Is that how you spell doozie? Dunno.

Later all!

People watching.

2005-07-09T20:39:00.000-05:00

I could give you my rendition of this story, but my wife already did a fine job blogging it, so here's the link.

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Cracked_Vessel (it is the July 9, 2004 post)

Waiting.

2005-07-07T16:20:00.000-05:00

It isn't my strong point. I think that most people would say that waiting or patience is not on the top of their list of favorite things to do. Today I have done a lot of "Hurry up and wait" I got to work around 10:30, I called ABC Radio networks and beat them over the head about a request I put in 2 weeks ago and have asked about 3 times (its a simple change that takes about 30 seconds to do). I waited.

I wired up the new closure for ABC News.... and i'm waiting to see if it works. I've had a few "this is broke" or "that isn't working" calls in the last couple of hours, but overall i'm still waiting. We automate a show for the first time tonight. It's a big deal because this project falls squarely in my lap. I have to wait until 5 to see if my network closure actually gets to the computer, then I have to wait until 6:20 or so to find out of the closure does what its supposed to do (cut away to commercial)

So if test 1 fails at about 5:20, then I have 40 minutes to trace the problem. I don't remember what I did to set it up nearly 2 months ago. That will be fun.

If test 2 fails, thankfully I have an operator who can stay on and handle the problem. That's good news at least. Then he'll be waiting on 9 o'clock.

Waiting... what a drag.

On a lighter note...

2005-07-03T18:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, everyone can wake up from the last post... i'm not gonna get on any term-paper like rants this time...

Today was fun! I always enjoy playing for worship at church... drums this time, bass for the next two weeks (which I am REALLY looking forward to!).

Other than that, I am having fun with a new toy for work... I now have VPN access to the network so I can do some work remotely. It will sure help those 3am phone calls that say "I locked myself out of the computer..." that take appx 30 seconds to fix, but 20 minutes for me to get dressed, drive up there, fix it and turn around and drive back home, get back in bed and lay awake until the alarm goes off... now I can work in my boxers! W00T!

:-) Go ahead.. poke out your minds eye...

Moral Absolutes and Ethical Relativism

2005-06-29T21:15:00.000-05:00

According to a 1991 study, 67% of the population of this country do not believe in absolute truth. 52% of Evangelical Christians said they didn't believe in it!

In 1994, 75% of the U.S. population rejected the concept of absolute truth and 65% of evangelicals rejected it. (McMullen)

Are issues too black and white? Does a gray area exist when it comes to morals? Is lying okay for some situations and not for others?
Christians "typically" fall into a Traditional thought group.

First of all, let’s define some basic terminology.

One definition of truth is: (according to Dictionary.com) Fidelity to an original or standard.

This definition has a couple of dimensions to be considered. Firstly, it is important to note that a standard must exist. So truth is based on the existence of other truths. Also, what would truth be without deception? Is that a standard to which truth must be compared?

Morals are: (again, dictionary.com) Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous: a moral life.

So again we have a comparison to a standard. We have guidelines that we follow to get us to truth and moral behavior. Where are these guidelines derived? For Christians they are given to us in the form of God’s word. We find that we as humans don’t get to choose what is right and wrong when we look at the guides such as the Ten Commandments and other writings that define the will of God with wrong and right in mind.

But what about people who do not believe in God or the Bible? They will fall into one of the other categories of thought. They are modern and post-modern.

A person who tends towards the modern thought will say “if there is no absolute truth, then there can be no absolute right and wrong”. With God out of the equation, is there really truth? So if the answer to that is no, then how can we judge morals? Morals must be based on truth. (McMullen)

There are some subgroups of this group such as “Conventional Relativists” They believe Right and wrong; good and bad are determined by the conventions of one's society, not by any ultimate truth. This brings up some problems because if no one society is wrong then what?

Next is Individual relativists, who basically believe “what’s right for me is right for me, and what’s right for you is right for you” This presents a similar problem as before except on a much larger scale because everyone’s idea of right and wrong will clash if there is no standard.

Then we get to the other school of thought: Postmodernism. This basically states that it’s pointless to look for the truth because it doesn’t exist. Do whatever feels right, and go with it.

The problem with having no moral absolutes is that all things then become permissible, even those things such as Slavery and Racism that it are pretty firmly considered to be a bad idea. If you are in the “Modern” or “Relativist” viewpoint, then you are concerned with what is acceptable by society. If this is the case than people who owned and mistreated slaves were “right” in their society. They were engaging in a practice that was accepted as a part of their culture.

Lets take another example. Murder. Is it ever good? Society says no, most individuals say no, the bible says no. We have 3 agreements that it is a reprehensible act. But if you don’t believe in an Absolute NO, then how can you convict and punish this person for murder?

'If a person doesn't think that there is a God to be accountable to, then what's the point of trying to modify your behaviour to keep it within acceptable ranges? That's how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing, and I've since come to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God, and I believe that I, as well as everyone else, will be accountable to Him.'

These words above are those of Jeffery Dahmer, one of the worst serial killers in the history of mankind. He realized that his belief of there not being an absolute truth to answer to gave him the authority to behave in a way that is unacceptable because there were no after death consequences. Unfortunately for his victims this realization came too late.

We as humans are expected to behave in a particular way, our entire justice system is based on the idea of truth (in the United States, at least). But what is truth? Is it provable fact? How do you really prove facts? There must be a standard on which those facts are based!

Let’s take the concept that “I saw him do it”. You have to believe that the person is giving an accurate representation of what they saw… but it isn’t even that simple. You must first believe that they can see, and that they can commit what they see to memory and reproduce that memory into a communication that we can understand! Do we know that what we remember is fact? Well, often it can be proven through other means, but to what standard are those means held?

We are given a set of standards for our lives. They are great standards. Take sexual sin for example. It is clearly addressed many times in the bible. If we remain sexually pure we are rewarded. We don’t get STD’s, we don’t get pregnant, and we don’t have to deal with the emotional issues of being sexually active. Most would agree that sexual purity is a Biblical principle.

If you don’t believe in the bible, are the consequences any different?

The obvious answer here is NO! All those things can happen whether you believe the bible or not. So truth exists whether you belive or not!

An earlier discussion brought up this point about recent news involving Billy Graham: “he sees things not as black and white, but as issues that have compelling sides and needs to be walked through.”

I contemplated that for a while, and here is my response: There are many issues that could be dealt with in the realm of this comment, but I’ll focus on one of them. We, as a society and as Christians, must have a standard by which to live. If we have no standard then chaos will ensue. We as people have not done very well setting up our own utopia (i.e. the fall of communism) and we cannot rely on our own understanding to guide us. Someone somewhere has to have some moral absolutes or societies as we know them will not continue.

What is important to note about Rev. Graham is his way of loving the sinner and hating the sin. He doesn’t feel the need to attack them as people, but rather he ministers to them through love and appeals to their sense of reason. We don’t need to break out the “30lb Bible on a Stick” and start going around telling people how wrong they are, but we need to build relationships and SHOW them that they should change to conform to the standards set for us by God in the Bible. I’m not saying our message should change, by any means, but the method used by some could be more in the image of Jesus. Remember that Jesus got angry with sinners once too, though. He did not take kindly to the dishonesty that was going on IN THE CHURCH!

Back onto my other topic, ethical relativism. This principle says that “what is right in one situation is not always right in another”. Plato would argue that if given the choice between telling the truth and someone’s life being taken or telling a lie and their life being saved, he supports the lie.

In his book, Ethics in Media Communications. Cases and Controversies. 2^nd ed Louis Day gives a great summary for this topic: telling the truth never needs any moral justification; lying and deception ALWAYS do. (Sourced from McMullen)

Why is this? Because truth is the basis of all morality. Without it, there is no standard to which our actions are to be compared and proven to be the best or right choice!

The age old question of stealing a loaf of bread to feed ones family being right or wrong. How do you think God would view that? Not only is it a direct violation of the Ten Commandments, but it shows a total lack of faith that God can provide for our family within the guidelines he has set forth!

Ok… wrapping this up…

Moral and ethical absolutes are important, and Truth must exist.

I know that seems like an abrupt end to this whole tirade, but that summarizes everything I’ve said and could say on the topic.

OH! One more thing… any good and believable lie has some element of truth. Think about that and leave some comments, if you’ve read this far!

Here’s a link to some of the Dr. McMullen stuff I’ve been sourcing all along here. She was my favorite prof in college and really got me to thinking about this stuff!

http://fly.hiwaay.net/~jmcmulle/310truth.htm

http://www2.una.edu/jmcmulle/310lecture2part2.htm

http://fly.hiwaay.net/~jmcmulle/truthcross.htm

http://www2.una.edu/jmcmulle/400firstamendment-part3.htm

More to come...(updated)

2005-06-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

I think I have a good post coming on Moral Absolutes and Ethical Relativism. I'm still researching it and reading some resources from a respected mentor of mine, and some others out on the web, as well as (of course) What God's word says about it. It may take me a couple of days to get it out there, but hopefully i'll get some good thoughts put together, and hopefully it won't be too boring!

UPDATE: I'm having a hard time making this NOT turn into a college term paper. I've been writing for a half hour and i'm already on page 2. I may have to get everything out and condense it. It could take a while!

Thanks for being patient!

Wha?

2005-06-26T17:35:00.000-05:00

Billy Graham says "that the former president (Clinton) should become an evangelist and allow 'his wife to run the country.'" -Story from the AP.

I think maybe this was taken out of context... Surely what he meant was "Bill is slicker than a TV preacher" and "Hillary might as well run the place, she's already done it once."

But I wasn't there...

A turtle on a fence post...

2005-06-24T23:13:00.000-05:00

Tonight while driving I gave Sean Hannity a listen. I haven't intently listened to him in a long time, but this show caught me by surprize. He was interviewing Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham who is regarded as being probably the greatest evangelist of our time, possibly of all time.

Sean asked Franklin about following in his fathers footsteps, and taking over the Graham crusades. Franklin responded by saying that a ministry like what his dad has isn't something that can be passed down like a business or property (i'm paraphrasing, of course). The part that really spoke to me was this great illustration that he used about his father's ministry.

"It's like a turtle sitting on top of a fencepost, you know he didn't get there by himself"

God puts us all where he wants us to be, and it's even more beneficial if we find ourselves in the center of his will for our lives. Certainly I find myself having this realization all the time in the last 6 months. 8 months ago, if you had told me i'd be living in Arkansas right now, I would have laughed you out of town. In fact that was the attitude with which I first met God. "Ha, real funny... me moving to Arkansas... that's a good one Lord" *wipes a tear from laughter*

Here I am, and I am probably the happiest i've ever been in my career. I know God can maintain it, but I worry about having hit a peak to early, and that it might go downhill from here. But I am like that illustration earlier... I am the turtle. I am sitting on top of a fence post. God had to have put me here or I would have never had the strength, courage, or even the sheer ability to climb up by myself. God put me on a fencepost for a reason. That reason is still somewhat unknown to me and I don't know what the next fencepost will be.

So for twice in all of history, the turtle has been used as a great illustration for living life.
1: Slow and steady do the job.
2: If you are a turtle you don't get on top of a fencepost by yourself.

Franklin Graham went on to say that he is called to evangelism ministry, and that he is following that calling, but I thought it was very insightful of him to realize that without God allowing him that venue he would never be able to achieve it on his own.

BOOM! ... out of proportion!

2005-06-21T18:38:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how tensions can reach an unbelieveable level, only to be thrown over the edge by one misplaced and perhaps misintentioned comment or e-mail. Last night we had problems with our scheduling software outputting a corrupt file. This is an uncommon, but previously documented problem that from time to time raises its ugly head. Unfortunately, to solve this problem means that 2 people (myself and one person from the scheduling department) have to be disturbed after hours. Now I could go on about how that could have been averted if procedure had been followed and the logs had been prepared by the staff before 8pm, but at this point it's irrelevant.

The other person who was called in was NOT happy about being disturbed during her evening with her husband. I, being on call, am quite used to it. I don't like being taken away from a nice meal with my wife or the enjoyment of a movie to answer a phone call or to have to leave and go back to work, but you learn to deal with it.

The scheduling person sent a rather irresponsible and inaccurate e-mail about the support she recieved not only from me, but from my boss (who told her that he wasn't on call, he was at a rehearsal and she needed to call me) . She sent a segment of this workplace into an inferno of blown-out-of-proportion. My boss pointed out to her supervisor the inaccuracies and general bad attitude of the person during our support call last night, and that perhaps it was inappropriate to place blame on Engineering/MIS because we had no control over the export of schedules. IF there was blame to be placed, perhaps it should have been placed on the people who did not do their job before 8pm.

This was taken wrong, blown into quite an explosive argument, and even a few remarks were made claiming that our department was racist in some way. I put a stop to that immediately.

Why do people feel the need to stir? There was no purpose in the original call, there was no purpose in the e-mail... and there was no purpose in the responses given.

I have wasted minutes of my life dealing with this childish stuff... why?

So, next time someone ticks you off... before you fire that e-mail off, be sure and think about it ... read it out loud to someone and get a feeling for it before you send it off. It could really save everyone, including you, some heartache!

PETA... OH THE IRONY!

2005-06-17T22:11:00.000-05:00

I know there is some dual readership between this blog and the one of my friend Wayne, but this was just too good to not post for those who don't read both blogs.

Lets just say that some members of PETA are being charged with cruelty to animals. More from Asian reporter Trisha Takanawa... or Fox news... which ever. (Ok... here's the real link)

I'm going to live.

2005-06-16T19:44:00.000-05:00

At least that's what the Doc says... no appendicitis, just some pain that will pass in a couple of days. I don't even get any good drugs out of the deal. Stinks...

Oh well.

Gee... this day has been a real riot.

2005-06-15T23:00:00.000-05:00

I would like to start out by noting that i'm okay. I'm not sure yet what's wrong with me, but i've got a little (okay, a lot) of pain in my left side. My loving wife asked me to go to the doctor today. I went thinking that perhaps i'd get poked around on, maybe a little bit of questioning and a prescription for some muscle relaxers because it's just a pulled muscle.

No such luck.

First off, they wanted a sample. I had to have a glass of water. No one told me there would be a test when I got here.

Secondly, they want my blood. I'm fond of my blood. I like to keep it. And the first nurse was a really bad shot. She dug around for what seemed like minutes trying to find a vein. Nope... nada. Second young lady comes in, slaps on a tourniquet slings a needle in and she's done in 3 seconds. It was kinda nice, as pain goes.

That's all well and good, but they think I may have appendicitis. Problem. "The pain is on your left side", you say. Good point. But I think i'm backwards. It's rare, but it happens, and my family is prone to it.

SO we go to CT scan. Where I am given 900Ml of liquid to drink. That's the easy part. The hard part is holding it for an HOUR while it gets to the appropriate location. Ugh.

So again, we have to stick my arm for an IV. And what happens... yep you guessed it... she missed. 2 times. Blood is spurting everywhere. I've already lost enough blood, people.. come on! Lets not forget that I can't get too stressed.. 900 Ml of liquid... that could be embarrasing.

Finally we get my CT scan over with about 3:00, and now it is nearly 11:00pm. I don't know the results of my tests... still hurting, and now I have a headache from the CT scan contrast they pumped in my veins. That stuff cannot be good for you.

So that's why I didn't make it to church tonight... sorry about that everyone. I would have rather been there... i'd have rather been at work all day too. (but that's not a stretch for me... I love my job!). Mad props to my Boss who rocks the world... he's not only covering on-call for me, he's actually very concerned that I get well. Kids, get a boss like that and life gets good. It's always better to work for a christian. Especially one who trys to live it.

Gee, can't tell what church I grew up in, can you?

2005-06-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

I took this quiz that Wayne suggested on his blog.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan.
You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition.
You believe that God's grace enables you to choose
to believe in him, even though you yourself are
totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives
you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables
you to live the life of obedience to which God has
called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley
and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

89%

Fundamentalist

75%

Emergent/Postmodern

75%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

71%

Classical Liberal

61%

Reformed Evangelical

61%

Neo orthodox

46%

Modern Liberal

21%

Roman Catholic

14%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Prayers

2005-06-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

I had a thought and e-mailed an old friend of mine a couple of days ago. Today I got an e-mail back that said this:

"I was screwed over by *former employer* my mom died, puppy died last month as result of being caged while tending to my mom in numerous hospitals trying to save her life. I've been unemployed for 10 months and am losing stuff left and right. But enough about my good fortune, thanks for saying hi."

This guy is known for being cynical, for feeling like the whole world is against him, and that no one cares. He's been that way as long as i've known him and probably longer. You can probably tell from his words, he's hurting... but he's defensive. He doesn't want anyone to get in, he just wants to throw his hurt outward onto everyone one else.

"Bob" is an awesome musician, he's played on records and tours for famous people and bands such as country supergroup "ALABAMA". He's known as one of the best in the industry at the instrument he plays. He is a good person. He has a rough exterior and to look at him, you'd think "Grizzly Adams", but he's just a big teddy bear at heart.

Why can't "Bob" find some peace? Because he repeatedly turns his back on God. He's walked away more times than I can remember. I once invited him to church, and he said "okay, but only if I can sit in with the band". I said "I can't guarantee that the worship leader will take to that idea". "Then i'm not going".

This is one of several examples I have in my experiences with him. He could be such a powerful witness for God, such a great person for the kingdom, but he won't turn loose of what he thinks makes him happy. What he's holding on to is the one thing that is holding him down... himself.

Please pray for my friend "Bob" . God knows the situation, and he can help.

He may be the only one who can.

Stupid fights.

2005-06-12T21:46:00.000-05:00

My wife and I fight about the stupidest stuff... I want an LCD projector for the house... why does she have to come up with all the "logical reasons" why I shouldn't buy one?

Sheesh....

:-)

(Note that anyone who sides with me will be invited to watch a movie and/or play Xbox on my projector if I get one. Those who side with her can walk the plank.... er... something.)

(Also note that I must know you in order for an invitation to be extended.)

(and I don't have an X-box, so you gotta bring your own, but i'll provide the DSL!)

Getting real with myself

2005-06-12T13:35:00.000-05:00

Today I had some realizations, and I just need to write them down...

The first one: I am still mourning. I have not gotten over leaving my church back in Alabama. I feel like I failed them, that I left them out to dry, only giving 2 weeks notice that i'd be gone . They understood and we had musicians to fill in, but I was one of the principle players. People depended on me. Since I left, there have been big changes... the worship leader took a different job, the childrens minister left, and from the sound of things it's gone from organized chaos to just plain-ol'-everyday-run-of-the-mill chaos.

I realize that my leaving probably didn't change any of that, but the fact that i'm not there to help with the transition is killing me. I know that I would be used there, except that for some reason God has me here. Maybe it's because I would have changed it and I didn't need to.. I don't know. That's part of my problem too. I don't know.

Number 2: I don't know what i'm supposed to be doing here other than my job. I don't know where i'm supposed to get plugged in. I don't know how i'm supposed to handle my finances. I don't know how i'm supposed to fit in this place . I don't know.

Number 3: I don't have time. I don't have time to get out and make friends, I don't have time to play music. I don't really even have a place to play music other than occasionally at church. I am used to playing at least 2 times a week, usually more like 3-4 times a week, and here I feel like i'm in a drought. I have let my skills get weak because I have no goals. I have no reason to practice because I know i'm not playing this week. Is it all excuses? Probably...

Number 4: I'm really good at wallowing in my own self pity. See? I'm doing it now. Watch!

Number 5: The prospect of an uncertain future is torture. I am a structured kind of guy. I like to have a plan, or at least a map that I can make a plan out of. I'm not talking about spiritually here, i'm talking career. I don't know where I will be living in 2 years. I want some stability, but I sure as heck didn't pick a great career path for that did I?

I'm sure there is WAY more than this to my complecies (I think that would be plural of complex, right?) Right now i'm at the point where I know I have to turn loose of all the STUFF and give it to God, but I just can't . I want control, I need some dominion over my own fate.. but I know that I can't have it, because no matter what... God is in control. I just have to let go of the wheel and quit fighting him on it.

This post brought to you by: the words "self pity", the inablity to relinquish control and the letter "I" (because of heavy usage in this post).

Star Wars Episode III

2005-06-11T19:58:00.000-05:00

So i'm probably one of the last people on the planet to go see it, but I finally made it out today for the matinee showing at the nearby theater.

I can honestly say that it was mostly a waste of my time. Ok... so how does Leia become a Princess? How does Obi-Won get so old so fast? I mean it's only 18 years or so, right? Why did the cute one have to die?? And why did she have to die in such a depressing fashion?!!?

And while we're on the subject, have you ever seen some carrying twins with a belly that small??? I think not!!!!

I can suspend my disbelief only so much. George... would it have killed you to get one size bigger of the pregnant belly suit? HUH? Really.... I mean lets throw in SOME reality.

On the other hand, it was kinda cool to see what finally broke Anakin to make him become Darth Vader. I have to admit that did tie up some loose ends.

Overall, I award it a B- . Mostly because I could not keep from laughing out loud during the really "ooozzhie booozzhie" scenes. Give me a break.. you're telling me that Lord Vader, commander of pretty well the whole freakin dark side was all huggy-bear with somebody? Some "tough leader" you've got there Empire....

There.. most people didn't like the way that the Matrix trilogy ended, and I did... so all your SW fans out there, here is your revenge... I thought that it was a pitiful way to end a really great series.

At least Natalie Portman wasn't *really* injured in the making of this film.
Only her career was hurt.
Ok, I take it back... geez... can't you people take a joke? sheesh!

Lightning Sucks, but it's job security.

2005-06-10T08:43:00.000-05:00

*Ring*
"It appears we've taken a lightning hit"
"Crap"

That's how my week started off. Monday night I got a phone call from my boss, whose initial evaluation was that we didn't have much damage. It seems to take some time for lightning damage to really show it's face. Lots of stuff is/was broken. It stops working when you let the smoke out.

Such as...

One station has 2 transmitters... a main, and a backup. Good plan, right? Yes.. until they both go BOOM!

That's the first time i've ever been a part of setting a transmitter on fire. THAT was fun!

Did I mention that they both went boom at 6am? yep... my favorite time of the morining.

Well, words can't express the level of tired i'm at this week, but i'm thinking i'm gonna sleep late tomorrow... oh I sure hope so. I may even take my phone off the hook..

There is no way to be cool while buying a toliet plunger

2005-06-05T21:17:00.000-05:00

Let us never mind why I had to buy a toilet plunger... I believe we all know that sometimes these things happen.

What I cannot figure out is why it is impossible to be cool while purchasing a toilet plunger.

If you see a guy buying feminine products, you say to yourself... "gee what a guy, sacrificing his dignity for the one he loves... "

If you see someone buying toilet paper.. it's not a big deal, right? I mean we ALL require that product... so why then does buying a toilet plunger become such an uneasy experience?? Here's why...

After parking in another county in order to walk about a half mile to the front door of what I refer to as the "Ghetto Wal-Mart" I begin my search in the place I feel to be most logical... cleaning supplies. Seems reasonable, here we have things with handles... mops, brooms, etc... and we have cleaning supplies, toilet cleaner, draino these sort of things right? So it seems like a great place for me to start.

Wrong.

After much searching I decide to approach a rather grandmotherly looking Wal-Mart employee, thinking that if anyone can discuss toilet plungers without giggling... this is it. So I say, in my most confident, but non-attention drawing tone "Excuse me ma'am, but I am looking for the toilet plungers"

"SAY WHAT?!?!?!"

Great... Gramma here didn't put in her new hearing aid battery today... so I say little louder... "Toilet Plungers"... gigling from behind me begins....
"TOILET PLUNGERS"....

"OH TOILET PLUNGERS!!!" She says "THOSE ARE IN HARDWARE RIGHT NEXT TO THE PLUMBING SUPPLIES"

Smirking continues in the background...

Hardware is, as fate would have it, on the entire opposite side of the store from where I parked.. not to mention that it is in the back corner. So I proceed. I quickly pick out the most sturdy looking one and start the seemingly mile long trek to the front of the store.

Lets keep in mind that I have no buggy full of goods... you know, milk, bread, magazines, toilet plunger... nope.. I have one item... that's right just one...

I carried it with pride, as if someone had given me an award for excellence in... something, anything...
This was NOT easy.

I finally endure the journey to the front, where i see a line that is short and seems to be the quickest way out. The folks in line ahead move along and the lady just starts to walk away. I'm holding a toilet plunger... I don't want to draw too much attention, but I do want to get out some time today. So I say nicely "excuse me? Ma'am?"

"I'm Closed"

"Oh, but I only ha..."

"I said, i'm Closed"

Great.

I get my items scanned and out the door... But lets remember where I parked. Yes friends, the journey the half mile back to my car was quite possibly the worst of all... people are free to laugh loudly in the security of their cars. I don't know if anyone did, but I can imagine. Maybe i'm paranoid, but I still conclude that....

"There is no way to be cool while buying a toilet plunger. "

Yep.