Monthly Archives: January 2005

Bovine Blaze

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Some of you may have seen this report wherein we find that there is a huge pile of cow poop flaming… and it won’t go out. I don’t find this particularly problematic because

  • The poop is not on fire inside the cows
  • I’ve watched Envy and realize it could be a lot worse.
  • The fire is so far away from me I don’t notice it
  • People have been cooking food over fecal fires for a long time. Here’s an example from the Bible. Just as long as the meat gets cooked to FDA regulations.

Also, if cows are responsible for a large amount of methane then we should harness this and then we’d be cooking with gas.

Using Romans 6 Unlawfully

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Romans Chapter 6 is loaded with really great stuff. It encourages the believer to abide so that they might live righteously while discouraging sin. However, more than once I’ve heard this book hammered on as if righteousness is the line with which we’re measured and that we shouldn’t sin any longer. Sure, there’s grace, but it’s not to be ‘used.’

This whole perspective ignores chapter 7 and completely bypasses chapter 8. Chapter 7 clearly states that we’re going to sin and stumble. Chapter 8 plasters us with grace. There’s no reason why we should ever consider 6 without 1 through 5 and 7 through 16 (I double checked and they haven’t added a chapter 17 to Romans). I had a talk with my step-father-in-law this evening and we marvelled at the gift of grace and how so many times we’ve been taught the law and nailed with condemnation instead of encouraged with the 100% nature of grace and that our sins were nailed to the cross with Christ.

Therefore, chapter 8 starts out, we have no condemnation because we are in Christ Jesus. Chapter 6, verse 7 states this another way: For he who has died is aquitted of sin. And since our old nature was killed on the Christ’s cross with Him, we are aquitted. Furthermore, Christ’s righteousness was given to us instead of neutrality, a blank slate or anything else. We are so completely tied in with Christ that when God the Father looks at us, He sees only His Son in us.

Published Photographer

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So, with the help of my wife’s cousin, Amanda, I’m now a published photographer. Not in any large books or in some exclusive location, but nicely enough I’m published on the January 2006 page of the Dallas Fort Worth Marine Aquarium Society’s 2005 calendar. I took a lot of pictures of Amanda’s fish and aquarium based critters and one of them turned out to be worth putting some text on and printing. While this is one giant step for mankind it is a tiny step towards the moon. No… that’s not right. This is a tiny step for me in the direction of printable, sellable, and mostly desirable photography. I want to take pictures that people will want (surprise) so that I can be artistic. My buddy Sean (warning, may contain some nudity) just blows me away with his creative eye while I sit back and try to make sure my pictures are in focus 🙂 However, in the end, I hope that I am able to take great pictures, and bring light to God’s creation – which is amazing.

Plus there’s something magical about the words ‘turkey baster’ being printed on your picture.

January 2006

My Niece

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So, I’m a wee biased, but I think the little girl involved in this picture is so sweet and cute looking. I can’t wait to meet her for the first time.

Hawley Sleeping
Click image for larger version

How To Design a Flash Site

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I have been known to be antagonistic towards Macromedia Flash because of accessibility, load time and various other issues that are tied in with poor Flash design and implementation. However, Mars Hill Church Seattle has got a Flash site that I thought was just using DHTML. I think that if I had this to do my way I’d have used DHTML with XMLHTTP. However, this site is really, really usable and you can select, copy and work with the text as if it was just plain markup.

I love the navigation. It reminds me of the Apple Finder app’s Columns view. If you select one main section of the site you get sub-navigation in the next column over. I want to use this sort of design and layout in something some day. I’d love that sort of control 🙂 But I digress. All of the links load up near instantly because graphical elements have been minimized to increase load time. However, the look and clarity is not lost because they have good design style and maintain simplicity.

You should check it out and learn some things from it like I’m going to do.

Hospitality

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Jessica and I have been married for over six years now, and it’s been great. Jessica is much more introverted than I am. When people come over I get charged and want them to stay until 10:30 or 11:00. Jessica, however, is tired when people leave because often she is just exerting so much more emotional energy. However, she loves to entertain. She’s a great cook and she loves to make special foods, little treats and throw together a little social event.

I had suggested that we buy a house that meets various needs we have and Jessica threw something my way that just caught me off guard: she wants good room for hosting people, having guests spend the night, feeding more than two other adults and room for kids to actually (gasp) play. Basically she wants to be hospitable and that’s something that I think is terrific. I was just listening to an MP3 from Mars Hill church in Seattle and the teacher is talking about hospitality. I have harped on others needing to be hospitable (scripture says elders need to be hospitable – if your pastors and elders are not so, take a close look at I Timothy 3) and have left church because the people were not. Surely this is something that should be ingrained in me. And in fact it is. My parents were very hospitable folks growing up and I don’t remember them letting a week go by that they didn’t have someone over for a meal, often times multiple families at multiple meals.

So… in summary I love my wife and I’m glad she’s thinking that way. Also, the pastor in that lesson talked about how our architecture today for homes and buildings is not conducive to hospitality. Looks like we’ll be buying an older home.

Daughter of Pants Head

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Many moons ago I would put Abby’s baby pants on her head and take pictures. Today, much to my delight, Abby put her own pants on her own head and let me take pictures. Of course she still moved so much that they didn’t come out great, but I’ve come to expect that.

Behold, Abbypantz.

Abbypantz

Cute Buns

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Yesterday Abby insisted on stripping down into her little two year old birthday suit and running around the house like The Flash. Cutely, she had a bandaid (some white and blue thing) right above her left buttock. Even more cutely she sat upon the toilette and pronounced, “I have a cute bottom, Mama!”

Read Words the Way They Were Meant to Be Read

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I love it when I read something that just is so redundant or such a non-statement that I think, “I would probably write that on my blog… as a pun, one liner or joke.” Take for example this blog entry by one of the big-wigs at General Motors. It has a classic statement in it that only a seasoned executive or crumby writer like myself could make:

We want Pontiac to be a performance-oriented division offering vehicles that can really be driven the way vehicles are meant to be driven.

Now I will point out that he goes on to clarify this statement, but that would be no fun to just concede and go home a quitter. No, I want to think about the alternative methods that you could drive a car:

  • From the back seat like I do when I’m a passenger
  • Blindfolded. This would just rock, or at least for about 5 seconds it would. Once out of ‘park’ or neutral, you’d be hosed.
  • Two wheels. What would happen if you were to attempt to drive on only two wheels? I can do this on a skateboard (or Tony Hawk can on my Playstation 2), why not do it in a car?
  • In reverse. Think of the joys of having your transmission installed incorrectly and actually being able to go 95 miles per hour in reverse. Tell me that you don’t want to try this at least once.

Now, remember this is all just in fun and that you need to read this as words were meant to be read: in a mirror.