There’s a new project being started to further my desire to buy a Mac Mini. The Mac Media Center Project – Turning Mac Mini into a Media Center. You know you want one. It’s just like having a Windows Media Center PC only with a Mac, which is smarter.
Death By Cocoa Beans
So, Jessica, being a daredevil of sorts and feeling dissassociated from the normal female pattern of counting calories tried the chantico from Starbucks tonight. Now, I’m going to warn those of you who are sensitive readers, those with weak constitutions and communist manifestoes to stop reading now.
OK, so what she ended getting was 20 grams of fat, a tiny cup and what tasted like liquid brownies. I had one sip and I feel like I’ve already gained enough weight to have replaced the Etheiopians in all of the 3rd grade Ethiopian jokes I told as a kid (you know, the ones where they’re so skinny that the wind whistles through their ribs when they run…). This literally tasted like a really moist chocolate browny. It’s fantastic, it’s almost so good that it would be fat-tastic. I think that Starbucks really took a gamble because in the end super-chocoholics are going to be sticking with chocolate bars made in foreign countries with 95% or more cocoa in them. I also think that most Americans will not know that they’re getting 20 grams of fat with their drink.
Did I mention it has 20 grams of fat? Oh, sorry, I did. I can eat a mediocre can of chili and it only has 14 grams of fat. However, this drink is not mediocre, I just had one sip and now I have to check into rehab. Pardon me if I drop off into a Carbohydrate coma…
Gangster of Love or The Gang-Green Mile
So this morning we took a little trip to see some homes in the Denver area. We drove to parts of this metropolitan monstrocity that I have never seen before. In fact, just about one mile from our church is a home for sale. They want a huge amount of money for the property. Part of why it seems expensive is the actual appearance of the home. It also looks like it’s a bit high priced is because the street its on falls somewhere between ‘Homie don’t play dat’ and ‘Pimp my ride.’ In short, it was rather ‘gangsta’ for me and I could never bring myself to buy the home for fear that my two year old might never turn three. I also couldn’t let my wife go out after dark, suggest that other people come over for a meal or that I would take a walk around the block. So… we moved onto other properties on our list.
Does This Dress Make Me Look Fat?
Lord have mercy on the man who’s wife wears this.
Hot Rod KitchenAid
Jessica was mildly upset that I said she could make conversations with just about anyone at any given time and that she was cursed with this happening since she married into my family. However, if I get her one of these I’m sure to earn more points.
Peterman Trait
MyMom can go just about anywhere and start conversations with people that she’s never met. I don’t know where she got it other than my dad’s mom, who also manages to do the same. She literally runs into people in the strangest places. My Grandma once had a small collision in a parking lot several hours from her house with a guy she hadn’t seen for a long time. Now Jessica is following into these, married into, footsteps. How?
Today she called to cancel our old Bank of America account and is now still on the phone with the gal at Bank of America. No, she’s not arguing over details of where checks should be sent, she’s not worried about getting security questions right. She’s telling her about Abby’s cough. She’s chatting about all sorts of things. So… I declair it as a pseudo-Peterman trait.
Update: It turns out that it was the gal on the other end. Jessica was not being chatty.
Update Update: It turns out that the gal was telling Jessica that she really wants her 22 and 19 year old sons to have grandkids for her with their girlfriends. I personally hope that there’s a ring on some finghers ahead of time. However, I didn’t cancel the account so I couldn’t cause an argument. My luck she’d have left the account open to spite me.
Bovine Blaze
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
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
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.
My Niece
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.
Click image for larger version