cin >> cout;

We've Moved to a New Location

2008-09-30T20:52:00.003-04:00

Announcement: As of today, I will discontinue my infrequent postings here on cin >> cout;. From this day forward, I will be posting at my new blog, currently (and temporarily...maybe) titled, MattSpoon.org. So, go there for any further ramblings and so on. Again, that is http://mattspoon.org. That is all.

Domain Scam

2008-08-19T17:22:00.001-04:00

I decided today to finally check my Yahoo! email account, delete all the spam, and see if there's any email I'd actually care about (not likely since it's more-or-less a spam-bait account, anyway). As I was skimming through the emails, I came across one dated May 21, 2008 with the subject line, "kristenandmatthew.com". At first glance, I missed the ".com" part, and decided to check it out, because I currently own matthewandkristen.net. I registered that domain for my wife and my wedding website, and I've not done much with it since (it's set to expire in September, and I think I'm just going to let it go). In addition, I had registered kristenandmatthew.net (which has already expired) as a result of miscommunication regarding what was being printed on the invitations.

This email is from a guy, Ken, at some company that "specializes in recovering preferred expiring domains and either selling them to individuals such as yourself or building out our own web presence on those domains.". In the email, Ken states that the domain, kristenandmatthew.com, had recently expired, and his company had acquired it in a domain name auction. Seeing as how I own kristenandmatthew.net, he wanted to sell me the .com version of the domain.

At this point, out of curiosity, I went to whois.net and did a search for the domain. At the moment, no one owns this domain.

Returning to my email list, I found that on the next day, May 22, Ken had sent me another email, reminding me of his company's offer.

Two days later, he sent me an email with the subject, "One Day Sale For kristenandmatthew.com". Up to this point, the emails had not mentioned a price; I guess I was supposed to go to their site and discover their price there. In this email, however, Ken informs me that their previous price for the domain had been $557, but for 24 hours, I could buy it at the discounted price of $300.

Now, remember, I've already discovered that no one owns this domain. I can register it for $10.

To make matters even more humorous, 3 days later (May 27), I received an email from a different company, stating that they had recently acquired kristenandmatthew.com and thought I might be interested it buying it from them for $49.95 (and then, after a year, I can renew it with them for the standard $10, or move it to a registrar of my choice). The email then states that "this is a one time note for the owner of kristenandmatthew.net."

Despite that, I have received a second "one time note" from this second company that says exactly the same thing as the first on July 6, and a third dated August 12 that includes (I guess to sweeten the pot) a note that my purchase will include a year's registration of the domain, full transfer of the domain ownership to myself, and they will even point my new domain to my current website for free (this is listed as being optional)! It also includes a warning that if I don't take this offer, someone else may purchase the domain instead.

I suppose some people might fall for this sort of thing, if they don't know about whois searching (to see who owns a domain name, if anyone). If I thought that there were any humans that might actually read a response to these emails, I'd be tempted to register the domain (at a reputable registration site) and then respond to both of these "companies" with an email saying, "Thank you for your offer; however, I have just recently registered this very domain name with [registrar] for $10." As it is, I'll just blog about it.

New Puppy!

2008-07-12T16:16:00.000-04:00

This morning, Kristen and I went down to the pet store where an adoption agency had pets up for adoption. We brought home a lab mutt that we named Luna. She was really tired when she got home, but since taking a nap, she's been exploring what of our house we're allowing her into for now.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T21:51:00.001-04:00

We got good seats for the fireworks show. Not many people were around us.

Haruhi Invasion

2008-05-29T19:00:00.002-04:00

Has Haruhi Suzumiya taken over Arby's?

New Photos Uploaded

2008-05-16T15:19:00.001-04:00

Spring Flowers 5
Originally uploaded by coderforchrist

Back in March, Kristen and I went up to Kennesaw Mountain, and I took some photos of the first flowers I saw this Spring. Two months later, I finally get around to uploading them. This one is my favorite of the set.

Christ is Risen!

2008-05-05T16:16:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm really late, but Happy Easter everyone! The Orthodox Church celebrated Easter this year a couple weekends ago (April 27), and this Sunday was St. Thomas Sunday, where the Church commemorates the event where St. Thomas, hearing from the other disciples that the Lord was risen, said, "Unless I put my finger in the holes in His hands, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." The Lord later came to Thomas and the others, and allowed Thomas to touch the scars in His hands and in His side. After this, Thomas believed.

To continue the story, St. Thomas ended up bringing the Gospel to India, where he was ultimately martyred, being run through by 5 spears.

I'm sorry for being so late in posting; I've been very busy, what with getting the house, moving in, Easter, and getting settled, but I'll try to post more often.

As a final note, let me just say that I love the Paschal troparion:

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

Buying a House, Part Fin (or, I Own a House!)

2008-04-15T00:22:00.002-04:00

Well, well, it's all over and now we are homeowners! We met our real estate agent and our lender from our bank at the closing attorney's office. The selling agent wasn't there, nor was anyone representing the selling bank, which was kind of weird. But all the documents were there and the attorney was there, and I signed a bunch of stuff, and we were handed the keys!

Well, actually, we weren't. There were no keys, either. Not that it was a huge deal; there was still the key in the lock-box on the house, and we were changing all the locks, anyway. The back door deadbolt was broken, so we decided to just go buy all new locks, and I installed them tonight. Kristen brought over the vacuum cleaner and a broom to start cleaning up the place (it's been vacant for a few months, IIRC).

Tomorrow, a plumber will show up to replace the water pressure reducing valve, and our real estate agent hired a guy to come and clean the carpets for us. So, after tomorrow, we'll have clean carpets and running water! My mom has suggested we "camp out" in the house before moving in, but I guess I'm not in that big of a hurry.

So, now, we just have to get packed up and move in! That'll be this weekend, which will mean we'll move into a new house before Easter (according to the Orthodox calendar)! Yay!

Buying a House, Part IX

2008-04-14T11:07:00.001-04:00

Again, a lot has happened since I last posted. That 'lot' that has happened has been part of why I've not posted in a while. I've been running around going crazy. As such, this is a long one.

The week before closing, everything was going well for a while, the appraisal got done, and we were all set for a scheduled closing date of Monday, April 7. This would be 2 days before our deadline, when they'd start charging that $100/day. I had learned that my bank had stopped doing 100% loans the day after I had locked in on ours, but that was okay, because our file was in the system before the cutoff. Wow; thank God! I was just waiting to hear the final numbers from the bank (i.e., how much of the closing cost we'd have to pay, if it went over what the selling bank was paying).

Thursday evening, I was preparing to fly home from a business trip in Florida when I got a call from the Mortgage Consultant at my bank. He had just heard from the underwriters that he had been wrong about the date of the cutoff; we'd actually missed it, and now the best we could do was a 97% loan. This meant we needed 3% to put down by the next Monday (giving us 1 business day to do this). We didn't have 3% that we could afford to put down.

So, I gave Kristen a call and told her the bad news, and spent the flight back trying to decide what to do. We had just enough money in savings to cover that 3%, but then we would have nothing left over. By the time I got home (around 11pm), I was nearly decided that we couldn't afford the house. Then I got some good news: Kristen's parents had already agreed to let us borrow what we needed for 6 months (my parents were also willing to help, though I hadn't talked to them yet about specifics). That 6 months would have given us time to save up some extra, earn more interest on what we had, etc. I went to bed less decided about walking on the house.

The next day, I got in touch with the M.C. at my bank, and he was working to try and get us the 100% loan again. Apparently, the main problem was that the mortgage insurance companies had stopped insuring 100% loans because our area had been declared a declining market, but, our M.C. thought he might be able to get us an exception. So, I decided to wait and see what would happen.

However, by the end of the day, he was back to the 97% loan, and had decided (acknowledging that it was his mistake that caused the trouble) to take as much as he could out of his earnings on the loan and apply it to our down payment for us. In addition, there were apparently some marketing funds or whatnot that the bank had available that he was trying to get authorization to use to pay more of the down payment, to help ease the burden on us. He wasn't able to get in touch with his manager, though, so he asked if we would mind delaying the closing to Wednesday, to give him some time the next Monday to get those funds. That was fine with me, so the closing got rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Now, the reason we had to schedule for Wednesday was that the attorneys mandated by the selling bank (who were, by the way, already more expensive than most attorneys, probably because the specialized in foreclosure properties) insisted that they needed 48 hours from the time they got the package from our bank until they could close. So, if they got the package Monday around noon, they could close Wednesday afternoon.

Over the weekend, I finally sat down and took a long look at our finances. This was, for me, one of the best things to come out of the weekend, because I have a better idea of where, exactly, I am financially than I have in the 5-6 months since I moved into the apartment. Not only that, but I have an idea, now, of where we're going financially, and how we can get there. Also, I discovered that, if we had to bring any money to closing at all (even if just paying a remainder of closing costs), we'd have to borrow it.

The next Monday, I hear back that our M.C. was about to get us an exception and we had the 100% loan again. The loan package was being processed, and we were waiting for a final word, but everything was looking good. Unfortunately, by Tuesday afternoon, the bank had not gotten the package to the attorneys; they would get it first thing Wednesday morning. With the 48 hours they had been telling us they needed, we wouldn't close until Friday, two days past the deadline. So, our M.C. got approval and told us that the bank would cover the $100/day, since it was the bank's mistake that caused all this in the first place.

The attorneys, however, responded by telling us they couldn't close until the next Monday. Suddenly, 48 hours had become 72 hours. Although our bank was already going to pay the per diem, this put us in a bind. Kristen's parents had already sold their house, and had moved out. They had left a few things behind for us, but we had to get the stuff out by that weekend. I really didn't want to have to rent a truck twice (once to move that stuff into storage, again to move into the house). So, we argued with the attorneys for a short while, but they wouldn't budge: we were closing on Monday.

After conceding that argument, our M.C. called the selling attorney to argue that the selling bank shouldn't charge us the per diem past Friday, since it was their attorneys that didn't want to close then. She called the selling bank, and then called back to let us know the selling bank had decided to forgive the per diem.

Also, we got the HUD from the attorneys Wednesday afternoon, I think, and after looking over it, and having both our M.C. and real estate agent go through it with us, it turns out that, rather than having to bring money to the table, we should be getting most of our earnest money back! This is great news, as it's money I wasn't expecting to have this month!

In addition, Kristen and I were both sick last week, and neither of us got any packing done, so we wouldn't have been ready to move last weekend, anyway.

In the end, I rented a smaller truck, and put the stuff from Kristen's parents' old house into a friend's garage for the week. Kristen got started packing stuff up yesterday, and has already gotten a lot done. I've still got my home office to pack, which will probably involve throwing lots of random stuff into boxes and not being about to find it for the next couple years.

We're closing this afternoon, and moving in this weekend. I had hoped to be moved into a new house before Easter, and we're going to be doing just that. I had figured on us cutting our finances really close this month, but it looks like we've gotten some help there, too. God-willing, this afternoon, we will become homeowners, and, according to the appraisal, we'll be starting out with a little bit of equity in the house. If all goes well, this Saturday's move will be our last for a long time. Glory to God.

Buying a House, Part VIII

2008-03-26T08:56:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I've not updated in a while. A lot has happened.

Where I left off, we had sent in an offer on a house we really liked, and had to wait over the weekend to hear back from the bank that's selling it.

The next Monday, I got a call from Eric, our Realtor, and the bank wanted to accept our offer, with a couple changes: 1) shorten the due diligence period (the time in which we have to do inspections and, if we find something we don't like, can walk on the house and recoup our earnest money) to 7 days instead of the 14 days we'd asked for, and 2) move the closing date to April 16 (we'd asked for March 31). Eric talked them out to 10 due diligence days, and we got a closing date on April 9 (or sooner if we can manage it). However, if we miss the April 9 closing date, the bank wants to charge us $100 per day (alternatively, they can walk on the deal).

So, we came to an agreement, and put the house under contract. Woo!

Last week, I received the Good Faith Estimate from our lender, a guy Eric knows and recommended at Countrywide. Now, stupid me, we had just gone with the guy Eric recommended rather than shopping around. Frankly, I hate dealing with money, and I wouldn't really have known what to look for, anyway.

Fortunately, a coworker of mine used to work at a mortgage company and had learned about all this kind of stuff, so I took my copy of the Good Faith to him, and he looked it over and told me I could be getting a much better deal. I decided I needed to shop around while I still could, so I told the lender at Countrywide I wasn't ready to lock in on the loan yet, and let him know I was going to shop around.

Because the closing date was so close, we weren't able to use Kristen's credit union, which probably would've been ideal. In the end, though, I found a good deal with my own bank (I got half a percent lower rate than Countrywide could offer me, for one thing), and locked in with them Friday afternoon.

Then, on Monday, Kristen and I met with the inspector we'd ordered and did a detailed look over the house. This guy seemed very thorough, and we were there for 3 hours. We found one major issue: the water pressure regulator is broken, so the pressure inside the house is way too high. Fortunately, we have the valve closed at the moment, which should protect the appliances. Eric spoke with a contractor he knows to get an estimate on fixing that and the other bigger issues, and is going to try to get the bank to pay for those repairs.

In addition, we went by the company we have our car and renter's insurance with, and spoke with them about insuring the house. They have contacted the bank, so once the appraisal comes back, they'll be able to tell us how much insurance will be.

As of right now, we're waiting on the bank to get the appraisal done, and everything should be set. God-willing, by April 9, we should have a house. And then the next adventure: moving. Who wants to help (I don't know when we'll be moving yet, but I plan on being moved before Holy Week, which in our Church is April 20-26)?

Happy Wester!

2008-03-23T16:32:00.002-04:00

(Note: 'Wester' is pronounced wē'stər)

I've been really busy lately, between work and buying a house, so I've not posted any updates. Sorry. I did want to make a quick post, though, and wish all my Western Christian brethren a Happy Wester (Western Easter).

Wester (pronounced wē'stər; like "Easter" with a "W" in front of it) is a term someone at church came up with today during choir practice. I actually kind of like it, since many—if not most—of us at my parish are converts and have Catholic/Protestant families (or just non-Christian families who still celebrate Easter in a more secular way). Since, in many families, Easter is both a time for religious observance and a time for familial get-togethers, I heard the question more than once today, "So, are you doing anything for Western Easter?" along with discussions about finding a balance between taking the Lenten fast seriously and not putting out your family when they pass you the ham.

And so, again, I wish you a Happy Wester! Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is risen!

Buying a House, Part VII

2008-03-15T15:57:00.002-04:00

Because of the gas prices, my company has approved us to work a day a week from home. I chose Fridays.

While I was working from home this past Friday, Kristen went out with Eric to look at some more houses. A little after 4pm, Kristen called me and asked if I can meet them in a certain neighborhood a few exits on the Interstate north of the apartment. I reminded her that I don't get off work until 5pm, and she responds that it's important. My curiosity was sufficiently piqued by the fact that this neighborhood was the same neighborhood with the house that we'd really liked but was too expensive, and she sounded excited, so I checked to make sure I didn't have any pending emails to deal with, and headed out to meet them.

When I pulled up, I discovered that the house Kristen and Eric were excited about was a foreclosure that had, previously, been well outside of our price range, but had been reduced to the high limit of our price range. It's a "Cape Cod" style house with a garage/finished basement. This time, Kristen and Eric spent a lot of time, including the time waiting for me to get there, looking over the house trying to find anything wrong with it.

They did find a few issues: a piece of wood trim on the chimney needs to be replace, and a piece of wood over the porch is also bad. There's a deadbolt in the back that needs to be replaced, and the stove/over needs cleaning. The carpet could also use a good professional cleaning. These things are relatively minor, and probably won't be terribly expensive. Once we're past that, there are a number of things that could be done to make the home even better than it is.

At the reduced price, Eric believes that this house will be somewhat of a hot item. In fact, he was able to find that at least 3 people other than us had looked at that house that same day. Since none of us felt any reservations about the house, we decided to make an offer that evening.

Because the house is a foreclosure, and a bank is selling it, they aren't likely to receive the offer until Monday, when it may be that they receive two or three other offers as well. At the same time, Eric expects that other people, looking at the house, may decide to try and talk the price down even further, so we considered it and decided to offer the full price of the house (minus the fact that we're asking the seller to pay closing costs), and told them we want to close at the end of March. This should give us enough time for an inspector to come through and check everything out to make sure the house is as good as we think.

We signed the paperwork, and Eric has sent in the offer, so now we can only wait. The bank has until Tuesday evening to respond, so we'll know by then whether we have a chance at this house. If not, we'll find something else. God-willing, we'll have a house before Easter (according to the Eastern calendar, April 27).

Buying a House, Parts III-VI

2008-03-14T20:58:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I've been lazy and skipped parts III-VI. Here's a quick recap, though, so you don't feel too left out:

Part III
Eric called us a couple days after our first tour to let us know that an offer had been placed on the one house we had liked. Since things in our price range seemed to be moving quickly, we decided to move quickly. The next tour, covering an area between my office and our apartment, was covered by Kristen and Eric on a weekday while I was working. They called me and I met them to see the house they'd kept: a home in the neighborhood Kristen first grew up in. It was well within our price range, and though it had a couple issues that could be dealt with, we really liked it. It was the same floor plan as the other house we'd liked.

Part IV
The next weekend, I joined Kristen and Eric again to go looking at an area a bit further away from my office. We looked at a number of homes, and, again, ended up with only one house (again, the same floor plan) that we kept, although the price was still a bit steeper and it was further out. I didn't like the way they'd finished the basement, myself. We also came across a few more homes that were surprising to see on the market. From people I've talked to that are selling homes, "stagers" say you're supposed to remove all personal stuff from walls, etc., to make the house more attractive to potential buyers. I haven't really liked that, but, at the same time, there's a difference between "personal stuff" (like photos of children) and clutter. In some cases, you couldn't see the house through the stuff.

Part V
Now we had two similar houses that we could consider. Because the market seems to be moving quickly for the nicer houses in our price range, we felt that we needed to be coming close to making a decision. Between the two we'd kept after our last two tours, I decided the next Monday to make an offer on the cheaper house. Admittedly, I didn't have a great feeling even at the time about it, but I put that aside, figuring that it was just nervousness about making such a huge decision. I called Eric, and we decided to meet that Thursday to sign the paperwork required to make an offer.

Part VI
From the time I called Eric until that Thursday, the "not great feeling" I had about the house grew into more of a foreboding. I continued to tell myself it was just nerves, and pressed on. That Thursday, as Kristen (who had met me at my office) and I were heading out to the car to meet Eric, he called us and suggested that, as he was coming from somewhere else anyway, it might be easier to meet at the house and take another look at it before we do the paperwork. This time, we looked even more closely, and the longer we stayed there, the more all three of us felt that this wasn't the right decision. I'm not sure if it was any one issue for any of us, but the number of issues, smaller and larger, that would need to be dealt with made us all feel uncomfortable. In the end, we decided to table that house for now, and look for a bit more.

We decided to do a broader search, including houses that didn't have basements, and Eric and Kristen planned on going out the next day while I was working.

Confusing Conversation

2008-03-07T16:00:00.002-05:00

This is a conversation I had with a friend recently on AIM. As background, my status message was, "Working LIKE A FOX!"

MetalHead Type 0: so how does a fox work? ;)
coderforchrist: by eating chickens?
MetalHead Type 0: is that how you're workign?
MetalHead Type 0: working*
coderforchrist: stop calling me a liar!!! :-O
coderforchrist: ;-)
MetalHead Type 0: ....
MetalHead Type 0: not-truth-teller!
coderforchrist: um...not not-truth teller!
MetalHead Type 0: truth-un-teller-not?
coderforchrist: are you not saying I don't not tell the not truth?
MetalHead Type 0: no-yes-no-maybe-definately-not
MetalHead Type 0: -and-so-forth
coderforchrist: I will not not be not accused of not telling the not truth!
MetalHead Type 0: you will not be acused of not not truth not firetruck!

Buying a House, Part II

2008-03-02T15:24:00.003-05:00

Things are going well with buying a house, so far. I contacted the lender that Eric (our realtor and a friend from our old church) recommended and got pre-approved for a loan that should more than cover what we need.

Then, this past Saturday, we went out with Eric to visit some houses that he'd picked out from listings near my office. One of the things we'd told him we'd like was a basement. As it turns out, a house that is listed as having a basement doesn't necessarily have a basement. In some cases, it was a small area behind the garage which happened to be under the house. Granted, all the houses we saw had a garage/basement (as opposed to just a basement that sits under the whole house), but some were better than others.

Anyway, I had expected that we would take most of the day looking at houses, but it only took about half the day. This was certainly aided by the one or two houses that we pretty much walked into and quickly walked out of.

I think the most interesting house was, I believe, the second one we visited. The exterior was not terribly confidence-inspiring. The roof looked like it had been shoddily done, the siding didn't look too great, etc. In contrast to the exterior, though, the family room we entered through the front door was "pimped out." Tile floor, nice fireplace, leather chairs, nice TV, even a bar that had been cut into the wall between the family room and the kitchen. The kitchen, however, wasn't quite as impressive. When we opened the door to the hallway that led to the bedrooms, it almost looked like the exterior (in quality, at least), except for the master bedroom. What was so interesting to me was the huge contrast between the different areas. One might say they were very telling as to what this resident's priorities were.

Another house we visited was nice enough, except that everywhere you looked there seem to be a half-finished project. Well, except for the kitchen; that had totally been redone, but we didn't really like what they'd done with it (the floorplan was similar to a house we did really like, which gave us an idea of what the house may have been like before). The listing for the house promoted a "finished bath" in the basement. "Finished," in this case, means a toilet connected to a hole in the ground where a pump is probably going to be buried.

At the end of our tours, we had only one house we were planning to keep in consideration. On the downside, the seller is asking a bit more than we're wanting to pay, but there could be some working with that. Also, the house is very, very nice—certainly worth what the seller wants for it—which means there's a chance it may get snatched up before we've had time to look at other options.

Hopefully, over the next week, we'll get a few chances to meet with Eric again, and we'll probably be out looking again next Saturday, this time in some other areas we've considered. God-willing, everything will work out for us to have a house before our lease is up on the apartment.

Buying a House, Part I

2008-02-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

With the wedding, honeymoon, and being sick out of the way, Kristen and I are ready for our next big adventure: buying a house.

Currently, we're living in the apartment I moved into back in November. At the time, I was already planning on getting a house as soon as possible (at least partly to take advantage of the current "buyer's market"), so I only signed for a 6-month lease. This means that I need to have a house by May (I could, of course, renew my lease for another 6 months, or pay an extra $100 monthly, but I don't want to do either of those). So, with less than 3 months to go, Kristen and I decided to call up a friend of mine from our old church who happens to be a realtor, and get started looking for a house.

We met with Eric (our realtor friend) at a local Chick-Fil-A this past Saturday, and he went over a "first-home buyer's" brochure he had put together with us. We also caught up with each other a little, since I hadn't seen him in some time.

After the meeting, both of us were very excited. I can't wait to get out looking, and I know that Eric is a realtor that not only has the experience to be able to help us, but is also trustworthy.

Of course, before we can get out looking at homes, we have to figure out what we can afford. To that end, Eric gave us a card for a lender that he knows, so that we can get pre-approved for a loan. I gave him a call yesterday, but I got an answering machine. Of course, if I'm enjoying a holiday, the banks are, too. So, hopefully, we'll hear back from him today, or I'll try calling him again this afternoon.

I really want to get this show on the road. God-willing, by May, I will own a home. Which means I'll be able to vote! Wait...

The Common Cup

2008-02-13T15:09:00.001-05:00

At one point during the Orthodox wedding ceremony, the bride and groom drink from a common cup. This is not the Chalice of Communion; it is simply a cup of wine (at our parish, we have wine imported from Cana of Galilee). However, it, like everything else, carries symbolic meaning. The most obvious meaning is that of the bride and groom sharing of one life together, and all that brings.

One interpretation of this that I have come across goes, "Your joys will be doubled, and your sorrows halved, because they are shared."

I've thought about this some since being sick last week. As I said in my last post, I think I had the flu, and it put me out of commission for a few days. During those few days, I was even more grateful for my wife than usual! She took care of me, made sure I ate enough, let me rest, and so on. As I started feeling better, she got sick, and I got to return the favor. I hope I took care of her as well as she took care of me.

I found, last week, that there is certainly something to having a spouse that can take care of you when you're sick. You don't get lonely laying around at home, for one thing. For another, of course, you can relax; you don't have to fix your own meals, which, when all you feel like you can do is sleep is a great blessing. In some ways, it's like being a child again and having your parents take care of you (except, of course, that you're an adult, and your relationship with your spouse is different from your relationship with your parents).

Yeah, this isn't terribly profound, or even well-written, but last week, in a perhaps small way, I think I began to really understand the interpretation quoted above of the common cup. Thank God for my wife!

Down Time

2008-02-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

I had some enforced down time this week. In other words, I got sick. I think it was the flu, but all I know for sure was I was out of commission for a few days. I'm still not entirely over it—I've got a nasty cough, and my mind feels a bit muddled and tired—but at least I'm back at work, trying to catch up on everything I missed.

Dr. Q, apparently, had the flu, too, and chronicled his misadventures with DayQuil. All I can say is that I wish DayQuil worked the same for me. It is helping with the coughing and stuff, but, even despite getting 8 hours of sleep last night (with the exception of the alarm in the restaurant behind our apartment going off at 2am—again), I feel like the only thing I want in the world is a nap.

On the upside, I began reading A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy by Nicholas Cabasilas. I'm totally digging this book. It's helping me to better understand what is going on in the Liturgy, and giving me a deeper appreciation for it. I hope I can get the book finished by Sunday.

Portability

2008-01-30T11:18:00.000-05:00

I've been re-reading some of the first chapters of Programming Perl, and came across this gem of a paragraph on portability:

Initially designed as a glue language for Unix, Perl has long since spread to most other operating systems. Because it runs nearly everywhere, Perl is one of the most portable programming environments available today. To program C or C++ portably, you have to put in all those strange #ifdef markings for different operating systems. To program Java portably, you have to understand the idiosyncrasies of each new Java implementation. To program a shell script portably, you have to remember the syntax for each operating system's version of each command and somehow find the common factor that (you hope) works everywhere. And to program Visual Basic portably, you just need a more flexible definition of the word "portable". :-)

Back Home

2008-01-29T00:44:00.000-05:00

Well, okay, so we actually got home Saturday evening, but this is the first chance I've had to post. The honeymoon was great; we went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Flew in Monday, did some dog-sledding Tuesday, some skiing Wednesday and Thursday, wandered around Town Square Friday, and came home Saturday. I'll probably post more about it later (including pictures on my Flickr account), but for now, I'm tired and it's bedtime.

Also, the wedding was wonderful. And now, bed.

Getting Married

2008-01-20T01:41:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow's the big day! Kristen and I will soon be setting our Facebook relationship statuses to "married." ;-)

Of course, this means we'll both be out of contact for the next week, as we enjoy our honeymoon. See ya'll when we get back!

New Hobby

2008-01-16T00:29:00.000-05:00

I have discovered a new hobby: making my own soft drinks.

It all started when I read a blog post on "How to Beat the Soda Habit," and then the comments beneath. The post suggested adding lemon or lime juice to water and serving it over crushed ice (the crushed ice was supposed to give the water a "texture" that would replace the fizziness of carbonated water). Some commentors, however, noted that they had been doing something like this, only mixing club soda or seltzer water with the juice (one commentor noted that this provided the "same fizziness, no sugar, caffeine, or bad stuff"—perhaps someone should inform him that fruit juice does have sugar in it, though not as much as a can of soda).

Thinking this would be a neat idea to try, I went out to the store with Kristen and picked up some limeade, grape juice, lemons, limes, and club soda. When we got back to my apartment, I immediately tried mixing limeade and club soda. It turns out that what Kristen had said to me at the store was correct (of course); that won't work, because these juices were made for drinking, therefore water has already been added. In the end, I had fizzy, watered-down limeade.

So, my second attempt was to juice a couple of the lemons and mix the juice in a glass of club soda. Apparently, this was too strong; I kind of liked it, but Kristen found it undrinkable. I tried, at her suggestion, adding a tablespoon of sugar. I found it to be like drinking very sour candy, but Kristen still couldn't drink it.

This evening, while Kristen was over, I tried mixing it with grape juice, but that bottle of club soda had already gone flat. However, I still had two bottles left, and after Kristen went home, I decided to try again.

I juiced one lemon and one lime, and mixed the juice with a tablespoon of sugar and a glass of club soda. The result was pretty good, although the lemon taste did mostly outweigh the lime, and I think it would have still been too sour for Kristen. I think my next attempt is going to be juicing only half a lemon and a whole lime for a glass of soda. I'm going to do that when Kristen is here, though, so I can make a glass for her and a glass for me (that way I don't have to worry about wasting that last half of lemon).

This has been kind of fun, although I think for it to be even more fun, I would need to carbonate my own water. Apparently, it seems that you can buy a seltzer bottle and some chargers, which you can use for this purpose. I've read that the fizziness is not quite as good this way, but I'm willing to try it, just so I can make totally homemade soda. I also need to start finding more soda recipes, and start coming up with my own.

Who knows? If nothing else, maybe I'll come up with something that'll be popular at parties.

Some Good News

2008-01-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in my New Year's post, my company instituted a 10% pay cut around the same time I moved into the apartment. Now, I'd like to point out that this 10% pay cut was across the board, from officers down to us. I say this in praise of my company; the officers were not exempt, neither were they—as I have heard of happening at other companies—getting raises while the rest of us suffered.

That said, an email went out yesterday with some good news: salaries are being reinstated, effective next pay period. This means that, the same week I get married, I will receive a paycheck at my full salary again! In addition, if things continue to go well, I hope to be receiving a raise in the next couple months (this would be very helpful).

Thank God for this!

First Post!

2008-01-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

(Well, first post on this blog for the new year.)

First of all, Happy New Year (yeah, yeah, a day late)!

2007 has been a very...interesting year, with big highs, and big lows. This year started with a LAN party. Of course, the idea was to play until just before midnight, count down to the new year, celebrate, and return to playing. As it worked out, though, we played until someone eventually asked, "What time is it?" at which point we realized we'd missed the new year by almost an hour (if my memory serves me correctly). LAN parties rock.

It wasn't long into the new year, though, that I had to tell my parents that Kristen and I had been attending an Orthodox church. We had been attending more-or-less consistently for a few months, but I hadn't gotten up the guts to tell my family yet. They had, apparently, assumed we were still visiting around at Protestant churches. I think it goes without saying that they were not too pleased. Since then, Orthodoxy has seemed to be the elephant in the room every time I've spent time with my parents. For a while, the elephant did a lot of running around and breaking things; for the last half of the year, he's mostly sat quietly, although he's still there.

I hope I'm not saying too much with that. Whatever issues may exist with my family (who I love dearly) are private, and not appropriate for this blog (being more-or-less a public forum), so I won't say any more.

It wasn't long afterwards that Kristen and I were received as catechumens (I think that's the plural?) in the Church. We had been going to catechism classes for a while already, but finally decided to come under the umbrella of the Church's ministry. Basically, being a catechumen means that you are seriously interesting in learning about and considering the Faith. It also means that, if you were to die, you could receive an Orthodox funeral.

Of course, for the first half of the year, I was still back-and-forth about becoming Orthodox. There was much about it that I loved, although I still had some deep-seated aversion to the veneration of icons and the Saints. To some degree, I believe this was partly external (coming from others), but it was also internal. It's a hard thing to really reconsider things you had been taught your whole life as axioms. And, so, I vacillated between going Orthodox and settling for Anglicanism (which seemed to be the most acceptable of the Protestant churches).

This put a lot of stress on my relationship with Kristen; while I was trying to make up my mind, she had already decided on Orthodoxy. In addition, there was the question of what would happen to us if we ended up in different churches. It would be one thing were we already married, but it seemed like a bad idea to marry into such a situation. We had been talking about engagement (I had gotten the ring in February), and seemed so close to getting married; the idea of losing all of that was heartbreaking.

Finally, glory to God, I made two decisions (I forget in which order): First, I was going to propose to Kristen, and, second, I was going to become Orthodox. I've already posted our engagement story, so I won't repeat that here, except to note, again, that I proposed on May 5. Having both been baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit in a Baptist church, we were received by Holy Chrismation into the Orthodox Church on May 20, the Sunday before Pentecost. I have been asked by a few people about why I converted, etc., and I've been considering creating a blog post about that to refer people to. Perhaps that will come this year, as I've gained more hindsight.

Those two events, one right after the other, were pretty much the height of the year for me. Besides that, I've continued my piano lessons, and have had my first two performances outside of recitals: the first, in May, was playing at the Decorator's Showhouse (I played background music in one of the rooms for a couple hours), and the second was playing at my sister's wedding in December.

This November, I moved out of my friend Chris's house, where I had lived for the past couple years and into an apartment. This was a bit of a change for me, as I had never lived alone. Before living at Chris's house, where we shared most of our space between 3-4 guys, I had lived at my parents'. In addition, I was going from having only a tiny bedroom as "my space" to having an entire two-bedroom apartment.

Unfortunately, just before my getting the apartment, my company instituted a 10% pay cut, which means that, all included (rent, utilities, etc.), I'm paying roughly three times more for living expenses and making 10% less. So far, I've been able to manage, and God is faithful.

I mentioned earlier that, being a catechumen means that, if you die before actually joining the Church, you can still receive an Orthodox funeral. Apparently, this is something priests commonly tell people considering catechism, but this Fall, we actually saw this happen. A young woman who had recently been received as a catechumen in our parish passed away just before the Nativity Fast. I wasn't able to make it to the funeral, though I do wish I could have. Lord, have mercy on her.

As I alluded to earlier, my sister was married the Friday after Christmas, and I was honored with playing the piano at her wedding. She is on her honeymoon now, with her new husband.

I also built a new computer (I believe that was this year), went to Dragon*Con for the first time (well, last year, I went, but didn't register, so I just spent a while in the hotel lobbies), and went to Anime Weekend Atlanta a second time. I went to the Renaissance Festival a few times this Spring. Maybe this year I'll try to convince Kristen to make me a tunic so I can put together a good RenFest costume.

Finally, I ended this year at another LAN party with most of the same friends that were at the LAN party at the beginning of the year. We missed the new year again, of course.

This post is already getting too long, so I won't even try to remember everything else that has happened. All-in-all, though, it has been a good year. I've been busy, although I've also wasted a lot of time. I haven't read enough, nor have I prayed nearly enough. However, despite my unworthiness, God has blessed me with a wonderful fiancée, has led me to the true Faith, has allowed me to continue working, and, despite issues regarding the Church, has nevertheless preserved my relationship with my family. He has given me a number of good memories from Chris's house, and the exciting prospect of many more good memories with Kristen. He has preserved me in good health, and has led me safely to the close of this year. All of this has He done, despite my failure to give thanks as I should.

In hindsight, I know that even the struggles and difficulties I have experienced this year are gifts from God for my salvation, although I pretty much always fail to recognize this at the time and instead instantly pray for deliverance. Perhaps, in the next year (and the next, and the next...), He will help me to learn to give thanks even for the difficulties.

Above all, as I am listening to music from the Final Fantasy series of video games, I am grateful for beauty. God has allowed me to see many beautiful things this year. Some of them I have been able to document in photos on my Flickr account. Some of them I simply cannot document in any way. Perhaps I can create another blog post on that topic.

Having looked back to 2007, I also look forward to 2008. The coming year promises many new blessings, the first of which is the upcoming wedding, where God will unite Kristen and myself in Holy Matrimony. This will bring it's own set of blessings and difficulties that I've never experienced before, and I'm excited to meet each of them. God-willing, I will have a house by May, and, hopefully, the pay cut will be lifted soon (maybe, considering the extra work I've picked up, I can even get a good raise). All of this will certainly come with difficulties, but, again, God-willing, I will be able to meet them this year "with peace of soul and the firm conviction that [God's] will governs all."

To quote Saint John Chrysostom, "Glory to God for all things!"

Christmas Time is Near...and Programming

2007-12-18T14:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, only a week to go until Christmas! I don't know if it's because I've been so busy with the wedding website or what, but Christmas has really snuck up on me. Thank God for ThinkGeek; I can still order some stuff from there and, hopefully, get it by Christmas.

Maybe it's because I've hardly been in the stores, but I think this is the first year I've not gotten sick of Christmas carols before Christmas. I do know I feel much saner for not going shopping during this time of year.

I have had my own insanity-inducing activities, though. Back when Kristen and I first started planning the wedding, I had the idea to build a website for the wedding so that everyone who gets an invitation can RSVP online at the site. I was going to build a little web app that they could log into and select whether or not they were going.

After a few false starts, I finally have the website up, but I hadn't really gotten much done on the RSVP app. Last week, though, I started getting emails from people wondering when it would be available so they could RSVP. So, this past weekend and week, I've been working on it in earnest. The scary part of this is, I'm learning this stuff as I go. It's actually become a rarity that I've spent the majority of the time I've slept in my bed. Either I fall asleep at the computer or I make it to the couch. I would share how late I've been awake most nights, but I honestly don't know.

Now, some might read this and think I'm complaining. I'm not. I haven't had this much fun on the computer in a long time. Granted, this is the kind of fun I can only handle (physically and mentally) for a week or two at a time. I can't do this constantly. But, when I can, it's a blast. Solving problems, new challenges, late-night coding sessions...this is why I'm a programmer.

Long Live the Geek!

2007-12-13T10:59:00.000-05:00

I just learned that Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2007 was recently voted on, and the winner is...

w00t

That's right, Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year is "w00t"! So, to celebrate, everyone go to woot.com and, um, buy something this week if you happen to find something interesting!

Great Headline

2007-11-30T16:54:00.000-05:00

Scrolling through news feeds today, I came across what may be the best headline I've ever read:

Delta Plugs Hole With Former Krispy Kreme Chief

The story, which you can read here, was less interesting. I much preferred the story that immediately formed in my mind:

Delta flight x was saved from disaster today, thanks to a quick-thinking flight attendant and a former Krispy Kreme executive.

According to passengers on the flight, they felt a loud thud, and a sudden drop in pressure. Somehow, a hole had been punched through the wall of the passenger cabin, just near John Doe, a former executive at Krispy Kreme.

Although nearly everyone on the plane panicked, flight attendant, Jane Smith, kept her cool, grabbed Doe out of his seat, and stuffed him into the hole. His considerable soft mass was able to seal the hole long enough for the plane to make an emergency landing.

Doe is currently recovering from minor injuries sustained from the event, but says that he is glad to have helped.

Smith has faced mixed reactions of praise from the passengers and their families, and criticism from the NAFP (National Association of Fat People).

"While we appreciate what she did for the people on the plane, we believe she chose Mr. Doe specifically for his weight," said Glutius Maximus, head of NAFP. "We believe this constitutes discrimination against a fat person."

Investigators have not yet discovered the cause of the hole's appearance.

Computer Bugs

2007-11-27T02:41:00.000-05:00

The case for my PC has a temperature display on the front, which alternates between two temperature sensors inside the case. One of the sensors is near my hard drives, while the other is near the processor (and I don't remember which is which on the display).

A day or two ago, I noticed the temperature display blinking at me. One of the sensors was picking up a temperature of 133°! I decided to shut the PC down overnight and let it cool off. When I booted back up in the morning, the temperature was still high. This evening, it was still pushing 130°, so I decided to open the case and see if I couldn't figure out where that heat was coming from.

Upon opening the case, I noticed cobwebs in the bottom of the case. Now, I had just gone and blown the case out a couple weeks ago when I moved, so I don't know where all these cobwebs came from. Well, obviously, they came from the spider corpse that I found in them. What's worse, I found some evidence that this spider had, in fact, caught something.

Yes, that's right, I found bugs in my computer.

How Addicted to Apple Are You?

2007-11-25T14:42:00.001-05:00

I just came across this quiz, and thought it would be amusing:0%That's right: I am one of the apparently few that have resisted the brainwashing of the Cult of Apple. I have never owned an Apple product. Ever.

Internet Access!

2007-11-21T01:53:00.000-05:00

Well, as of Monday evening, I finally have Internet access set up at the apartment! Hooray!

And, of course, the cheap router I bought at OfficeMax a while back is set up, and the Wii and DS both have WiFi connections. So, what have I been doing as far as computer use goes this evening? Other than playing with the new Check Mii Out channel on the Wii, I've been playing...Portal. A single-player game.

Yes, I enjoy it that much. This makes the third time through (second time was with developer commentary turned on).

But, hey, now I'm posting to my blog...from my apartment! Yay for Internet access!

Day 5 Without Internet

2007-11-15T10:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was day 5 without Internet access at the apartment. So far, things haven't degraded to this...

...but it is getting close. Of course, in my case, it would be less like Survivor and more like Castaway, since I'm the only person there.

Anyway, fortunately, I've not missed it too much, since I've been busy. I've still got plenty of unpacking, which I've been doing slowly. I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning the bathroom at my former place (I had promised my roommates I'd get it cleaned). I've still got to get another bookshelf and a CD/DVD rack, as well as some other stuff. It's amazing how much stuff you need that you never really think about until it's not there.

In addition, it's a good thing right now that I prefer single-player games. I finally finished Bioshock the other night, and got started on Portal. I've also got Half-Life 2: Episode 2 to play, and I still have yet to beat F.E.A.R. Of course, if I get really desperate, I could always load System Shock 2 back up (never actually finished that; now I really want to). Then there's my games on the Wii and the DS...

Of course, I've also got a number of books to read. So, as long as I've got the Internet at work, I can manage, I guess.

All that said, I do still feel like I'm going crazy without the Internet. Yes, I have plenty to keep me from being bored, but I just feel...disconnected. The apartment will, I think, continue to feel more like a hotel suite or something until I have Internet access.

I Really Don't Like AT&T

2007-11-14T16:06:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a long one, so I apologize in advance. As I mentioned in my previous post, I moved into an apartment recently. One downside to this is that, in the apartment, my only choice for Internet access is AT&T's DSL service. So, I call AT&T to get DSL set up last Wednesday, and thus began my ordeal.

Grievance 1
It all started when I asked to set up a DSL account. The lady I was speaking with looks up my area on the computer, and comes back, telling me that there are no DSL ports available in my area at the moment. I was somewhat stunned, as this was totally unexpected. "What?" was all I could say. She explained that there are only so many ports available, and they were all taken. So I asked if she could tell me when a port would become available, and she didn't know, but she could put me on a waiting list and they'd call me. I pressed a little, and she checked some other system or something and said that "they" were working on it, and there should be more ports available in two weeks.

At this point, I began thinking that I should cancel the phone line I had just set up and call the apartment complex to see if there is any way I could get Internet access with another company. It seems to me unacceptable for a company to make an exclusive agreement with a property, and then not be able to support that property. With this in mind, I explain to the representative that I would like to cancel the phone line, get put on a waiting list, and get everything set up when DSL is actually available. She says that she doesn't think she can put me on the waiting list if I'm not a customer (nevermind that I had mentioned earlier in the conversation that I am already an AT&T Wireless subscriber). So, I decide to forgo the waiting list and call back in to weeks (assuming I can't get the leasing office to let me use a different provider).

When I tell her that I'll just call back in two weeks, she finally decides to check something else, and puts me on hold. I wait for 5 or 10 minutes, and she comes back saying that, for some reason or another (I forget exactly why), they do have a port available. I decide to jump on that, and I set up my account. She explains that my DSL modem will be shipped UPS and should arrive on Monday, and that my access should be connected then, as well.

Grievance 2
Fortunately, Monday is a holiday, so I didn't have to take off of work. I did have a couple things I needed to do, but I made sure to be in my apartment as much as possible so as not to miss UPS when they came with my modem. However, that afternoon, instead of my modem, I get a call from another AT&T rep. explaining that my order has been delayed, and they won't be able to get my access connected until Wednesday. Also, my modem will not get shipped until Wednesday, and it should arrive at my apartment on Friday.

I'm a little annoyed by this, especially because I'll have to take the day off of work to wait for the modem. So, I ask if there's any way to send my modem to my office instead of the apartment. Apparently, there isn't. The order was already in the system, and they couldn't change the address. What the rep said they could do was send a second modem to my office, and when I got the first one at the apartment I'd send that one back. Given that the second modem would likely show up later than the first (since they'd have to process the order), and I still have the problem of a modem being delivered to my apartment when I won't be there, I decide to just plan on taking the day off to wait.

Also, because I didn't really trust AT&T to actually get the modem to me on Friday (they'd already failed to do what they said in not delivering it Monday) I ask if I can get the order tracking number, so I can track the order. The rep said she didn't have the tracking number yet, but if I called the next day, I could get it.

Intermission
The next day (Tuesday, aka yesterday), I call to get the tracking number. What I didn't realize, though, was that the automated system only knows how to look up information based on the home phone number, which I don't know and didn't have written down with me at the office. Of course, the automated system makes it difficult to just speak with a person, but when I finally got to talk to someone, he also couldn't look up my account without the home number. So he forwarded me to another department where they could look up my home number, from which I would have to be transferred back to the DSL department to get things taken care of. However, I was on hold there until I didn't have any more time and had to hang up.

Granted, I'm not counting the above as a grievance, since I should have had the number with me.

Grievance 3
When I get home last night, I check my mail, and am slightly excited to see the first piece of mail addressed to me (as opposed to the various previous tenants). It so happens that this mail was "detariffing" policy information from AT&T, which is rather boring, but it's my first mail at my new place. When I looked at the address again, however, I noticed something: my last name was spelled one letter off. Now, this would normally be something I would laugh at, and happily call the next day to get fixed. However, thanks to the issues I'd had up until this point, this was, instead, yet another annoyance added on top of everything else. Icing on the cake of customer disservice, if you will. This was yet another problem I have to deal with, and more time I have to spend on the phone with them.

Grievance 4
And that brings us to my phone call today. I call up the customer service number given on the letter I received (this time, I wrote down the home number and brought it with me) and explain (kindly; I really try to be patient when first talking with a rep, since I know this person isn't at fault for whatever is wrong) that my last name was spelled wrong on the letter, and I'd like to get that fixed. The rep fixes the problem, things go smoothly and I'm happy. When he asks if there's anything else he can help me with, I explain that the situation with the modem shipment. He doesn't have the tracking number, but he's happy to send me to the DSL service department where they can help me. I thank him for his help, and he transfers me.

When I reach a person at the DSL service center, I confirm my number for him, and explain to him that my DSL modem was supposed to be shipped, and I would like the tracking number. He looks up my account, and says that the modem has not yet been shipped. Beyond that, my Internet access has not yet been connected. What?

He explains that they are having "technical difficulties" or something, and they won't be able to connect my account until the problems are fixed. Since they haven't been able to connect the account, they haven't shipped the modem. I ask about the ports to make sure that it's not that they lost my port, and he confirms that I have the port, the account is set up, it's just not connected yet.

So, I ask for a timeframe when the account will get set up. He doesn't know, but there's apparently a work order for a few days from now, and if I call back on Monday, they should be able to tell me when the problem will be resolved. Notice that he did not say, call back Monday, and the problem will be resolved, he said, call back Monday and we'll tell you when it should be fixed.

In other words, for all I know, it could be 2 more weeks before I can get Internet access, but I won't find out about that until Monday.

To Be Continued...
At this point, my patience is wearing thin. I have until Monday to decide what my plan of action is, in case the answer I receive is unsatisfactory. Right now, I think that, at the least, I am going to insist that I not be charged for any service (including the phone line, if I can, since I've been very clear that I'm only getting that for the DSL) that I've not been receiving. I also, if necessary, will escalate my call as high as it needs to go.

Right now, I am finding this service unacceptable. What makes it worse is that, because of the apartment situation, I don't have any other choice. If I were in a house, I could drop AT&T and move to another provider. I don't have that luxury. On the upside, I only have a 6 month lease. God-willing, by then, Kristen and I will have found a house, and, at this point, I know that, once I have a choice again, I will not be using AT&T.

Moved In...But No Internet

2007-11-13T10:21:00.000-05:00

I moved into the new apartment on Saturday. I think I counted 10 people that came to help me move, and I'm grateful for all of them, especially since I had to move stuff from 3 places (Chris's house—where I've been living—, my parents' house, and Kristen's house). Of course, I couldn't help thinking the whole day, "In six months, we get to do this again" (my plan is to find a house after the wedding and move in there when the 6-month lease is up on the apartment). Fortunately, in 6 months, everything will be getting moved from one place to one place...I hope.

So, since Saturday afternoon, I've been going through the long process of unpacking my stuff and getting things set up. I had Kristen and a friend, Todd, helping Saturday night, and Kristen helped Sunday, too.

My parents got us an HDTV (since we needed a decent-sized TV) as an early wedding present, which is set up in the living room. I decided to opt out of getting cable, since the only thing I really watch on TV is Heroes. So, I've been playing around with an antenna off-and-on the past few days trying to get a signal from NBC. I'm hoping they have a HD channel, which would be cool. Unfortunately, reception isn't the best right now. But I refuse to give up.

The computer is also, of course, set up. However, I still don't have Internet access (I'm posting this from work). I'll write more about that in another post sometime, since I don't want to ramble on too much here. Suffice to say for now, AT&T is the sole Internet provider in the apartment, and I'm thinking when I get a house, I'm getting Comcast. I was supposed to get the DSL modem yesterday, but instead I got a call yesterday saying that the order was delayed, my Internet access won't start until Wednesday, and the modem probably won't get to the apartment until Friday. And I can't change the delivery address because it's already locked in or something, so I'm going to have to take Friday off and wait around for a modem. >:-O

Anyway, the apartment is slowly starting to feel like home. The weirdest part about it is having all that space to myself. At Chris's house, my computer was downstairs with the others, but everything else I had was stuffed in my small bedroom. I slept on a dumpy, old twin bed for the 2 years I was there because my larger bed wouldn't fit in the room.

Now I have my computer, digital piano, bookshelf, etc. in the "office," and my game systems are in the living room. I have a huge walk-in closet for my clothes (as opposed to the tiny closet at Chris's). My bedroom is bigger than it was at Chris's, and all I have in there are my bed, a small bookshelf, my dresser, nightstand, and a floor lamp. I think it'll be a while before I get used to having so much space.

I'm also getting used to having an "empty" home, and that's just about as weird as having all that space. Up through college, I lived at my parents' house. Then, after graduating and getting a job, I moved into Chris's house, where I lived with 3 or 4 roommates (including Chris). Kristen's been over a lot this weekend, which has helped, but during the week she's going to be busy, so I'm going to have to get used to spending the evening at home without anyone to hang out with. I'm sure I'll get used to it; I've got video games, books, movies, etc. to occupy my time. And, of course, I'll be busy continuing to unpack everything.

I just hope I can make it to Friday without Internet access...

Packing

2007-11-07T02:17:00.000-05:00

Something I've heard before is that you don't realize how much stuff you have until you move. Well, this evening I've been packing up my stuff in preparation of my move on Saturday (moving out of my friend's house, where I've been living the past 2 years, and into an apartment) and I've been discovering how true that is!

The biggest surprise this evening has been the books. I've ended up with 12 boxes stuffed as full as I could get them with books. I'm sure some of you who read this will probably look at that and say, "only 12 boxes? You don't read enough." However, for me, and given how small my bedroom in this house is, that was surprising. Fortunately, with the extra space in the apartment, I will have room for another bookshelf or two to actually store all these books...

Of course, I've also thrown out a lot of stuff, too. Unfortunately, I could be throwing out a lot more stuff, but I've waited too late and don't really have the time right now to go through everything and separate the chaff from the wheat. Hopefully, I'll get around to that once I'm moved into the apartment.

So, one evening of packing down, three more to go. I've still got a lot to do here, although tomorrow I'll be at my parents' house packing up stuff there.

New Photos

2007-11-05T00:35:00.001-05:00

Sky Through Branches
Originally uploaded by coderforchrist

Pulling into the driveway after church today, I noticed how brightly red the tree in the front yard is. So, I pulled out my camera and start taking some photos. I uploaded the best ones to my Flickr account.

By the way, the photo I've included in this post is probably my favorite of the bunch. My second favorite would have to be the one with the tree and the house both in the picture (Chris, the friend I've been living with, just got his house repainted, and it looks very nice).

Name Ideas Needed

2007-10-26T15:14:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm having a hard time coming up with a new name to use in Steam-related games (Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, Team Fortress 2, etc.). It appears, due to the profiles page in Steam, that this is likely to be something more-or-less permanent, so it needs to be something good. My usual online name, 'coderforchrist,' just doesn't seem to fit in the DeathMatch world (actually, I logged in with that name to a IRC channel recently and, without me even saying a word, a flame war erupted...).

I've been using 'Dr. Tran,' from this video (language NSFW) lately, but I'd rather have something perhaps more original. I've had a few ideas of my own, but I want to see if my few readers can come up with some good ones I haven't thought of. So, what do you think?

Rain!

2007-10-24T18:48:00.001-04:00

Hooray! It's raining! More than that, it's been raining the past couple days. Yesterday, we had a good, strong rain for a while, then it let up and has come and gone.

This is exciting for me. We've been in a severe drought for a while, now. Our water resources are near drying up. Granted, we need quite a bit more than a day or two of rain to get us out of this, but what we've had the past couple days certainly will help.

Thank God for the rain. I hope He continues to send it.

What Kind of Reader Am I?

2007-10-16T13:10:00.000-04:00

Well, wezlo posted his results, so I decided to give it a go of my own:

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Literate Good Citizen
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

I've got to say, in my case, this may not be terribly accurate. I mean, I answered the questions as honestly as I could, but I just don't read all that often. I do have a tendency to be working through multiple books at once (a habit I should, perhaps, cut back on, actually), and I do carry books around with me and read whenever I have a moment. However, that's usually the bulk of my reading time. When I get home, there's so many distractions (Kristen, video games, Internet, roommates, etc.) that I actually have very little "serious reading time." The downside is, most of the books I tend to read require more of the sustained concentration approach than the "grab a moment when it comes" approach.

New Apartment

2007-10-15T13:15:00.001-04:00

With Kristen and me getting married in January, I needed to get my own place to live. Up until now, I've been living at a friend's house with some other roommates. However, I don't think that would be an ideal living situation for a married couple.

So, I got online, did a bit of research, talked to some friends, and this Saturday, Kristen and I went out to a nearby apartment complex and got an apartment. Well, we applied for the apartment and got approved. I don't sign for the lease until my move-in day (beginning of November). The one thing I didn't have on me was my 3 most recent paystubs, which I faxed to the girl at the desk today, so everything should be taken care of.

I did learn today that the maintenance crew may not have time to get the apartment ready for me by the move-in date, which may end up pushing the whole move-in process back a week. So, here's hoping that everything works out there.

I'm pretty excited, though, because, beyond finally getting my own place, this is something that I actually took initiative and did for myself. For most of my life, I've been a pretty passive person. One could say that life happens to me. I mean, I will do what I need to do, but usually I need a push—even to do things I want to do. Lately, though, I've been learning to take initiative. I didn't need anyone to tell me that I needed to get the apartment taken care of. I didn't need anyone to remind me to go fill out the application. I did it on my own initiative.

In other words, I guess I'm growing up.

Cold-Weather Clothes

2007-10-12T09:49:00.000-04:00

I woke up today, and it was 45°F. Wow! Up until now, it's felt like summer would never end.

Of course, this means it's time to break out the cold-weather clothes. Long-sleeves, shoes, etc. The trick is figuring out which of my clothes fit me. I've been trying to lose some weight, and get back down to wearing a medium. However, what I found this morning was that it seems like some of my large shirts are too big, but my mediums are still too tight. I ended up putting on a t-shirt and my jacket, instead.

This got me thinking. I've started wearing t-shirts more again. I think they feel more comfortable than the "nice" button-up shirts. However, all of my long-sleeved shirts are either button-ups or sweaters, and it's not cold enough yet to warrant a sweater. Besides, I'd like to find something like what they have at ThinkGeek, only long-sleeved.

So, if anyone happens to know where I can find some cool long-sleeved t-shirts, let me know.

Nintendo: WTF?

2007-10-02T13:06:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I finally decided to get a Nintendo DS. I've heard of a number of very cool-sounding games for it, and the dual-sceen (+touch-screen) format just sounds very cool. What I had forgotten about until after I bought it was that the DS has Wi-Fi capabilities. Sweet!

I have yet to try out the Wi-Fi connection (Phoenix Wright—a non-Wi-Fi game—has eaten up most of my play time). Even so, the thought has already occurred to me (and, apparently, to a lot of other people) that it would be awesome if the DS had a web browser.

In my fantasizing, the browser could be just a limited as the Opera-based browser on my cell-phone, and it would still be useful. If nothing else, navigating would be much more convenient with the DS's touch-screen as opposed to pushing buttons on my cell's keypad. Even with the additional limitation of requiring a Wi-Fi hotspot (as opposed to the cell phone's more available network), I would find this to be a wonderful convenience.

Certain that someone has figured out a way to do this, I took to the mighty Google, and, surprise, Nintendo and Opera are way ahead of me. Apparently, after producing the Opera browser that runs on the Wii, they released the "Nintendo DS Browser." My initial excitement was quickly shattered when I learned one thing: the browser costs $30.

$30? WTF?

First of all, the capabilities of this browser are, as expected, similar to my cell phone's, with the above-mentioned additional limitation of requiring a Wi-Fi connection. As I said above, that's not a huge deal to me, but, hey, my cell phone's browser cost me nothing. On my old RAZR V3, I downloaded the Opera browser for free. On my new RAZR V3xx, it came on the phone. Is $30 too much to pay for convenience? I'm leaning towards yes.

Secondly, compare the two Nintendo systems: Wii and DS. Browsing on the Wii is, best I can tell, a gimmick. I've tried it (Google Reader even has a special interface designed for the Wii browser), and it's a neat idea. However, after the novelty wears off, its easier to just browse on your PC. If someone, for some reason, has a Wii and a wireless network but doesn't have a PC, I can see this maybe being useful. But for those of us with a Wii and a PC, I can't see why anyone would seriously use the Wii browser.

On the other hand, as I said above, a browser on the DS could be a very useful addition to its functionality. Mobile browsing seems to be gaining popularity. The PSP even has a web browser (for free). So, not only would it be convenient, it would make the DS an even stronger competitor against the PSP (granted, the PSP is more of a "media device" whereas the DS is a "game system").

So, to summarize, the Wii browser is merely a gimmick, but it's free. The DS browser could be a significant enhancement to the system, but it costs $30.

And, yes, I understand that the Wii has a system to download new "channels," therefore it costs little if anything to distribute the Wii browser, whereas the DS does not seem to have this capability, so the browser has to be distributed via a DS game card. So, I can understand charging to recoup the manufacturing costs. But does it really cost $30 per unit?

Apparently, this browser was popular enough in Japan (and there was enough of a demand for it here) that Nintendo decided to bring it to the States. At that price, though, I doubt very many people are going to buy it.

Autumn

2007-09-25T16:58:00.000-04:00

The weather is starting to get cooler, and I'm seeing a few leaves changing. This means that autumn is upon us. As a result, I've been in a fairly happy mood the past couple weeks (overall).

I don't know why, but Fall is one of my favorite seasons. It's the season of the apple festival up in the North Georgia mountains (maybe I'll make it up there one day this season). It's the season of apple cider, donning long sleeves, and cooler weather. It's the season of sitting outside at a coffeeshop with a hot espresso drink and a good book. Autumn is a very sanguine and laid back season. I just want to go outside and enjoy the weather.

And before too long, I get to start wearing my favorite hats again.

Autumn feels like a season for new beginnings. Maybe that's because I've spent most of my life so far in school, and the academic year begins just before Autumn. Whatever the reason, I find it fitting that the liturgical new year in the Orthodox Church starts on September 1. This is as it should be. Whoever decided that the year should begin in the dead of winter?

I just hope that I'll be able to get out and do some hiking and mountain biking this week, and enjoy this weather while we have it.

Coming Home and Anime Weekend Atlanta

2007-09-21T10:07:00.000-04:00

So, today is my last day in Florida (I've been visiting the main office of my company this week). I came down here to meet with another out-of-town developer that I'm working with on a project that constitutes taking an existing web site and writing a SOAP web service interface for it. This project makes my first time 1) using Perl, 2) writing any sort of web service API, and 3) using XML.

So, our main objective for this week was to produce and demo a working web service. It's not connected into the actual database yet; that'll be step 2. For now, I've created various stub routines, settled on the format for passing the data back and forth, and my coworker has connected the client to my service. We demo'd our work to the VP of Development and the manager for this product yesterday, and they were very pleased with our work. Our CEO was pretty excited about it, too.

Next week, though, I'll need to get back into my other product that's more boring, maintenance work. Need to get a release out for the quarter, and I've still got a bug to take care of...

Also, today is the first day of Anime Weekend Atlanta. This isn't quite as big or exciting as DragenCon was, but I've been looking forward to it, too. I think I'll be stopping by on my way home from the airport, if nothing else to get registered for the weekend. Yes, I am a geek.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

2007-09-19T09:51:00.001-04:00

Found this flyer in a Publix. It's funny that something started by two guys has become this widespread. Anyway, have a good Talk Like a Pirate Day, ye scurvy dogs! Yarrr...

How I am an Idiot

2007-09-17T20:55:00.000-04:00

So, this week, I'm in Florida on business (company's main office is down here). Near the main office, the company has a condo where up to two out-of-towners can stay when visiting. When we come down, we are supposed to first check on the availability of the condo, and only if that's already booked up are we supposed to get a room at a nearby hotel.

Now, the trip that I'm on this week was planned about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and I should have gotten everything together back then. I did get the plane tickets in plenty of time, however, I kept forgetting to email the person at the company that keeps track of the condo. I would remind myself, on my way to work some mornings, to do so, but once I got to work, I'd get busy with one thing or another and forget again. This went on until this past Friday evening, when I realized that 1) the trip was the next Monday, 2) it was past quitting time and everyone had gone home. Oops.

In that "oh crap" sort of panic that's ultimately useless, since it wouldn't have mattered if I'd gotten the email out 30 minutes later (when I got home), I boot my computer back up and (finally) send an email to the necessary person, hoping that, maybe, she'll happen to check her email over the weekend (hey, it could happen). I also decide to go ahead and book a room at a Doubletree hotel near the office, just in case. I decided to book it on my own personal card, so that, if the condo did end up being available, and I had to pay some sort of cancellation fee for canceling the reservation at the last minute, the fee would go on my own card, since it was my stupidity that brought this about.

Sure enough, I get an email while about to board the plane this morning saying that the condo is, in fact, available for the week. So, after landing in Florida, I go into the main office for the remainder of the work day. While there, I get online to cancel my reservation at the Doubletree.

Unfortunately, because it's within 24 hours of the check-in time, I can't cancel the reservation online. I call the number it suggests, only to find that the "central reservation office" couldn't cancel the reservation, either. I was going to have to contact the hotel directly and talk to a manager to get it canceled.

I call the hotel, and get transferred to the reservations manager. After waiting on hold for some time, I get sent to voicemail; the manager is not currently available. Sigh. I left her a message, with my number to get back to me. I never heard back from her.

Wanting to get this taken care of, I finally decide to just drive down to the hotel after work and talk to the front desk directly. Preparing for resistance (just in case they wanted to give me a hard time), I walk into the hotel and explain to the guy at the desk that I need to cancel my reservation. I'm sure he was wondering why I'd be canceling my reservation while I'm obviously in the area. So, I explain what's going on, and he hit a few buttons and says, "Okay, you're done!"

I was kind of surprised; that seemed too easy. No cancellation fee? Nope. No paying for a night or anything? Nope. Just canceled the reservation and I was on my way.

Yeah, boring story, but I said in a Twitter update I'd post it (since I alluded to it in the update), so there it is. Sorry you had to read that.

iGoogle Quote of the Day

2007-09-14T14:40:00.001-04:00

Here's another good quote from my iGoogle Quote of the Day module:

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
- Scott Adams

Random Quiz

2007-09-04T17:27:00.000-04:00

1. If I looked in your trunk, what would I find?
Dirty hiking boots, a coat, an emergency blanket (I think), a spare tire, a jack, and probably some other random stuff that I don't remember.

2. Do you go to the bathroom with the door open or closed?
Closed.

3. Are your underwear and socks folded in your drawers, or just thrown in?
drawers?

4. Sleep on your back or stomach?
yes. I have also managed to sleep in bed on my side, while sitting in various chairs, and I think I actually dozed off while standing once, but I'm not sure.

5. Are you a cuddler?
Depends.

6. What would I find if I looked under your bed?
I don't even remember...

7. Something that happened today that has made you mad?
Nothing that I can think of...

8. What were you doing before this survey?
working

9. What will you do after this survey?
eat dinner

10. Marriage or living together?
marriage, which will involve living together, soon

11. What are you wearing right now?
jeans, sandals, Hawaiian shirt.

12. How many times have you been in love?
I've been infatuated with a few girls, but I think I've only really loved one.

13. Does delabeling a beer bottle make you sexually frustrated?
Umm...what?

14. Do you talk about your feelings or hide them?
I don't really want to talk about it.

15. Is there something you regret and wish you could take back?
Yes.

16. First thing you do when you wake up?
try to figure out which alarm is going off, then deduce it's location relative to myself.

17. Kiss with your eyes open or closed?
Depends on whether anything is on TV. =-O

18. Bite or Lick?
Wow...getting a little naughty there, aren't we?

19. Last argument you got into?
I don't remember.

20. Do you tend to rip the paper off water bottles?
sometimes, if I'm bored and need something to do.

21. When you shut off your alarm clock, do you tend to fall back asleep?
that's kind of the point of the 'snooze' button, isn't it?

22. If you were given the chance to take care of a monkey for a weekend, would you?
Monkeys rock. And roll. All the time.

23. Do you have or want any piercings that may suprise others?
ouch, sticking holes in my skin. DO NOT WANT!!!

24. What are you looking forward to in the next few months?
Anime Weekend Atlanta, Christmas, Epiphany, and the wedding. Oh, and my sister's wedding, too!

25. Would you ever paint a penguin green on GoofyAuctions.co
what?

26. Are you ticklish?
possibly

27. Where do you wish you were right now?
mountain biking

28. What song are you currently listening to?
October, by a group called Pristina

29. Have you ever passed out from drinking?
no

30. If you caught a significant other cheating on you what would you do?
I don't want to be with someone I can't trust.

31. What time did you wake up this morning?
I don't really remember...

32. Do you have any cousins?
yes

33. What makes you laugh?
A lot of things that probably shouldn't.

34. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
Kristen

35. What is the WORST subject they teach in school?
Health, I suppose

36. Where do you plan on living when you grow up?
in a house.

37. What was your dream this morning?
dunno, but given the ones I have remembered, it's probably rather weird

38. How many times have you seen your favorite movie?
I don't even know what my favorite movie is!!!

39. Where was the last place you traveled?
Atlanta, for Dragon Con!

40. How was your past weekend?
More fun than should be legal (note: this statement should not be so construed as to imply anything about the legality or non-legality of any of my actions committed within the past few days. I assure you, they were entirely legal.)

41. What is your favorite song?
I dunno. Perhaps "Goodbye" by The Echoing Green.

42. Why are you doing this survey?
I'm...not really sure.

43. What is the best ice cream flavor?
I'm not a big ice cream eater.

44. Do you think you are attractive?
Not particularly, though I'm told otherwise

45. Is someone on your mind right now?
Yup.

46. Can you say the alphabet backwards?
Yes.

47. Do you worry about how you look?
not really. I mean, I comb my hair in the morning, and I generally try to wear clothes that aren't obviously dirty...

48. When will you turn 50?
26 years? 25.5? Something like that. I'm half-way there! Where'd my hair go?!

49. What color is your toothbrush?
white

50. Have you ever been on stage?
Yes; I was in band in high/middle school.

51. Do you like the beach?
It's nice at night.

52. Can you whistle?
Yes.

53. Would you do anything for that special someone?
probably?

52. Do you know who Stewie Griffin is?
The future dictator of the world

53. Do you have any plans for today?
Plans are for organized people

54. Have you ever thought a friend could be more than a friend?
Well, once I had a friend with multiple personalities, so he was able to be two friends, which is more than one.
Oh, wait, you meant romantically. Well, yes. But I was wrong.

End of My Weekend at Dragon*Con

2007-09-02T23:59:00.001-04:00

After church this morning, I headed back to Dragon*Con for my second (and last) day of the weekend, and I actually have more time to write about it tonight. Technically, the convention starts on Friday and goes until Monday evening. I would love to have been able to do all 4 days. I had planned on going Friday evening, actually, but I was feeling so worn out and tired, I knew that if I didn't just go home after work and get some rest, I would've been miserable the rest of the weekend. Monday, I've got other stuff that needs to get done.

And, so, for me, Dragon*Con 2007 is over. It was a lot of fun, although I really wish I'd had more time. I only got to go to two of the sessions, one being the Q&A with Ron Glass and Mark Sheppard I mentioned yesterday, and the other, today, about folklore, fairy tales, and mythology in modern fiction. Both were very interesting, and I really wish I could've done more of that.

Also, I missed all the parties. That was a bummer. There's a part of me that would almost want to, next year, actually just get a room at one of the hotels and stay the whole weekend. Of course, next year, I'll be married, and I don't think Kristen would be too happy about that. Then again, maybe by next September, she'll just be glad to have me out of the house for a while. ;-)

The biggest difference between yesterday and today is that, for quite a while today, I was just on my own. Robert, who I hung out with yesterday, didn't make it down until later in the day, so I just kinda did my own thing for a while.

Anyway, I did manage to procure much loot while there. The photo with this post is the Serenity ornament that I bought (in the photo, it's on a display stand). I also got the FLCL anime series on DVD, and the Hong Kong release of Macross Zero (since it doesn't appear to be getting released officially in the States anytime soon). The Hong Kong release has English subtitles, so I can understand it. I got the t-shirt that is the photo for yesterday's post, and I got a photo of the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter movies autographed by the two actors for Kristen. I'm probably forgetting something, but it's late and I'm tired.

I'm hoping that, next year, I'll have things better planned out, and can do more with the convention. In the mean time, Anime Weekend Atlanta is coming up in a few weeks...

End of Saturday at Dragon*Con

2007-09-01T22:26:00.001-04:00

Went to Dragon*Con today with my friend Robert, and his friend, Nick. The picture above is the front of a T-shirt I bought. :-D

Really, this is the first year I actually registered, so I could get into all the fun stuff. Fortunately, I pre-registered, so I was able to walk through the sign-in pretty quickly. Unfortunately, Nick had to wait in the very long registration line. So, about two (or more?) hours after he'd gotten in line and Robert and I were walking around the dealer rooms, Robert gets a text message from Nick:

Day 487 of my d-con registration captivity. water running low. natives are nice. i will try to build a fire again. the natives didn't like my earlier attempt.

He did finally get through, by the way.

So, the whole day started with a parade of a bunch of the people in costume. After this, Nick went to registration and Robert and I did some wandering around. I took a number of pictures at the parade (and a few around the con), which I plan on posting to my Flickr account when I get the time (probably Monday).

Later, we attended a 1-hour session with Ron Glass and Mark Sheppard, two actors who played Shepherd Book and Badger (respectively) on the TV show Firefly. It was a Q&A format, and both actors were very good at engaging with the audience. They were a lot of fun, and had some good answers to some tough questions.

I had to leave a little early to make it to vespers at church, and after that, I decided to just head on home. However, I am looking forward to spending the afternoon/evening down there tomorrow!

Dragon*Con

2007-09-01T15:15:00.001-04:00

Today and tomorrow, I'm spending most of my time in downtown Atlanta for Dragon*Con, and this year I actually registered, so I can do all the cool stuff.

Atheist Gets Mormons Back

2007-08-20T16:49:00.000-04:00

[Edit: Oops, almost forgot! HT:Geek Orthodox]

On the list of Things Reverend Skippy Can't Do at the Pulpit, item number 20 reads, "Jehovah’s Witnesses are not ‘our nemesis’ and we need not knock on their doors ‘to get some back.’" Well, it would appear that this doesn't apply to this atheist regarding Mormons:

Change of Place

2007-08-17T22:53:00.000-04:00

Go where you may, you will find no rest except in humble obedience to the rule of authority. Dreams of happiness expected from change and different places have deceived many. —Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

And why is this so? I think that, perhaps, this poster is relevant.

DUI Suspect Arrested Wearing "I'm A Drunk" Shirt - News Story - WSB Atlanta

2007-08-03T09:59:00.000-04:00

DUI Suspect Arrested Wearing "I'm A Drunk" Shirt - News Story - WSB Atlanta: "A Florida woman arrested on charges of drunken driving for a second time since April was taken into custody wearing a T-shirt that read, 'I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk -- Alcoholics go to meetings.'"

I can just imagine her conversation with the officer who arrested her.

Officer: You're sure you're not drunk.
Woman: Yes, I'm fine.
Officer: Um...you understand that your shirt somewhat undermines your credibility...
Woman: Daaang...

Wii Fit Parody

2007-07-18T22:10:00.000-04:00

Wezlo posted a while back about a Microsoft Surface parody video. Well, the group that did that is back again, and this time, they're taking on the Wii Fit. No ruminations on the church and relevance from me, though (partly because I'm also watching the Discovery Channel). Just the video:

Another Insightful Quote

2007-07-14T13:19:00.001-04:00

Here's another quote from my iGoogle "Quote of the Day" module:

Seeing ourselves as others see us would probably confirm our worst suspicions about them.
- Franklin P. Adams

How Addicted to Coffee Are You?

2007-07-10T23:35:00.000-04:00

I am 79% Addicted to Coffee

Well, at least I'm not as addicted as Qohelet.

Interesting coincidence; I come into work this morning and we're out of coffee beans. There's still the grinds from yesterday (where I had to mix the remnants of two blends together to get enough coffee) and the brewed coffee from yesterday in the cofeemaker. So, I add some water to the coffee, pour in back into the "input" and brew it again. It tasted nasty, but it had to do until my coworker got back from the store with more coffee.

DragonCon Guests

2007-07-05T01:31:00.000-04:00

So, I was listening to The Signal, a podcast about the TV show Firefly (and it's later movie incarnation, Serenity), and they announced that Ron Glass, who plays Shepherd Book on the show, and Mark Sheppard (Badger) will be at DragonCon this year. That's pretty exciting; Shepherd Book is one of my favorite characters in the series.

So, while I was checking the DragonCon guest list to make sure I'd heard right, I noticed something rather saddening: so far, it doesn't look like anyone from Heroes will be present. If there is anyone I'm hoping to see at DragonCon this year, it's a) Firefly cast (yay for the two mentioned above!) and b) Heroes cast. Granted, DragonCon isn't until September, so, maybe, they can still decide to show up...

Of course, this'll only be me second year going to DragonCon (and first year actually registering so I can get into all the cool stuff) so I'm sure I'll be plenty busy getting oriented.

Oh, yeah, I hope everyone had a good 4th of July!

I Got Pwnd

2007-06-26T22:37:00.000-04:00

From a conversation over at Christdot:

qohelet: Sweet. I suggest you celebrate by listening to "Play that Funky Music White Boy" by Wild Cherry, followed by James Brown's "Sex Machine."
giziti: get up! get on up!
qohelet: get on the scene! like a lovin' machine!
CoderForChrist (me): Is it bad that the only time I've ever heard that song was in an AMV?
giziti: It's bad that you watch AMVs.
qohelet: +1

Bush's Solution to Global Warming

2007-06-23T02:43:00.000-04:00

According to a highly credible news site*, The Onion, President Bush has finally unveiled his solution to global warming: build a giant air conditioner to cool off the US. The total cost for developing this unit is, apparently, estimated at $100 trillion. You can read the whole story here: Addressing Climate Crisis, Bush Calls For Development Of National Air Conditioner

In other news, after blending into American society for the past 5 years, a terrorist cell in California has, apparently, become "too complacent to carry out [their] attack."

*I managed to type that with a straight face! ;-)

"Dramatic Chipmunk"

2007-06-22T13:32:00.000-04:00

Seeing God in Relief

2007-06-21T15:12:00.000-04:00

I've been rereading the book Beginning to Pray by Archbishop Anthony Bloom. This passage, from the first chapter, has been something that jumped out at me both times I've read through it:

...when a man or a woman experiences love for another, other people no longer matter in the same way. To put it in a short formula from the ancient world, 'When a man has a bride, he is no longer surrounded by men and women, but by people.'

Isn't that what could, what should happen with regard to all our riches when we turn to God? Surely they should become pale and grey, just a general background against which the only figure that matters would appear in intense relief? We would like just one touch of heavenly blue in the general picture of our life, in which there are so many dark sides. God is prepared to be outside it, He is prepared to take it up completely as a cross, but He is not prepared to be simply part of our life.

My New Toy

2007-06-20T01:06:00.001-04:00

My New Toy
Originally uploaded by coderforchrist

I recently got a new toy: an Air Hogs RC Havoc Heli. The 'copter charges off of the remote (hence the cord you see between the two in the photo), and goes for about 6 minutes (I think) before needing to be recharged.

These things are incredibly sensitive to the slightest movement of air, and as such, you've gotta be careful if you fly it outside. Just the breeze from an A/C vent can send it out of control. Fortunately, this thing can take a beating!

So, how did I come across this? My brother and sister picked up a couple for my dad for Father's Day (which we celebrated on Thursday). We all had so much fun flying them around my parents' house, I went and got my own the next day!

Given it's aforementioned resilience, this toy gives a lot of fun for it's price: $30. Granted, after a weekend of abuse, my dad's 'copters have needed some repairs. I suppose I've not abused mine as much, because it's still running fine.

And, I think I'm finally getting good enough to really annoy people at the office...

Oh, if anyone wants one, I got mine at Target, and my sister got the two for my dad at Wal-Mart. If you'd rather order it online, they've got them over at ThinkGeek as well.

Insightful Quote

2007-06-18T11:22:00.000-04:00

On my iGoogle homepage, I have a module called "Quote of the Day," which, as you might guess, gives me a quote for each day. Sometimes the quotes are just silly, but today's was, I thought, pretty good:

We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

High-Level Nerd

2007-06-17T14:45:00.000-04:00

Okay, apparently I'm slightly nerdier than wezlo:

Now, That's Politics!

2007-06-10T01:13:00.001-04:00

Apparently, a fight broke out in the Alabama Senate recently. Well, not much of a fight; one senator punched another in the head. Regardless, if this kind of thing went on more often, I might actually watch CPAN!

Buddhism and Suicide

2007-06-09T00:42:00.000-04:00

Another great bash.org chat log:

<Neo-Tokyo> wouldnt you say suicide is a permenant solution to a temporary problem?
<`[6]> I'm a Buddhist, I'd say suicide is a temporary solution to a permanent problem.

Out-Moralizing the Bible?

2007-06-03T17:29:00.000-04:00

Found this great IRC chat log here. For convenience's sake, here it is:

*** Now talking in #christian
-Word_of_God- Welcome Abstruse to #christian I am a Bible Bot. For more info type: /msg Word_of_God !info
<abstruse> !kjv numbers 22:21
<word_of_god>  Numbers 22:21 -- And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. -  (KJV)
*** SageRider sets mode: +b *!*@c211-30-208-111.rivrw3.nsw.optusnet.com.au
*** Word_of_God was kicked from #christian by SageRider (Please dont Swear)
<abstruse> I know I'm never going to be able to come back in this channel again after this, but damn was it worth it to see that...

YouTube Spam

2007-05-31T11:03:00.000-04:00

So, as you'll notice from the below post, I recently started a YouTube account. This is part of my attempt at incorporating a mobile blog into this one. Just as I can upload photos from my cell, with YouTube, I can also upload videos.

Anyway, today, I receive my first message from another YouTube user. The entirety of this message was, "hi, please upload all your videos to [site removed to protect the...um...I just wanted to be nice]."

Having done a search on that website, I have found that I am not the only one to receive this (at the same time, the author claims to be doing these messages "by hand," and not using an automated bot). Others have received this as comment spam (perhaps the backlash against that is the reason he's moved to private messages now). In addition, a video uploaded to YouTube about this site points out the "odd" similarity in site design to YouTube. Looks like a total rip-off.

I'm not really concerned about that; it's the Wild, Wild Web, after all. What I found the most interesting is that this guy is blatantly advertising his site on Youtube. He has a YouTube account, obviously, but has no videos posted, and, from what I have seen, says nothing in his comments or messages but, "please upload all your videos to [his site]."

Totally classless? Ignorant? Gonzolas the size of basketballs? Given his comments on some blog postings complaining about his spam, I'm going to assume the...err...best about him (i.e., that he's being honest in those comments) and go with "ignorant." He doesn't seem to get why people might be annoyed by this.

I mean, seriously, I'm all for the little guy, but if someone, for example, started up a new soda company, visited the World of Coke (yes, we have a museum about Coca-Cola), and did nothing the whole time he was there other than tell other visitors to buy his beverage instead of Coke, he'd probably get escorted out rather quickly.

Dexter Trip at Georgia Renaissance Festival

2007-05-28T22:43:00.000-04:00

If I remember correctly, he had 200 Black Cat fireworks duct-taped to his chest. I think I started "filming" just after he lit the fuses. Oh, and, yes, he lived.

Which Church Father Am I?

2007-05-25T11:29:00.000-04:00

Got this quiz from Wezlo and Dr. Q...

You’re St. Jerome!

You’re a passionate Christian, fiercely devoted to Jesus Christ and his Church. You are willing to labor long hours in the Lord’s vineyard, and you have little patience with those who are less willing or able to work as you do. Your passions often carry you into temptation zones of wrath, lust, and pride.

Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Google Reader

2007-05-22T12:57:00.000-04:00

I think I'm going to give Google Reader another go. I tried it out back when it first appeared, but the interface was absolutely horrid, and I ran straight back to Bloglines. More recently, I discovered that the interface has been redone, and looks much better. The only thing keeping me from trying it out again was that I didn't see a mobile version. Well, I finally found that, so I'm going to try it out, and see how it goes. If I like both interfaces better than Bloglines, I may be switching...

Chrismation

2007-05-22T00:04:00.000-04:00

So, on the heels of our engagement, Kristen and I now have another announcement: Sunday morning, we were received by Holy Chrismation into the Orthodox Church. I would have posted this earlier, but I was waiting until I had told my parents; I didn't want them finding out by reading it on our parish's website again. That was how they discovered that we had become catechumen, and it didn't go over well.

They are genuinely concerned for me and Kristen, and I understand why. Please pray for them, whether you think Kristen and I are right or wrong in joining the Orthodox Church.

Engagement

2007-05-08T11:01:00.000-04:00

(Note: This is a cross-posting from a journal entry I posted over at Christdot)

Well, I've been rather busy, so I'm a few days late posting this.

Anyway, Kristen and I are engaged! I proposed this past Saturday, May 5. Now that the initial announcement is over, here's the story:

I decided to propose on May 5 because it was the three-year anniversary of our meeting. It was also my birthday, which some people seem to think is noteworthy. In addition, I wanted to do something reminiscent of our first summer together, and, in particular, one day that we spent together that was probably as close to a "first date" as we have.

On that day, we had gone to a nearby state park (Kennesaw Mountain) to hike, as we were wont to do (sometimes with friends, sometimes alone). Afterwards, we went to Waffle House for lunch. Then, I wanted to go put a slinky on an escalator at the mall, and after we did that, we went to see Spider Man 2.

So, with that background out of the way, here's how it all happened:

Kristen had known that I had the ring for a while, and she'd been bugging me about when I was going to propose. Concerned that I might give away my plan if I kept trying to fend her off, I devised a game.

If you have read The Hobbit, I'm sure you, at least vaguely, remember the part where Gollum and Bilbo have the riddle contest, which ends with Bilbo's wondering aloud what he has in his pocket (he'd forgotten he'd picked up the ring), and Gollum's mistaking it for a riddle. So, I gave her a riddle each day from that sequence that she had to solve in order to get a hint. I had it timed so that the last riddle, "what is in my pocket?", would fall on May 5.

As it happens, we went to a late showing of Spider Man 3 on May 4 with some friends (that wasn't originally part of my plan, actually), and then, on the 5th, we went to lunch at Waffle House, and I took her up to Kennesaw Mountain. We found a slightly secluded spot, and, after waiting there for a moment, I said it was time for the next riddle.

By this point, Kristen had figured out where the riddles were coming from, and she knew that I knew. So, when I asked her what was in my pocket, she thought I might try to fake her out, and guessed a few different things. After 3 guesses, I took out the ring, gave a little impromptu speech, and asked her to marry me. Apparently, I didn't phrase the question correctly, because she made me "ask her properly." And, of course, she said "yes."

We then made the rounds to visit both sets of parents, and have been slowly informing everyone else since then.

Oh, and I took some photos in the aftermath of the proposal, which you can see here.

Global Climate Change

2007-04-30T16:38:00.000-04:00

I came across a couple articles today on (cue movie-trailer voice) "Global Climate Change" (bum bum bum...) that were interesting. The first, from an Australian news source, is headlined, Ocean currents to blame for global warming: expert, and begins with this sentence:

The United States' leading hurricane forecaster says global ocean currents, not human-produced carbon dioxide, are responsible for global warming.

The second article, from the British edition of Times Online, is titled Climate change hits Mars. I found this part particularly interesting:

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

Just a couple tidbits you probably won't be hearing from Al Gore anytime soon.

Now, just to head off any criticism (i.e., I'm pretending I actually have an audience that might criticize me), I'm all for being more environmentally responsible. I grew up in a family that turns the lights/TV off when they're not being used, that recycles, that turns off the water when it's not needed, etc. As a Christian, I believe that God has tasked us with caring for the Earth that He has given us.

I just find the doomsday scenarios one hears from such public figures as the previously-mentioned Al Gore to be rather doubtful, and am somewhat incredulous regarding claims that human activity is to blame.

It is my, albeit uneducated, opinion that climate change is a natural phenomenon, and is merely part of the life-cycle of our planet. Frankly, "Global Warming" is such a politicized issue that it is hard for me to accept the rather one-sided presentation that is often given in the media.

Part of my issue with the alarmist aspect is that, if successful, it may lead to efforts being pushed through to "reduce carbon footprints," etc. before they've been well considered.

Take ethanol, for instance. It has been pushed as a "clean" fuel; instead of fossil fuels, ethanol is made from corn. At the outset, this seems like a great idea: a renewable energy resource. Except that, as ethanol use increases, corn which could have been food for people or livestock gets bought up by ethanol companies. As a result, the price of corn rises, the price of livestock rises, and we end up with a clean energy source that literally starves the poor.

In other words, it's a case of the butterfly flapping it's wings in Beijing and causing a hurricane in San Francisco.

My Soteriology

2007-04-20T14:42:00.001-04:00

Christ did not come to get sinners into Heaven; He came to make sinners into saints.

--
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This mobile text message is brought to you by Cingular, now the new AT&T

Feed Issues?

2007-04-18T23:01:00.000-04:00

I was talking to Kristen earlier, and she said she hasn't gotten any new RSS data from this blog in Thunderbird since October, and that Thunderbird is giving her an error that the feed is not valid. She's using the feed URL provided in the first link under "Subscriptions" to the right, which is a feed produced by Feedburner. The benefit of Feedburner is, IIRC, that it can produce an RSS or Atom feed depending on what the user needs, which was why I decided to use it instead of Blogger's default Atom feed.

I decided to investigate for myself. When I click on the link in Firefox 2.0, it shows an up-to-date preview of the feed and allows me to choose how I want to subscribe (good old Firefox!). When I get to Bloglines, however, (Bloglines is my online feed reader of choice), and preview the feed from there, the most recent post is my March 28 announcement, Changes Coming Soon.

There is a link at the very bottom of my blog to Blogger's default Atom feed, and, when I try subscribing to that, it seems to work fine. I sent Kristen that URL, and she said it didn't show anything in Thunderbird, but it didn't complain that it wasn't a valid feed, either.

Has anyone else noticed any issues receiving feeds from this blog? I know a couple of you have signed up to use the FeedBlitz service to the right, to get this feed in email; have you noticed anything awry? The more info I have, the better, so let me know! I want to try and get this fixed soon.

From Florida

2007-04-17T09:08:00.001-04:00

I'm out in Florida on a business trip. This is a view from my balcony. Right now, I don't have Internet, so I'm posting from my phone. I wanted to say something about the shooting at VA Tech today.
God have mercy on all those involved, the victims, the families, and the man who was so disturbed as to commit this heinous act. May God have mercy on us all, for we are all part of this culture that produces such violence.

What Kristen and I Do On a Date

2007-04-13T19:43:00.001-04:00

The writing is the algorithm we devised to find the nearest multiple of y to x. This started by my spilling the salt and saying, "Oh, no, 400 years of bad luck!" Kristen noted that bad luck usually comes in 7's, so we wanted to find the nearest multiple of 7 to 400.

Warm Weather Again

2007-04-12T09:53:00.001-04:00

That's a view out the window of my office. The cold is leaving, and the skies are clear! At least, until this weekend.

Comment Spam

2007-04-12T08:47:00.000-04:00

Since I've started this blog, I've noticed that the more often I update, the more often I get comment spam.

For those who don't know, comment spam is where people (or, usually, machines) post advertisements in your comments. Sometimes, they make a meager attempt at sounding like a real commenter. They'll say something like, "What an interesting post! By the way, buy my crap!" Sometimes, they don't even care to disguise themselves.

The other day, I got one that was more along the latter. It was a blatant advertisement for some webmail software. However, in the last line, the author was so nice about the fact that I'll probably delete the comment I almost felt bad deleting it!

Well, I've been able to keep that stuff out for the most part. I get an email every time I get a comment on the blog, so any spam is usually gone within a day. However, I tire of keeping up with that, so I've decided to add a "word verification" to the comment posting process.

All this means is that, when posting a comment, you'll be shown an image of some characters, and you have to type those characters in the corresponding text box to prove that you are a human and not some machine. Anonymous comments are still allowed, so the few of you who actually read this and don't have a Blogger account can still comment. You know, on the off-chance I post anything comment-worthy.

It's not a big deal, but it's a change I thought I'd let people know about.

Christ is Risen!

2007-04-08T04:09:00.001-04:00

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

That's the refrain that was sung multiple times in the services tonight.

Happy Pascha (Easter)!

Holy Saturday

2007-04-07T09:59:00.001-04:00

On my way to church for Holy Saturday morning. Tonight, we'll be in church from 9pm until 3am, celebrating Easter (Pascha) at midnight. Then, the Paschal feast!

White Easter?

2007-04-07T00:09:00.001-04:00

This is a photo I took tonight of snow on my car. I had just gotten home, so there's not much there yet. However, this is snow, in Georgia, in April! What does this mean? Personally, I think Hell is starting to freeze over.

Free Admission Promotion at Theme Park Goes Awry

2007-04-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

According to a local news station, a free admission promotion by the Six Flags Over Georgia theme park worked a little bit too well. The article is great, so go read it here. Anything else I can say here would probably only take away from the humor of this.

Update: My brother, apparently, tried to make it out to Six Flags for "Ditch Day" (that's what they were calling it). He left school around 4am, but, fortunately, before he got to the park, he got a call from a friend ahead of him telling him that they'd ended it early.

No More Worrying About Cold Days

2007-03-30T20:27:00.001-04:00

No PS3 In Jail

2007-03-30T18:26:00.000-04:00

From CNet's gaming blog:

ITV is reporting that the U.K.'s Home Secretary, John Reid, has made the shocking and momentous decision to ban Sony's PlayStation 3...in jails. Yes, that's right. The reasoning is that the high-end gaming console, which went on sale in the U.K. last week, could be used to send or receive radio signals with its built-in Wi-Fi and connectivity features.

But, um, isn't it jail?

My whole notion of jail has changed. You get a roof over your head, 3 square meals a day, apparently time to play video games, maybe even cable TV, all on the taxpayers' dime! Okay, so, there is this:

But, hey, besides that, jail sounds pretty nice...

Ah, Spring Is Here

2007-03-29T18:22:00.001-04:00

The writing on my car reads 5,937, which is the pollen count today. The news says this almost meets the record of 6,013, which occurred on April 12, 1999. By the way, my car is clean compared to some I have seen.

Abstinence and Sexual Disease Prevention

2007-03-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

Lately, there have been two conversations related to sexually transmitted diseases that I have come across. One is on a vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The story there is that 1) HPV has been linked to cervical cancer, and 2) at least one state government is considering making the vaccine mandatory. The second story is about the WHO backing a plan to prevent HIV spread via circumcision.

In discussions on both stories, the topic of abstinence came up. The general idea is that, if you save yourself for marriage, then, assuming your spouse also saves (him|her)self, you will not be at risk for either HPV or HIV. In the case of the HPV vaccine, the concern was that having your daughter get the vaccine would imply that you don't trust your daughter's sexual morality. In the HIV story, someone made the statement, "if your son and his wife save themselves for marriage, circumcision won't change his HIV risk: 50~60% of 0 is still 0."

The issue that is not mentioned in either case is involuntary sexual encounters (i.e., rape). Sure, your daughter may have an impeccable sexual morality, but that's not going to save her if she is raped. In fact, I just read earlier this morning about a 15-year-old girl who came home from school the other day to find a strange man in her house who tied her up and raped her.

Also, there is the fact that men can be raped. Granted, man-on-man rape isn't going to be affected by circumcision, but I remember reading some time ago about an issue in Africa where HIV-infected women were going around raping men in order to infect them (apparently in revenge for their being infected).

As far as official policies go, abstinence is a great policy within a family, perhaps even a small community, but no government is going to be able to mandate abstinence (unless it's a totalitarian government, but who wants that?), and no group (like the WHO) can make people suddenly become monogamous. While, certainly, these groups should promote abstinence and monogamy, they need to augment this with other efforts to prevent disease among the population.

So, in conclusion, the argument that abstinence and monogamy will protect you against STD's is not 100% correct. Sure, it will greatly reduce your chances, which is something that should not be ignored. However, to say that it will reduce them to 0% is simply wrong; there is always the possibility of rape, and this possibility should never be ignored when looking at possible ways to prevent STD infection.

Changes Coming Soon

2007-03-28T12:32:00.001-04:00

If anyone is still reading this, you've probably noticed that I don't post very much. There have been a few reasons for that. First of all, I'm horrible at managing time, so I usually end up never having time to actually sit down and write anything. Secondly, I haven't really had much to write. Okay, actually, I've had plenty to write, but it never seems to make it from a jumbled mess in my head to anything resembling a logical process of thought. Sometimes I do get something written down, but I look back over it and think it might be wiser, for some reason or another, not to post it. Generally, this is because, upon rereading my glorious writing, I realize that it's really rather apparent that I'm just talking out of my arse.

In addition, I've had some issues going on in my personal life for a while, involving some tough decisions I'm still trying to sort out. Maybe I'll make a post out of that in the future, but, at the moment, I will just ask for your prayers.

So, to the point of this post. I was reading the other day about Twitter, a micro-blogging service. For those of you who use Facebook, Twitter is basically your Facebook status, only public across the Internet, and organized in more of a blog-ish format. As I was looking into this, I realized that, while I stink at maintaining a "real" blog, I could probably do something like Twitter, with typically short posts that I can send in from my phone as well as my PC. However, I also want to be able to post pictures (and perhaps even videos) from my cell phone. Just a sort of potpourri of random thought, photos, etc. from my daily life.

As I looked further, I discovered that what I was looking for was a "moblog." Blogger already has some support for this (in fact, I've used this feature for some posts on this blog), except that it lacks videos. I've decided that a temporary solution for videos (if I ever want to post one) could be to post them to YouTube, and then embed them in a blog post from my PC later.

I was going to create a new blog specifically for this purpose, but, after much time spent failing to think up a good name, I have decided to just use this existing blog. It is already more of a personal blog, anyway, and I've already done some mobile posting here. So, from this point on, this is going to become a sort of hybrid: the deformed offspring of a normal blog and a mobile blog. I hope that this will mean more updates, although the updates may be even less interesting than before. The posts will primarily be shorter posts, sometimes even just a photo with no caption, though I may also have some slightly longer posts about random musings or interesting things I've read online.

If I ever get around to actually writing anything more significant or serious, I'll start another blog for that purpose. But from now on, this blog is simply going to be a window to my world. It will probably be banal, perhaps even inane. However, just like a shotgun, firing a multitude of pellets rather than just a single bullet, perhaps a few of my posts will hit the target of interestingness.

Consider this the warning shot. ;-)

Forgive Me, a Sinner

2007-02-20T12:19:00.000-05:00

Paul once wrote, "knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth," and "if any man think he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him."

Also, James writes much about the tongue, that it is a burning fire and untamable, that if any man does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the body.

I am far from a perfect man, and am an ignorant one, at that. I tend to forget this. I have often spoken out of turn, and been critical and judgemental of others. I have lacked charity in my discourses, and in my zeal for truth, I have despised my brother. I have not restrained my tongue from evil speech (nor my fingers from evil writing) and have not spoken only those things which edify.

In addition, to those who know me, I have not been the friend, sibling, son, or Christian I ought to be. I have often neglected to pray for you, and have simply not loved you as I should.

If I have offended anyone who reads this, in word or deed, and, especially, if I have caused any of you to stumble in his or her faith, whether on this blog, or in my comments on others, please forgive me. As a friend of mine once said, Paul called himself the chief of sinners, but he hadn't met me.

If you will, please pray for me, that I might "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing" (Col 1:10), and that my conversation may always be tempered with grace, that it may not be for tearing down, but for building up, and, above all, always to God's glory.

I Got a New Hat

2007-02-12T11:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I really want to start blogging more. However, I seem to have writer's block or something. So, instead of writing out some great post, here's a photo of me in my new hat.

The story behind this is that my mom found some hats on clearance at Old Navy, and this is the one she got me. I don't think this photo does much justice to my beard, but, hey, it's my phone's camera (my "real" camera would've been more difficult to take a photo of myself with).

Perhaps this will become a trend. If I can't get something together to write about, I'll just post a photo.

The Transfiguration of the World

2007-01-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

Starting on Christmas Day, Fr. Stephen Freeman (possibly related to Gordon Freeman? ;-) ), an Orthodox priest who should be familiar to those who read Fr. Alvin Kimel's Pontifications blog, posted a series of entries on his own blog on "The Transfiguration of the World" that have somehow decided to get stuck in my mind and bug me every now and again (in a good way). Although written from an Orthodox perspective (so some ideas may seem foreign to Evangelicals), I think a lot of what he says should be good reading for any Christian. And so, for the benefit of those who may not have read them, I decided to post a list of links to each entry:

I'm not sure that last one is part of the "series," but it seems to me to be at least an appendix.

Rediscovering Advent

2006-12-08T12:24:00.000-05:00


Ever wonder why "the Holidays" are so full of energy and yet so tiresome at the same time? It's because we're missing a season!

As a sort of follow-up to my "Advent, Part I" post, here is a video made by "wezlo," a Baptist pastor up in New Jersey, about Advent.

As a side note, check out his site, CrossPointings.org, where you can find his blog (under the "Musings" menu), and his post on Christdot with this video.

Advent, Part I

2006-12-06T19:03:00.000-05:00

As I seem to say at the beginning of all my posts, it's been a while. I need to post more often.

So, to the point of my post: Advent has begun!

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, Advent is the season in the Christian Calendar before Christmas. In the West, Advent lasts for four Sundays, starting with the Sunday nearest to the Feast of St. Andrew (November 30) and ending on Christmas Day. In the East, a similar season is observed, beginning the day after the Feast of St. Philip (November 15), thus lasting 40 days, similar to Lent.

Advent is a time when Christians remember the waiting of the world for the Savior, and also a time when we especially remember that we are awaiting His return. As such, Advent is not so much a joyous season of festivals and celebration, but a somber season of repentance, preparation, and waiting.

In my mind, Advent is like the twilight. The darkness of night is ending, and we are seeing the first hopes of the dawn. During Advent, twilight moves to dawn, and then, on Christmas Day, sunrise as the Light breaks into the World. Another illustration would be to remember that Christmas occurs near the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year. In many ancient religions, the Winter Solstice was seen as a triumph of light over darkness, because, up to that day, the days were getting darker (the sun was out less and less), but after the Solstice, the sun begins to be out more and more. (As a side note, this interaction of darkness and light is part of why I think it is silly to dismiss Christmas as merely a Christianizing of a pagan holiday, but that's another topic for another day.)

As I said before, Advent ends on Christmas Day, or, more traditionally, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord. Actually, perhaps a better way of saying that would be, Advent culminates with the Nativity feast, since that is the destination of the whole season.

Here is where traditional Christian observance is at complete odds with the popular observance of Christmas. In popular culture (including most Protestant churches), the "Christmas season" has taken the place of Advent (although it certainly seems to start earlier every year). In contrast to the somber preparation of Advent, the popular "Christmas season" is a time of parties, feasting, celebration, and, of course, stress. Instead of self-reflection, we are consumed with busyness, making it to this or that party, enduring shopping trips to the mall, singing carols, etc., etc., etc.

Like Advent, the popular "Christmas season" is also moving toward Christmas Day. However, while one might say Advent culminates with Christmas Day, the "Christmas season" merely ends. For many (including myself), we are starting to get sick of Christmas even before Christmas Eve. Christmas Day comes, we celebrate with, perhaps, one last, fatigued bang, and then it's all over. We take down the decorations and (finally) get back to normal life.

The difference here is that, in traditional Christian observance, on Christmas Day, the Christmas season is just beginning. The Church has been preparing for and awaiting the coming of the Lord, and now, finally, He is here, and we can finally celebrate! The Christmas season is a season of celebration, and lasts for the twelve days between Christmas Day and Epiphany (January 6). Epiphany, in the West, is the day that the Magi (Wise Men, Three Kings, etc.) visited the infant Christ. In the East, January 6 is referred to as Theophany and commemorates the Baptism of Christ.

Oh, and for those of you who may have wondered what the song, "Twelve Days of Christmas," is all about, since Christmas is only one day, there's the answer: the song is referring to the real Christmas season, which lasts twelve days. Also, according to Snopes.com, contrary to a popular misconception, the song was not used by persecuted Catholics in Reformation England as a secret catechism. Just thought I'd mention that.

So, why don't many Protestants observe Advent? Generally speaking, Protestants, to some degree or another, rejected the Christian Calendar, with its holy days, great feasts, etc. as being merely "the traditions of man," and an unnecessary encumbrance on the individual believer. While many Protestant denominations have retained the days of Christmas and Easter (though removed from the larger context of their relative seasons), the Puritans even went so far as to reject those days, as well.

More recently, however, many Protestant denominations are rediscovering the Christian calendar, and Advent has been experiencing some degree of revival in non-Catholic/-Orthodox churches.

Originally, I planned on writing about why the revival of Advent in Protestant churches is a good thing (and why more should consider it), and offer some suggestions I've heard on how we can integrate Advent into our lives, but this post has gotten long enough already, so I'll try to come back and write a Part II.

Fewest Dropped Calls? Riiight...

2006-10-12T18:05:00.001-04:00

For some time lately, I've been seeing Cingular's billboards claiming "the leading independent research company has concluded that Cingular has the fewest dropped calls of any wireless carrier." I've suspected that ad to be a load of cow manure since I first saw it: my personal phone carrier is Cingular, and I get dropped (or 'failed' calls, which is another issue) quite a bit. Since I rarely use my work phone (Verizon), I didn't have anything to really compare my Cingular experience with, but something told me that ad had to be wrong (not to mention that, every time a call is dropped, the ad comes to mind as salt in the wound).

Today, I feel vindicated. I came across this post at Mouse Print.org detailing some investigation into Cingular's claims. To summarize:

the unnamed "leading independent research company" is a company called Telephia (which I've never heard of, but I've not heard of many research companies, anyway...)
Telephia isn't exactly supporting Cingular's claim
the claim apparently contradicts reports from two better-known companies: JD Power and Consumer Reports

If nothing else, I know that I'm not the only one who finds Cingular's claim disingenuous. Cingular also has had other issues (including a class action suit filed by former AT&T Wireless customers who felt that Cingular "deceived [them] into paying extra fees and degraded their service" after Cingular acquired that service [ZDNet]), but, then again, other wireless carriers have had problems as well (like Verizon crippling advertised features in certain phones [Wired Blogs]).

I guess we simply must choose the lesser of two weevils...

Ping

2006-09-22T20:24:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted. I've been pretty busy, so I'm throwing up this post just to say, "hey, I'm still alive!"

I've not been very good lately at keeping this blog updated. I would really like to get a post up every week or so. Maybe I should just set a schedule or something. I'll have to look into that.

In other words, I just got my account updated to Blogger Beta! This is great. It will allow me an easier way to modify the appearance of this blog and, most important, Blogger Beta has labels. I've been wanting labels for a while.

Currently, we're waiting for one of my roommates to get home to throw him a surprised birthday party, so this is about all I can post for now. I'll be updating more in the future!

See you, Space Cowboy.

A Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future

2006-08-28T21:52:00.000-04:00

Prologue
In every age the Holy Spirit calls the church to examine its faithfulness to God's revelation in Jesus Christ, authoritatively recorded in Scripture and handed down through the church. Thus, while we affirm the global strength and vitality of worldwide evangelicalism in our day, we believe the North American expression of evangelicalism needs to be especially sensitive to the new external and internal challenges facing God's people.

These external challenges include the current cultural milieu and the resurgence of religious and political ideologies. The internal challenges include evangelical accommodation to civil religion, rationalism, privatism, and pragmatism. In light of these challenges, we call evangelicals to strengthen their witness through a recovery of the faith articulated by the consensus of the ancient church and its guardians in the traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, the Protestant Reformation, and the evangelical awakenings. Ancient Christians faced a world of paganism, Gnosticism, and political domination. In the face of heresy and persecution, they understood history through Israel's story, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of God's kingdom.

Today, as in the ancient era, the church is confronted by a host of master narratives that contradict and compete with the gospel. The pressing question is: Who gets to narrate the world? "The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future" challenges evangelical Christians to restore the priority of the divinely inspired biblical story of God's acts in history. The narrative of God's kingdom holds eternal implications for the mission of the church, its theological reflection, its public ministries of worship and spirituality, and its life in the world. By engaging these themes, we believe the church will be strengthened to address the issues of our day.

The rest of the "Call" can be read here: A Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future

In addition, an interview with Robert Webber, one of the "Conveners" of the Call is here: Together in the Jesus Story

One of my posts on the "backlog" is about the place of story in society. I suppose I'll reserve my own comments for that post. Now that Seth has linked to my blog, I've got a bit more motivation to actually get something worth reading up here...

Enormous Amounts of Material

2006-08-18T12:46:00.000-04:00

Time is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of—eh, nevermind.

So, my posting has been sporadic lately—again. It's not that I don't have anything to post about. I've still got a draft of a post on Firefly and "missional Christianity" sitting around, unfinished, on Blogger's servers. And my mind keeps coming back to the post on tradition and Scripture interpretation that I've been meaning to do. Other ideas have floated through my head, generally finding their expressions in a greatly summarized form as comments on other blogs, rather than the posts that I felt they ought to be.

Thing is, I just haven't had the time to sit down and write anything. Between piano lessons/practice, roommates, friends dropping by, my girlfriend, work, and so on, I never seem to have time to just stop. And it's not that I don't enjoy those things; if I didn't, I wouldn't have such a hard time putting them aside for a while and "stopping."

Just about the only time I find that I can really "get away" is either taking a walk alone around Kennesaw Mountain, or going to a coffee shop by myself. Unfortunately, the coffeehouses I know of near me all close around 8 or 9pm on weekdays. That's not a problem, though, when I don't have something I have to do beforehand.

Perhaps I would post here more if 1) I could get into a more regular habit of "stopping and smelling the coffee", and 2) I got a laptop that I could take to the coffeehouse and use to get on the Internet. I'm realizing, though, that no matter how hard I look, I'm not going to "find the time" for this. I need to stop, take a look at my time, how it's being spent, and make the time.

Unfortunately, this will be an uphill battle. It will mean that I will have to say, "no" to hanging out with people sometimes. It will mean that I will have to deal with the fact that some people simply don't understand that taking time to do nothing is just as important to getting things done.

I heard a message on Sabbath rest recently by some guy named J.R. Woodward, in which he pointed out that we have come to a point where we often view a person's value (including our own) in terms of his or her productivity. While this is certainly not an explicit component of most modern attitudes (i.e., it's not obvious), I think we're all probably more guilty than we think. We feel bad if we're not obviously "contributing to society." We often tend to look down on those who are unemployed, because they're not being "productive." We feel guilty if we "didn't get anything useful done today," and we consider such activities as playing video games to be a "waste of time," because we're not "accomplishing anything." Woodward can explain this much better than I can, so, if you want to hear his message (and read some tips on how to make a "Sabbath rest"), check him out here.

And I wrote more than I meant to...there goes my lunch hour...

Circuit City invites wrath of the MPAA by copying DVDs

2006-08-04T13:05:00.000-04:00

Fair Use advocates, take notice. Circuit City is apparently putting its neck on the line to provide customers with DVD transfer services. The company is offering a 'DVD video transfer service' that for all intents and purposes is illegal. The company will take commercial DVDs and rip them for use on portable devices for $10 for 1 DVD, $20 for 3 DVDs or $30 for 5 DVDs. That is, until their legal department hears what's happening.

Thus begins the article over at Ars Technica (Circuit City invites wrath of the MPAA by copying DVDs). It goes on to point out that the reason this may fall on the foul side of current copyright law is because of the much-cursed DMCA's prohibition against circumventing copy protection, which would be a necessary part of Circuit City's service.

Personally, I'm not entirely sure what to think of this. On the one hand, Romans 13, and some other passages in Scripture indicate that we ought to submit to the law of the land. Granted, there are some laws all but the most conscientious practically ignore (speed limits, for instance), and an argument could be made regarding enforced law vs. written law (for example, generally, you won't get pulled over for doing 10mph over the posted limit), I suppose. That sort of argument isn't very applicable here, however, since the MPAA and RIAA will take you to court on the slightest evidence that you may have broken the law (even if you're dead!).

So, on the one hand, I'm doubtful as to whether it is right for a Christian to support Circuit City's lawbreaking in this case.

On the other hand, I've developed a certain distaste for the RIAA and MPAA (to put it mildly), and there's a part of me who really wants to root for anyone with the guts to defy the RIAA and MPAA. Considering that these companies are currently abusing our nation's court system and laws, and using tactics one would normally associate with the mafia ("We've got some dirt on you, and we're willing to destroy you; however, for a certain amount of money, we can make this go away..."—see the first definition of shakedown), it's hard not to root for their enemies.

I suppose it's a sort of "Robin Hood" syndrome. Yes, Robin Hood was a thief. This is often overlooked, however, because he is more remembered for standing up to the "big guys," in defense of the oppressed poor. In this context, the RIAA and MPAA are Prince John, and those who have the ability—and guts—to stand up to Little John (by taking their lawsuits to court rather than paying the offered settlement, etc.) are Robin Hood and his merry men. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any King Richard out there right now, about to return from the Crusades and set everything right.

Free Tech Support: Purchase Not Required?

2006-07-29T11:19:00.000-04:00

I just read a recent Ars Technica article (link) that highlights a little-discussed area where software piracy drains a company's resources: support. To pull a paragraph from the article,

Within three hours of the release of Ritual's SiN Episodes Emergence, the game was pirated and up on the 'Net; releasing it on Steam had little effect on piracy, at least initially. When a bug in the game was discovered, Ritual patched it and released the update via Steam... and that update was applied to the game slyly, in the background. Users who had paid for the game received the update. Those who had pirated the game didn't, but that didn't stop them from complaining to customer support.

The article goes on to quote Michael Russell, Ritual's QA Manager, describing how one guy who called in was using his friend's legitimate copy of the game to check his own settings in order to try and ensure he was giving the "right answers" to questions about his configuration. This was so that he could hide the fact that he was using an illegitimate copy of the game.

I guess I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised at the audacity of these people. "I don't feel like paying for your software, but I expect you to spend your time (time you could be using to help a legitimate customer) to help me use it, anyway." Granted, the people mentioned at the end, who have been sold counterfeit software, get a pass, since they likely didn't realize the software was counterfeit. But when you are consciously attempting to hide the fact that your software is illegitimate, why do you feel that it's okay to call the company you ripped off and expect them to support your installation?

I'm sure the RIAA and MPAA would love if people would do this for them:

Non-Customer: Hello, [recording company]? Yes, I'm having some trouble here. I made some copies of a friend's CD's, but the DRM protection you included on the originals messed up my copy. Can you help me get a good copy?
Recording Company: Sure, just give me your name and address, and we'll have our legal department contact you right away.