Forgive the Expression

"I was at a, forgive the expression, Christmas party..."

Really!?!

We have to apologize now for saying Christmas?

No one had better explain to people that "holiday" derives from "Holy Day" otherwise we are going to be wishing people a Happy Festivus before you know it.

The future of technology

I'm sitting here writing this on my iPad. I'm not going to fawn over it and say that it's magical (no, I don't agree with you there Mr. Jobs...) However, I do think it's the wave of the future. It will actually satisy most people's computing needs. Instead of households with multiple laptops and desktops, I imagine we are going to see one desktop (unless you also use a media center PC) and/or one or two laptops, with every member of the family having their own tablet PC. Are there quirks to work out? Yes. Do they make me regret being an early adopter? Absolutely not! I laugh sometimes as I try to figure out how to do some things on this system. Being a life-long PC user, I find myself trying to figure out how to do some things that are almost second nature to me on my PC, and usually, when I eventually figure them out, I find that the reason I was having a hard time was because I was complicating things as a result of my PC experiences.

Well, I must sign off. If anyone has any questions about the iPad they'd like addressed, let me know, and I'll be more than happy to give it a shot.

Merry Christmas!

Once again, Christmas has come. For a godless society, we really do make a fuss about Christmas don’t we? If only people truly understood the meaning of Christmas! I’m not decrying the commercialism, or advocating the blacklisting of Santa, but it would be nice if people truly understood what they were celebrating.

Aren’t you glad that it truly isn’t only the good children who receive presents on Christmas morning? Imagine if that had been God’s plan – That first Christmas Gift on that first Christmas morning was only intended for the good boys and girls. We’d all be out of luck!

Once again, Merry Christmas

Luke 2

Craziness!

We heard last night that the sellers of the house we are considering buying had decided that they may want to reconsider, and postpone making a move until the new year. This did not make us happy. However, as we considered it, we realized that if we at least knew one way or the other, we would be able to plan. Maybe we wouldn't be able to be in the new house for Christmas, but maybe the Lord had a better house out there. I actually had peace either way. As I understand it, they wanted to take a day to think about it and consider their options. This crisis had been precipitated by their inablility to get financing for a new house, since they currently had a house to sell. They took their day, and today, we found out that they do still want to proceed with the sale and will close as soon as we have financing! Whose bright idea was it to buy a house and move during the Christms? Please pray that we will be able to get everything done, and that things will continue to go without a hitch!

Fort Hood

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades. (quoted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_shooting)

And yet, they kept him in the military, on active duty, and slated him to be sent to the Middle East? What's wrong with this picture?

Technology and Being Quiet

Are we too technologically dependent?

I'm currently writing this on my laptop, and find myself letting it catch my spelling mistakes rather than paying too close attention myself. As I'm writing this, I'm not connected to the Internet, and it amazes me how much it has become an everyday part of my life. I'm used to popping open a browser and checking things out as I have an idea, rather than having to remember things and look into them at a later point. Is that good? Is it good that I can just check out a thought as I have it, or do I lose something by not formulating my ideas into concrete to do lists? What does it say about me that I feel somewhat lost not being able to connect? I don't have access to Google, Facebook, Pandora, or any of the other sites that have become a part of my daily life. I can't sync my files using my dropbox (a great little program if I can give it my own little plug. If you're interested in using it, let me know and I'll invite you – that way we both get 250 Megabytes of storage added to our accounts) and since the laptop has been out of service for a few weeks, I don't have the current version of my files on it locally. Does this bother me? It's an inconvenience, but I think I can survive. However, the fact that being “unplugged,” so to speak, is so very noticeable to me when it happens, makes me more convinced than ever that perhaps we need to unplug regularly. I am becoming more and more of a fan of taking time to be quiet. Watch the sunset. Watch it rise. Sit and listen to the wind. Take some time to see what the Bible says about being quiet. I know I've written about this before, but I'm becoming more convinced that we really need to do it. We are so caught up in the busyness of life, we need to step apart for a time to really appreciate what we have, and to take stock of where we need to go. As it has been aptly said, “Take time to come apart before you come apart.”

What a month!

I'm about to start what may very well be the busiest month of my life. That may be an exaggeration, but if so, not by much. I'm starting the month with a weekend trip to New York. We have come down for the weekend to celebrate my Grandma's 95^th Birthday. I can't imagine the history she has lived through. In talking to her today, I found out that she has seen Glen Miller (among others) perform live.

I digress. Currently we are in New York. As of November 1, I am going to be attempting to take part in Nanowrimo, the North American Novel Writing Month. It is an annual contest challenging people to write a novel of 50000 words or more in the month of November. The only requirement is word count, not content. It is not meant to be an attempt to write the Great American Novel, only as a challenge actually get out there and write. I have so many story ideas banging around in my head, and I have started many of them, only to let them fall abandoned, lonely and forgotten about by the wayside. My goal with nanowrimo is to actually finish one, or at least put so much effort into it that I will not be able to leave it alone until it is finished. (For anyone who is interested, my story is titled Riftwalker. I will probably be posting updates throughout the month for any who are interested. Actually, considering what this month looks like, maybe I won't be posting any updates until December. We'll see.

So, New York, Nanowrimo, and work. At work, we are preparing for multiple visits from a couple big customers, and possibly a company wide audit. These visits usually mean extra hours as we make sure everything is in order and take care of details. They are also used as an excuse by top management to get certain projects finished.

On top of all these things, we are preparing to purchase a house, hopefully closing and moving by the end of the month. I still can't fully wrap my mind around that, but it really seems that the Lord is lining things up for us, and that this is actually going to happen. We really would like to be in by the end of November, since Gail's folks are coming up for a visit, and it would be nice for them to be able to see our new house.

I currently have three documents open that I'm working on, because I have so many things circling around in my head right now that I am trying to make lists so I remember them all. In fact, I just took a 15 minute intermission from writing this blog post to start another blog post (yes, that means I had four going at once) to challenge myself and others to take time to be quiet.

Well, that's all I have time for tonight. Good night all, and if I don't get around to posting any during the month of November, have a happy Thanksgiving!