LostLifeFound

Using Google Reader

2011-03-11T18:54:00.000-08:00

Since I don't visit my own blog anymore, I have removed the links to my friends' blogs. Instead I will be using Google Reader, and I encourage you to do the same. So far, my commentary on various things has made it to Facebook. Including the list of 30 of my favorite songs. but no plans yet to start a new blog!

New book reviews

2011-01-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

I have moved my book reviews to something called Shelfari. It will save time by providing the cover art, author, and synopsis. All I have to do is write my own review. Also, the new format lends itself better to smaller reviews. I will still write a longer review every once in a while.

You can also see the cover art for books I read on my "shelf" on the right. However, it's not easy to see my reviews by clicking on those. I provided a link above to my newest reviews.

LostLifeFound

2011-01-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

I've posted things like this before...but I think LostLifeFound might be done. I have been thinking about this since around the New Year. I would like an online presence that makes sense. I would like to post things that are really helpful to others. Or maybe entertaining or heart-warming. More likely, I'd like to focus on being the person I want to be (you know, doing things in the real world!), and that may or may not include a blog. But if I have a blog, it will probably not be this one. I'd like to stamp my name on something - an online presence that I am completely proud of. However, I love all of the history that is on here, and I am leaving it up for sure.

LostLifeFound - I was struck by this combination of words during college. I think I was trying to think of a band name, and I never started a band, but the name stuck with me. This refers to Luke 15, the chapter with the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son, and the rejoicing that occurs in heaven when a person "returns home". However, after an adolescence of assuming that I was very much found, in college it slowly dawned that I had a lot of "finding" to do. I had wandered off the path, kind of like a Pharisee, always doing the "right things" and well within the religious institution, but somehow missing the point of faith and love. It has taken a while, but I feel like I'm on the path. And it's a lot scarier and murkier than "being religious", because it's new for me - it's relying on God's grace. So as I close the blog, it is fitting that I am living out LostLifeFound.

Movie Review: Field of Dreams (1989)

2011-01-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

The main thing I took away from the movie is that there are a lot of nuances that only adults would understand. So although the movie is liked by younger boys, I believe they only understand a small portion of the story, and I know that from my own experience. I'm not sure when I saw the movie for the first time.

Here are the nuances, which I understand better having put on a few more years. Spoilers up ahead

Ray and Annie Kinsella (Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan) are "children of the 60s" (having a youth that shaped who you are)
Annie's acceptance of Ray's vision (need for marriage to have unity, the trust of a wife)
Having an estranged father, and the last thing you said to him was really rude and hateful, and you didn't have a chance to take it back before he died (major regrets, the way a grown man thinks about his father)
Doc Graham, and the other players reach their dreams (understanding how it feels to not reach your dream)
They are losing money and are about to be foreclosed upon by Annie's brother (financial pressures, feeling like failures, marriage adversity, in-laws problems)
The town hall argument about banning a book by fictional author Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) from the 60s (ideological differences, politics)

So there was more to this movie than I remembered, and I enjoyed it this time. My least favorite part was the somewhat cheesy speech at the end, which is supposed to tie everything together. Then when cars were pulling up...it just seemed that the timing was off, and the cars shouldn't have been there immediately.

2011 future posts

2011-01-06T05:03:00.000-08:00

If I'm going to continue doing this.... I have a lot of posts to write

Movies:
-Field of Dreams
-Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
-Glory

Books:
-Thr3e, by Ted Dekker
-How Now Shall We Live?, by Francis Schaeffer

Also, I have my "Best of 2010" posts to write. I didn't read many good books, but the movie post will be interesting.

Movie Review: Steel Magnolias (1989)

2010-12-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

I actually liked this movie. I find it interesting that it was written by a man, and it is about a bond of friendship between women, sometimes in a beauty parlor.....

Warning, plot spoilers. I have to write that for the random people around the world who stumble across my blog and get angry at me. I swear that this happened. Or for friends who want to see the movie.

....However, he wrote it based on the story of his sister who died from diabetes

I wasn't really aware of the risks of diabetes. Everyone I know with diabetes just complains about monitoring what they eat, but they seem to be breaking their own rules constantly. And I never hear about fear of death. So I guess I need to find out more about this.

Dolly Parton is in the movie as the beauty parlor owner, and seems to just be herself, from what I imagine Dolly is really like. Julia Roberts and Sally Field are in the movie. My favorite role was played by Shirley MacLaine, who plays a grumpy woman named Ouiser.

For me the main question asked in the movie is whether about having the freedom to make a decision that could kill you. When you have a mother who insists on making the decisions for you, you probably especially want to know what that freedom is like. Shelby the daughter picked a man for a husband who was the opposite of her mother - he did not get in the way of Shelby's decisions. After Shelby's death, he is silent and disappears from the movie - he is a disappointment of a man in my view. That is why Shelby's mother M'Lynn (played by Sally Field) says to her friends after the funeral, describing the scene after life support was removed...

Drum left. He couldn't take it. Jackson left. I find it amusing - men are supposed to be made out of steel or something

So to finish, my point, a risk was taken - Shelby had a child despite her diabetes. After Shelby's death, her mother loves the son (her new grandson, now a toddler) - yes something good came out of the risk...although the mother was right all along about what could go wrong. So the question is, take a risk or play it safe? And the movie seems to fall in favor of taking the risk, but I'm not sure.

There were many funny enjoyable parts of the movie, and I don't have time to write about them. Good movie. I didn't think I would like it. We are in 1989 in our movie watching and are coming across more movies we have actually heard of, such as this one.

Book Review: My Conversion, by Charles H Spurgeon

2010-12-13T18:35:00.000-08:00

Charles Spurgeon is a famous Baptist preacher, renowned for his preaching. This book is from my grandparents' collection, which means I've had it in a box for a while. I really didn't enjoy it. The old writing style was very difficult to follow.

David Nevue

2010-12-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

I need to post about David Nevue, a pianist that we went to see in concert. We are big fans now and I am practicing his Christmas music for piano

http://www.davidnevue.com/

Movie Review: Big (1988)

2010-12-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure when I saw this movie the first time, but I was really young. In the late 80s we are starting to get to movies that I've heard of from my childhood.

Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins are featured in Big. I was also surprised to see Jon Lovitz who played a typical role for him. I laughed a lot. The toy store/piano scene really was amazing.

Movie Review: Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

2010-12-04T05:33:00.000-08:00

This movie beat out Dead Poets Society and Field of Dreams to win Best Picture. I would agree with that, but I have trouble explaining why - it just seems brighter and more entertaining. The acting is really great.

Early in the movie, I was talking about how "this is taking place before Martin Luther King", and then it turned out that he is a part of the movie. I didn't really know race was going to be part of it, or that it was in the South. But those were really good qualities - it made it more than just a movie - it had a message to it. I don't really research these movies before I see them.

In the special features we learned that this was a Pulitzer prize winning play, and that they had trouble getting the funding to make the movie. Also, the director was not nominated for Best Director. From wikipedia:

it is the only film based on an off Broadway production ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture
it is the last Best Picture winner to date to receive a PG rating
it is the last film to date (and one of only three films ever) to win Best Picture without having received a Best Director nomination;and
Jessica Tandy, at age 80, became both the oldest winner and the oldest nominee ever in the history of the Best Actress category.

Book Review: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

2010-11-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

Title: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters
Subtitle: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know
Author: Meg Meeker, MD.

How I found out about it: Dave Ramsey raves about it on the air
How I obtained it: Courtney gave it to me for my first father's day

First impressions: It's a really alarmist book, listing all of the horrendous stats about teenage girls in US, such as prevalence of STDs or drug or alcohol abuse.

Lasting impressions: I'm really left with the impression that I need to protect my daughter. I need to encourage her, so that she doesn't need to get her self worth from the culture around her. I think also, as I said the book is alarmist, I think I will be less naive and more aware of all the pitfalls out there for youth. I don't know if it is good for me to be paranoid, but it may be good to at least be aware of the possibility of the temptations out there.

Aside from cultural types of things, the book also encourages fathers to teach their daughters humility and to "teach her who God is."

Writing style: the entire thing is written in a "spoken" style. It sounds like a motivational speech.

I think it was a good message to hear overall. It may be a decade before I can put the things into practice, but I will be ready!

Restaurant Review: Holy Land Cafe

2010-11-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

The Holy Land Cafe (12275 W 87th Street Pkwy, Lenexa KS) is truly authentic Middle Eastern cuisine.

I was always under the impression that it was a place where you walked in and ordered at the counter...kind of fast-foodish. But maybe that is contrary to being authentic. We sat down and had a waiter. He was doing some double duty as waiter and cashier, so he took a little while to get back to us. I would really like to go back for lunch, because I think it's a popular spot. The evening that we went, it was not particularly busy.

The prices are good, probably less expensive than other authentic restaurants such as Thai Place. The food is excellent. I had Lamb Kabobs. Really I wasn't sure if I wanted lamb, but I was in the mindset that I only live once, and need to try out different things.

The have a room for hookah, and it seemed like a waste of space with all of the couches, where they could fit in more tables. But that is a cultural thing as well. Maybe it's an American thing to squeeze every last penny out of your space. It made a nice play area for the young children who were with us. I do not really understand hookah, and I don't feel like reading about it right now.

so in summary, it is authentic, if I haven't said that yet. And I do recommend it.

I do not recommend eating out more than twice per week, just for budget purposes. i am thankful that Courtney cooks for our family.But if you choose to eat out sometime, you should try Holy Land Cafe. It has many gluten-free items, in fact that is most of the menu. And it is authentic.

Movie Review: Rain Man (1988)

2010-11-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

I just received a funny and random comment on my review of On Golden Pond: "WOW. Way to spoil a movie and not even do a proper review." That confirms it's a good thing I stopped writing plot lines. But I wonder how someone reached my review from 2009. I don't what a "proper review" is - I just write down my thoughts. I have thought about reading more real reviews, just to get some pointers, but I haven't been too interested.

Anyway, we saw Rain Man, Best Picture Winner 1988. I think Tom Cruise got gypped, not even nominated for Best Actor for playing Charlie Babbitt.. I think maybe the movie role of an impatient immature jerk doesn't get many nominations. I am used to seeing Tom Cruise in action movies, so I was impressed at his acting. But notable is that Dustin Hoffman won Best Actor. I definitely agree with that, because I actually forgot while watching it that this was an actor - it was just so believable. He is so consistent while playing the role of Raymond Babbitt.

Rain Man is one of those movies that integrates comedy and drama just so seamlessly, and it is strong in both areas. Forest Gump would be another example.

There are some movies where the death of a person is the climax of the movie. Some examples are One Flew and Midnight Cowboy. However, in Rain Man, a death of a person sets the plot into motion. Charlie Babbit's father died, and left the money to a mental institution. Without that, the plot would have never gotten started. Another example of this is the Cinderella Story, or Ever After, which I haven't seen, but I've seen the beginning several times. Without the father's death, the plot would have never happened. So it is with our faith -Christ died, so that we could have life. His death and resurrection set the real plot of mankind into motion - it's kind of the beginning and the end all in one.

My favorite scene is when Charlie Babbitt realizes that his brother was the "Rain Man" who came and sang to him when he was young, and then Raymond sings "Saw Her Standing There". I would definitely watch the movie again.

Movie Review: Charade (1963)

2010-11-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant are the main actors in the movie. It is a combination of mystery, suspense, action, and romance. It wasn't until the end that we really knew what was happening, so the movie was successful in tricking us. Kenny, my dad-in-law, recommended the movie. I recommend it. I stopped writing the actual plot of movies in my reviews, because it takes a really long time, and then I tend to give up halfway through.

I didn't particularly care for the style of the banter between Hepburn and Grant. It's kind of the old style. The music was also old style. In 1963, the huge shift in movie making had not really happened yet. However, I miss the innocence of the old style - although there is violence, the romance is really old fashioned. The movie's conclusion is a marriage proposal, which is the ultimate goal of the romance. Now in movies, they sleep together nearly before they know each others names, and then that is supposed to be romance.

Restaurant Review: Chez Elle

2010-11-10T04:19:00.000-08:00

When my wife told me about Chez Elle, it sounded like a rare and unlikely place. In fact I loved it before I even went. First of all, it is a creperie, which hearkens me back to my childhood in Quebec, where crepes were standard fare. Second, they can make crepes with gluten-free batter for no extra charge. Third, this is in Kansas City. It is located at 1713 Summit St. Kansas City, Mo 64108.

The reason we heard about it was that one of our church friends, Lyndsay Heidebrecht, had art on display. Her art was about to be taken down on Sunday Oct 31. So I had taken the day off on Friday and we went on Oct 29.

It terms of our experience with the food, it was beautiful-looking. And I'm not sure that I loved the taste of the gluten free batter. But as someone with the gluten allergy, often the experience of eating normally restricted foods is more important than the taste. I had Le Jardin, with some good vegetables in there - mushrooms, artichokes, spinach, onion, and cheese. The experience was fun and we will be returning for sure. And I'm sure it will be the location of family Christmas Eve Ladies Brunch, if that tradition goes on.

We brought Annique and she was very cute in her Halloween outfit, and everyone around kept watching her.

Life Update Fall 2010

2010-11-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for several weeks. We are probably closing one of the most challenging stretches I've had in the past few years. For 6 out of the last 10 weeks, I have been unavailable to be at home on Saturday. 4 of them I have had no control over, and 2 were at my discretion. 5 of them I was physically away, and for this last one I was mentally away, because I was working at home.

This past weekend has felt like a punch in the gut, because I worked around 14 hours on Friday, and got home at 2 AM. And Saturday, my help was demanded in a high pressure way, but it was on and off throughout the day. And these activities didn't get on my calendar until 2 weeks ago. But thankfully things settled down and we went to a piano concert (David Nevue) Saturday night that was just fantastic. Then daylight savings occurred and I'm super tired now at 8 PM.

Obviously, if there was no child in our house, my absence would be a more minor inconvenience. However, I'm needed for emotional support. Plus, I need to get some things done around the house, and the baby pretty much takes up my time that is available to do those things. Right now I'm choosing to blog rather than do those - because this is one of the things I've been wanting to do. But when she smiles at us, it is just an awesome feeling, and we forget about any troubles we had.

Don't mean this to think I regret any of these activities, but I thought it would be fun to list
Sept 4 - Labor Day trip (don't worry i don't regret it)
Sept 11 - Disaster Recovery Exercise
Oct 2 - SQL Saturday (at my discretion)
Oct 23 - Disaster Recovery Exercise
Oct 30 - KSU vs OSU football game (at my discretion)
Nov 6 - work from home

Little 'Nique

Me and football

2010-10-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Football is an interesting subject in America. Most people follow football, and watch it on a regular basis, and then discuss it with friends and coworkers for at least Monday. Then there are people like me who "follow" the sport, but don't necessarily watch it, or care to discuss it at length.

I follow football scores for the Chiefs and the Big 12, and care very little outside of that. I do not actually watch the games. For the Chiefs, I would rather take a nap on Sunday or get stuff done. For the Wildcats, most games are on cable, so I would have to go somewhere else to watch them. I do listen on the radio occasionally, or follow the scores on Yahoo Sports. I only know the names of 3-4 players on each team (Chiefs and Wildcats, not opposing teams).

I do not really know what it takes athletically, because I've never played football competitively on any level (grew up in Canada). I can tell if someone makes a good play, but don't have tremendous appreciation for the effort the player made, or how much talent was necessary to make the tackle or the catch. I just know it's a lot more talent than I have!

I sometimes have some trouble embracing football because it causes injuries often. It is rare to watch a game without someone laying on the field, being looked over by trainers, recovering from a hit or an awkward landing. I heard disturbing statistics about how running backs are not expected to live as long, and spend most of their later lives in pain. When I have a son, I will not forbid him from playing football, but I would also not mind if he preferred something else. That is because I don't want him to be the 20-something guy who is complaining about his knees.

Finally, I grew up as someone who was really focused on things that I perceived to be permanent or enduring. And sports never came across to me as being life changing, or really relevant to my life. That's just me, and maybe that is the thing that keeps me from being a sports nut - it could be totally different for someone else, it's not a right or wrong thing.

So, in summary I feel self-conscious about my lack of enthusiasm for football at times. I am headed to Manhattan for a big game with 3 big football fans...so I somewhat feel like more of a passive observer among excited fans. I try not to let a loss of a game affect my emotions, but sometimes it does to be honest. The Chiefs lost today because of a poor officiating call, and I was very bummed about it, because it's not fair at all. I think that about sums it up my thoughts about football, let me know if you have any questions!

Movie Review: Pride & Prejudice

2010-10-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

I had seen little portions of this movie over and over again, because Courtney used to sometimes watch movies to pass time. She would complete the movie in 4-5 viewings. So I would walk by and see certain parts of it, but I had never seen the entire thing . It looked good though.

I decided to read the book and then see the movie. (Book review here) The movie did not disappoint. Not only is the story good, but the scenery and camera work are awesome. There are a couple of long scenes in different rooms, however, the film is never cut. The camera moves from room to room, and the actors execute in perfect timing. The scenery not only includes vast plains and perfect sunsets, but also depicts a beautiful mansion/property from the era.

The movie keeps the humor of the book, and adds a lot of its own. Mr. Collins is a funny little man, just because of how awkward he is. Mrs. Bennet and her nerves are very entertaining.

The best scene is when Mr. Bennet is speaking with Elizabeth after the proposal of Mr. Darcy. Donald Sutherland does an amazing work of acting, and it is a touching scene.

Also we must mention the music again. I purchased the piano version of the music to play for Courtney. It is really beautiful music - all original, but made to sound like it is from that time period.

Movie Review: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

2010-10-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Somehow I had always wanted to see this one, but still knew very little about it. I guess it's famous.

The characters are immediately interesting and entertaining. Of course, the most interesting character is the main character - Holly Golightly, played by Audrey Hepburn. She is a chatterbox, and a New York socialite, but deep down is only there to fill some sort of emotional void, and possibly just to survive. Even when she nearly succeeds at gaining the rich husband, he is ashamed of her, and it's not really ideal. Her past relationships are not ideal either, since she married an older guy she was incompatible with. And finally, her last relationship is maybe the best she has had, but it does not seem promising to me. Hollywood made it into a romantic amazing finish, but I hear that the Truman Capote version was different. Since neither of them have money or direction, I have doubts about their success together. But the guy really loves her - Fred, or Paul Varjak - he is a very patient man, and it's not just a flighty love. I think at the end Holly Golightly realizes the futility of going after the rich men, not sure how much she truly loves Paul, but she could use him in her life.

The story has some strange twists and turns, and pushes the envelope a bit for 1961, but that should be expected for a Truman Capote novel. The story is overall very good and entertaining.

The signature song, "Moon River" won the Academy Award. The movie begins and ends with the song. It's a good song, but is still in the older style. Movie music didn't get contemporary until the late 60s.

Book Review: Learning ASP.NET 3.5

2010-10-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

This book officially has the worst cover of any book I have read.

This publisher chooses a different animal for every book - and chooses a black and white drawing of it - it's kind of geeky. This particular one is a monkfish - one of the ugliest fish known to man.

This book reminded me of college when I learned/used object-oriented programming. ASP is much easier now, because you can drag and drop, instead of just typing everything. Still, it is difficult to learn without real world experience. Several of the examples in the book didn't work. Next I want to learn ASP MVC 2.0

Book Review: My Brother's Keeper, Part III - Review

2010-10-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

"What the social sciences do (and don't) tell us about masculinity.

I started out ambitiously, but I don't feel like writing a chapter-by-chapter review anymore.

Overall, I was impressed at the author's (Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen) breadth of knowledge. However, she still seems more interested in women's issues than men's. This provided a unique perspective for me - one that I haven't necessarily been exposed to. I am the descendant of two lines where women were housewives and did not work outside the home. Second wave feminism has always been viewed in a very negative light. (first wave feminism being the right to vote, basically) And the author, being a feminist, opened my mind a bit about Biblical views (we are all equal in Christ) and cultural history.

Actually, I should mention that I did get a lot out the chapter about the history of men's work. As a nation we moved from an agrarian society to an industrial society. Before, communities were tightly knit and work was seasonal. Now, things have changed, and the workplace has become religion for many men. I would spend more time writing about this, but probably no one is reading this post anyway (other than my lovely wife), and I need to head to bed.

I think the book was stimulating overall.

Book Review: My Brother's Keeper, Part II - Biology

2010-09-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

Let's jump right into the Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen book again...fast forward to chapter 5, "What Can We Learn from Biology?"

This chapter has some interesting anomalies of biology which causes us to redefine what is male. A track athlete, Maria Patino, failed a microscopic test because the results showed the chromosomal XY pattern for males rather than the XX pattern for females. However, after disqualifying and embarassing her, after further research down the road, it was found that the testosterone did not have any effect on her bone growth or anything else, and did not give her any advantage.

Then there is the case of a very young boy whose genitals were destroyed during a circumcision. So the parents consulted a psychologist, and "after much heart-searching chose surgical reconstruction for Bruce as a passable girl". The "experiment" was of special interest to social scientists, because Bruce also had a identical twin. It turns out that even though he thought he was a girl, and everyone treated him like one, he preferred to do male things, and eventually his parents had to tell him what happened. And he was not too happy about it, and changed his name to David Reimer. The point is that social conditioning didn't change who he was, and neither did his lack of male genitals.

Unfortunately, I do not know if this has a point for our lives. I think I have more sympathy for people who seem to have an ambiguous gender. People may have a biological setup that does not set them apart as much. Although, those people, if they do not want to look ambiguous should make efforts to wear the right hairstyles and clothing.

Book Review: My Brother's Keeper: What the Social Sciences Do & Don't Tell Us About Masculinity, by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen

2010-09-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

An intellectual yet readable book about what social sciences have gleaned about masculinity. And of course it was written from a Christian world view, because it is published by Intervarsity Press. I bought it at Urbana Missions Conference back in December 2003.

I feel that I want to write an extended review. Because I think it is unlikely that anyone else will read this book. I'm not slamming it. I just don't think you will find it in your bookstore or hear about it from anyone else. So I shall summarize it for thee. So I will write just a little at a time.

Chapter 2 - The Biblical Drama and the Gendered Powers

Van Leeuwen touched upon the issue of interpretation of the Bible - how some fundamentalists take things all too literally. In this discussion, she is concerned about the Biblical teaching about gender of course.

"In its extreme form, this approach turns the Bible into something like a dictionary or encyclopedia, where almost any reference to men and women is grist for a fixed set of gendered behaviors. This tendency to treat the Bible as a "flat book" owes much to the legacy of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy that arose in North America early in the twentieth century. While claiming to challenge 'godless science' with a high view of Scripture, fundamentalists still let the positivest norms of modern science dictate the terms of the debate. That is, they uncritically bought the notion that truth could be packaged only in scientifically or historically literal form, though they included in the latter category statements inspired by God and recorded in Scripture."

On the other side, the liberal theologians and some scientists also erred in their beliefs by incorrectly assuming that science is completely free of bias. "To do effective science....you need to have some prior idea of what it is you are looking for and what it means"

The following excerpt is a slam dunk in favor of science from a Christian world view:

"...Other things being equal (such as native ability and good training) scholars in any discipline who view their subject through the lens of Christian faith are no less 'biased' or 'unscholarly' than ones who do so through the lens of a naturalistic or Marxist or any other worldview. In fact, it is more honest and fruitful to do scholarship from the standpoint of an acknowledged worldview that can be candidly analyzed and discussed than to presume one is working from a position of impossible neutrality behind which a worldview will be operating anyway"

Besides this discussion being interesting by itself, Van Leeuwen goes on to explain that the gospel message is that there is now equality between men and women, and all people. And this is not promoting hegemony (I learned new words, by the way), which means men and women are the same, but just promoting equality. Paul's statements in the New Testament that command women to keep quiet and in the background must be explained in the context of the Greco-Roman, which was very male dominated. Van Leeuwen quotes from another book:

"Paul hoped to earn Christians protection from outside hostility by advising them to conform to the public honor codes of the Greco-Roman world. At the same time he subverted this very world by developing ideas that led Christians to contradict this code in their private lives"

I was actually excited when I read this, because I feel that Scripture is sometimes hard to understand. And when something is explained in the historical context in a way that makes sense, it kind of lifts a burden off of my shoulders. So this was just the beginning, I will keep going later!

God's view of me

2010-09-15T17:12:00.001-07:00

"Trusting God's view of me has been the most intense, most difficult, and most comprehensive maturing and releasing process I have ever experienced" -TrueFaced

Movie Review: The Last Emperor

2010-08-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1987

Main characters:
Pu Yi - the last emperor, played by 4 actors, covering the stages of his childhood.
Pu Yi's wife in an arranged marriage
Pu Yi's second consort
Pu Yi's British tutor, Reginald Johnston - played by Peter O'Toole of Lawrence of Arabia fame.

I don't really have time to give this a thorough review. Even as I write this I'm pretty exhausted, but this must be done! Sorry I don't read anyone else's blog, or any of my usual web sites, until I can catch up. I don't have access to anything at work, which if you think about it, is a good thing, because work is for work anyway.

This movie covered the life of the last emperor of China. The movie opens up as a 30-40 something person is a prisoner and is trying to kill himself. Then we go back to a young boy who is crowned emperor at the age of 3. He is immediately given authority and told that he can get anything he wants. So he's a spoiled person, and is shocked to find out that outside the walls of the Forbidden City, there is actually someone else ruling, the President of the Republic. Meanwhile, Pu Yi is a prison of the Forbidden City and is not allowed to leave. Just for tradition, I guess, or for political reasons..I wasn't clear on that.

Since the "West" is more and more important, he gets a British tutor and is exposed more to the outside world, and has to get spectacles. He reforms the Forbidden City by expelling the thousands of eunuchs.

Anyway, the world wars go on, and the Russians and Japanese invade China, and Pu Yi is finally expelled from the Forbidden City. And his wives have a difficult time with being exposed to other ideas and the loss of Pu Yi's power, and are unhappy, especially the second wife at first.

I don't really feel like writing the entire plot, so it's review time now.

I thought it had good use of color and costumes - those also won awards. The story was long but interesting. Courtney really liked it and wanted it to keep going.

I think it's just amazing that China went through such drastic changes in a short time. The old system of emperor was torn down, and it went to a Republic, and then to Communism. So of course it was interesting to follow said emperor.

Book Review: Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas

2010-08-20T19:01:00.000-07:00

On page 238 of 270, I begged this book "PLEASE END!". And then I turned to Courtney and said, "You know I don't have to finish it. I'm done."

We received this as a wedding gift from my sister (thanks), who told us to wait a few years before reading. Then we started reading it when our small group decided to read it. And then our baby was born, and we quit reading it. So I've been trying to complete it.

For most of the time, I thought the author was Gary Chapman, the guy with the Southern accent and huge glasses who wrote The Five Love Languages. But then only recently did I realize that was not the same person - this was written by Gary Thomas. It is a strange mix of theology, opinion, church history, personal anecdotes, already accepted ideas, and outlandish ideas.

I thought it was very difficult to care about what the author was saying, because it was so drawn out and dry. The various attempts at humor did not pull me back in. It turns out Gary Chapman is easier to follow. I am not doing too well on enjoying marriage books. Is there a John Eldredge book on this subject? Now that would be great. (Yes, it's called Love and War!)

Two Views of Hell

2010-08-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

My acquaintance with a Jehovah's Witness has rekindled my interest in the two views of hell. I found that my friend and I agree on one thing, that we don't believe in eternal torment. Death is the punishment for sins - not eternal torment. A second death in the "Lake of Fire", which is eternally final, will take place "at the end of the age".

My own debate on this subject began when I read the Intervarsity Press book Two Views of Hell, which I purchased at Urbana Missions Conference, which I think was in 2003.

But mostly, I haven't emotionally grasped why a loving God would torment his Creation in Hell. Especially if you believe in predestination, which I tend to not believe in, then it is especially disturbing to think that God predestined people to be tortured.

My friend Jeremy wrote an article on the subject, which is very long, but I plan on reading sometime http://www.jeremyandchristine.com/articles/eternal.php.

However, the Jehovah's Witness does not believe in eternal life either, and I have definitely disagreed with him strongly on that. The Bible is clear that all who believe in the Son go to heaven, not just the 144,000 mentioned in the book of Revelation. But it has been busy lately at work, so I haven't had time to pursue these subjects with him.

Movie Review: Children of a Lesser God (1986)

2010-08-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying using my blog to be more personal, or to reveal my inner soul a bit more. But more on that later...movie review first.

This movie lost out to Platoon for Best Picture, but was nominated in 1986.

I feel like my reviews need to do a better job of introducing the characters. I'm usually doing too much at once, naming the actor, describing the character, etc. So if I describe them at the beginning, I can use their names in the remainder of the review.

Setting - a deaf boarding school in a maritime setting (Northeast)
James Leeds - a teacher who arrives from somewhere. He is hearing, and has a passion for helping deaf kids to speak. Acted by William Hurt
Sarah Norman - a deaf former student who refuses to speak, and is an angry person, and is the school janitor. Enjoys swimming naked in the school pool, for unexplained reasons. Acted by Marlee Matlin. Winner of Academy Award for Best Actress.

Plot synopsis:
James is attracted to Sarah. He tries to help her to speak. She does not want to speak. He won't stop bugging her, and asks her to dinner. She dances sensually to the music that she can feel, but not hear. She gets mad at him. He keeps prying, and she tells him that as a youth she had sex better than hearing girls, and she was sexually abused by the neighborhood boys, somewhat willingly since she found some identity in it. He intrudes on her when she's swimming naked, and has sex with her. (Did he not just hear that part about how men used her? But I think it's supposed to be romantic maybe?) Then she lives with him, and they are incompatible, and fight a lot because he keeps wanting her to talk (give it up already, she doesn't want to). Then they separate. Then they get back together, and will doubtless continue to have problems. She does not speak.

Review:
I like seeing sign language. Thankfully, James repeated everything Sarah said out loud. That is probably not normal, but just for the benefit of most viewers. I think Marlee Matlin did a great job of acting. I think even for a non-religious person though, it would be strange to live with someone, having never been on the same page about basic beliefs, and having never resolved anger issues. So the whole thing seemed just hypothetical to me, not real at all. The music was weird. And the movie did not offer much in terms of scenery or effects - it was just dramatic acting, which is probably my least favorite type of movie. But the sign language/deaf/HOH topic is still interesting to me.

New Work

2010-08-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

New Work is a good thing.

I started working at a "large financial institution" on Monday. I am still a consultant, so I am basically a guest at the company, a 6-month-at-least guest. I have tried to never put company names in my blog posts because that compromises my ability to be honest.

My job is to be there just in case someone leaves. That is because this financial institution fell on hard times and everything is on pause, including bonuses, pay raises, 401K, you know the works. I went through that at my previous company until I was let go. One reason I was let go, I am just inferring, was to allow those benefits to continue for remaining talent. The benefits freeze has been a lot longer for this particular institution, so many people are leaving this company.

And...it so happens that on my 4th day there, the person whom I am supposed to shadow and follow announced that he found work elsewhere and just put in his 2 weeks notice. so I will be learning a ton in the next two weeks, and will be the Database Administrator for this company. I will have some backup and support.

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice

2010-07-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

I have seen the end of this 2005 film about 5 times. Courtney is a big fan. I thought it would be fun if I read the book before finally seeing the entire movie. Interestingly, some of the most memorable parts of the movie actually were not in the book. The general location and purpose of the scenes were the same, but not the words. That is forgivable of course. It's not like Count of Monte Cristo from 2002 where the characters and half of the plot were different.

I thought this was a lot funnier than Count of Monte Cristo (talking about the books now). And it was more manageable (approx 300 pages vs. 1200). Most of the suspense in Pride and Predudice is around relationships, misunderstandings, and personality analysis. I like the character of Elizabeth, because she reminds me of myself. She does not divulge all of her information until it is safe. At the end everyone is surprised that she loves Mr. Darcy, because she hasn't told anyone. I also like to really be sure of things before I tell people about them. The desired end of P&P is marriage to eligible bachelors. The desired end of "Count" is revenge.

So even though the desired end of P&P is marriage to eligible bachelors, I still found it interesting and suspenseful. The emotion of wanting someone to like you, it goes beyond that time period and whatever gender we are speaking of. But that time period makes in more suspenseful in that women were more dependent on men, legally and financially. So there is a lot on the line with these romances.

I thought the book an excellent description of various personalities and motives. It is just excellent!

I'm not a huge fan of literary critiques, they are often too academic and ruin the story for me. So I skipped the introduction that was written by a scholar. But I'm sure they wrote that the book and author, Jane Austen, were remarkable.

Conservative voting

2010-07-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Courtney and I voted today. The battle plan in Republican primaries are to show voters who the MOST conservative candidate is.   And the game for voters is to find out who is LYING.   Unfortunately, in the information age, it is still difficult to find out facts. Maybe it's because we also live in the age where we are too busy to dig up those facts, and we have to guess who is representing facts truthfully.

I noticed this year that for some, pro-life is still the top issue.   I remember growing up in the 90s, this and "family values" were the biggest deal. Well, we've had pro-life and family values with Bush, but nothing got done in some key areas.   In my view, my top issues are Fiscal Responsibility and Illegal Immigration, and these are critical today. If someone loves to be pro-abortion, I won't vote for them, but frankly not too many of those candidates show up in Republican primaries here.

One person had a problem with a Senate candidate (Jerry Moran) because he voted pro-choice once in 1982 and another time in 1988 in the State Legislature.   I think this is foolish, because if that is the best you can dig up on someone, it is not worth mentioning. Although we did vote for Tiahrt because he is endorsed by pretty much everyone who is important.

I also have a problem with people who run for various offices, and are poster boys for conservatism. I have great respect for Kris Kobach and the fact that he is a constitutional scholar and anti-immigration expert. But this doesn't mean he should run for Secretary of State, which apparently has nothing to do with his experience so far. Stop running for random offices, and just let people do the job who actually want the job. I'm voting for the other guy who actually really wants that specific job.

Missing man found

2010-07-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

A big story in my community has been of the missing man, Larry Schnackenberg, whose car was found in Shawnee Mission Park, unlocked with his wallet, keys and phone on the seat. There were no clues, and a search of the Park and lake turned up no results. Twenty days later, he was found wandering around the trails adjacent to the Park, a few miles away. And he was shirtless, disoriented dehydrated and bitten by bugs. It was out of character for him to run off, and had no history of mental disorders. So I'd like to say that he suddenly became "disoriented", although I haven't heard of that before, so that is not too satisfying. So overall, I believed that when he was found, it would answer all of the questions, but it seems that the same questions remain, except for the one of his location.

The good news is that his family no longer has to deal with his disappearance, and not knowing of his whereabouts.

Fat King Eglon

2010-07-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

Subtitle: Defeating the thing in your life that seems powerful, but turns out to be stupid

Fat King Eglon and his incompetent companions kept Israel captive for 18 years. They were incompetent because they fell for "the oldest trick in the book" and were really gullible and foolish. And Ehud defeated his adversary with relative ease, but also with a lot of courage and creativity.

So it parallels the things that keep us captive. We assume that they are mighty things that cannot be overcome. But then when we attack them it turns out they are just fat and stupid. And it still takes a lot of courage for us to overcome them.

for me it's confidence...fear of rejection...Rejection that I am too quiet, too religious, or not religious enough, or too conservative, or not conservative enough, too boring. There is no way for me to be accepted by all extremes, but I have played that game pretty well. It is perhaps fear of a rejection that does not even exist.

Restaurant Review: Backwater Jack's (Lake of the Ozarks)

2010-07-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

We were with our small group at the Lake of the Ozarks, and Saturday evening we visited Backwash Jack's Bar and Grill. The rest of the group went by boat, but we drove because of baby transportation and eating needs. This may be a good time to point out that the bridge we crossed has a $2.50 toll one way.

We asked the hostess if a group of 10 people had showed up, and she promptly got involved in some social conversation, but luckily someone from our group saw us and retrieved us. The small crowded building we went into had about six tables, but was mostly standing room for the bar. The standing room quickly exceeded the posted maximum occupancy ,but eventually died down. But I could not hear the person next to me speak, mostly because music coming out of a speaker right next to us. Annique was awake but not crying. I figured that she knew no one would hear her, so she intelligently chose to remain quiet. And...I tried not to look at the floor, because there was part of someone's meal down there.

The joke was that we were overdressed....a lot of guys didn't have shirts on and some women wore bikinis, and we were under-drunk.

BUT the food was excellent. I had a jerk grilled chicken meal. And the server was nice. He opted not to wear the company shirt that said on the front "DRINK UP BITCHES!", and on the back "WE FEAR NO BEER". Instead he just wore a Vodka brand shirt.

So needless to say, Backwater Jack's is a different culture...it's Lake culture, and more specifically Lake party culture. I would go again, but would dine outside, and I'd probably check out some other restaurants first!

Movie Review: Platoon (1986)

2010-07-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here we go...

This movie was entertaining from the standpoint that a lot of young actors got their start in this movie...Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, the guy from Scrubs, Forest Whitaker,Willem DaFoe.

The first half of the movie was disappointing, just from the foul language used, drug use, illegal killings, and US soldiers being killed in horrific fashion.

But in the second half it did turn out that at least half the platoon was against the illegal killing, so that was encouraging. True protagonists were revealed. And the second half of the movie was really more exciting from a plot standpoint.

I think there is a lot to take away from this movie. First,just knowing more about what kind of things the soldiers went through, it's just horrific, and there's no way they could have come back the same. Most people have been in a situation or project where it's not going too well, and you consider giving up. That is really difficult, you might lose sleep, or lose some part of your hope or your trust in others. But when it comes to war, and people die and are wounded, and you risk your own life, then the feeling is much worse. It turns out that our personal struggles in our own lives are not as serious as they could be.

Also, the movie shows that when leadership does not have integrity, then the followers will not have it either. It also shows how soldiers were persistent and loyal despite the challenges.

Book Review: Be a People Person, by John Maxwell

2010-07-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

When I acquired this book, I still had the idea to increase my business of selling books on Amazon. So courtney told me about this large collection of books. There is former pastor, who left his ministry, marriage and his books behind. Sad story. I didn't find any books that were worth money, but I picked out a few that looked interesting.

I have always seen John Maxwell books that my dad has been reading. My dad keeps up to date on leadership issues. The Wikipedia article states that John Maxwell has written 50 books. So I was interested in reading something written by him, and I could always work on my people skills!

This book is from 1994, and the original date was 1989. So that makes it one of the first books John Maxwell has written. And it is really impactful and impressive. And it is brief which is nice. It is filled with fun and relevant stories, and is really convicting. I am definitely keeping it around.

Some good quotes, used completely without permission.

Charisma is being more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are in making them feel good about you!
Helen Keller said "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing"
An insecure leader, on the other hand, believes neither in himself or others. Insecure people are afraid to risk building others up with compliments, because they are constantly in need of compliments themselves.
Establish your worth according to God's value system.
Develop friendships with confident people.
Be aware of the specific reasons why the other person requires persuasion and perhaps has resisted it.
People do things for their reasons, not your reasons
You can get everything in life you want if you help enough people get what they want.
In the final analysis, results are what matter; attendance and activity don't.
I act as I see myself. In fact, it is impossible to consistently behave in a manner that is inconsistent with the way we see ourselves.
Criticism is something you can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.
Criticism: don't undermine the person's self-confidence. Attack the problem, not the person. Look at yourself before looking at others.

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2010-06-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

This completes the viewing of the Indiana Jones series. I wanted to watch the new one for a long time, but I had to watch the old ones first.

It didn't completely sink in that the movie was based in the 50's until 20 minutes into the movie. I think it's because it has an iconic actor, Harrison Ford, that is clearly "today's Harrison Ford" in a costume. I just wasn't thinking clearly because it should have been obvious from the car models and that he has a line "I Like Ike" and that he gets stuck in an atomic bomb testing facility. And the fact that Indiana Jones would be like 100 years old if it were in modern times.

It borders on being a sci fi movie toward the end, and borrows heavily from elements in the National Treasure and Mummy films. Or maybe they borrowed from the original Indiana Jones?

It's really tough to criticize movies after watching the special features, because they put a tremendous amount of effort into everything. So I will say that this movie is just swell.

SPOILER ALERT

It has the formulaic story where the spunky kid meets the adventurous adult, and they don't like each other at first, but gain each others' respect. Then they find out that they are father-son. But it was clever how the mother was the love interest from the first Indiana Jones movie. And it's funny that Indiana Jones' main shock is that the boy didn't finish school, not that he actually has a son he just found out about.

The car chase was really good, however it was unrealistic that the boy swung on vines for several minutes at 40 mph and saved the day by landing on a moving car.

Book Review: Beginning ASP.NET

2010-06-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Another selection from the "Stalker Series". those eyes, looking at you, staring at you from the cover. My one female coworker called this guy "not hot". I thought it was more of a Leo DiCaprio look, and I'm jealous of the amount of hair.

This is the fastest I've ever read a tech book. I actually never programmed any of the examples. I flipped through the pages very quickly. It's not so much that I knew everything, but that I just want to get a basic idea of the features. I don't have time to dwell on every topic.

It introduced object oriented programming and basic database concepts, which was surprising. The book really is for beginners and that's probably why I flipped through it.

Next I would like to read Advanced ASP.NET 4.0 or learn about MVC, or Ruby on Rails. My calling as a Computer Scientist and not just Database programmer has been renewed.So hopefully I will put some Object Oriented programming skills to use in my new job.

(this is the first post I've written with the new Blogger features - very nice.)

Book Review: The Wal-Mart Effect, by Charles Fishman

2010-06-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

Courtney has refused to shop at Wal-Mart ever since hearing a presentation about fair trade practices. I go along with it, but I occasionally get food and basic necessities from Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. My main objection to boycotting Wal-Mart is that there does not seem to be a ton of evidence that Wal-Mart is any worse than other big stores. This book didn't necessarily help me with out, but it's a real gem for understanding the effect of Wal-Mart.

This is the first business book I've read. the writing style is just perfect. It is written in a style that explains business concepts, but also doesn't treat the reader like a dufus. It's the perfect pace for me. Also, I like the author's "high road" approach. What I mean is that he is open to whether Wal-Mart is good or bad. I would hate to waste my time on a biased book. The author both criticizes and praises Wal-Mart. The basic idea is that Wal-Mart is great for consumers and prices, but these low prices come at a cost to suppliers.

I was amazed how Wal-Mart took over the grocery business in a short time. In the early 90s no consumers were begging for another grocery store. The grocery business was well established. But Wal-Mart now is the number one grocer in the world, and it has put others out of business. Just in my neighborhood (Shawnee, KS) there are two empty spaces that used to be grocery stores, and there is a new Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market that is doing well. So...now I know what happened.

Overall this book has opened my eyes to what is behind a low price, and who may be suffering because it's low. The shopper also suffers in ways such as standing in long lines, or having to assemble your own purchase. Wal-Mart affects everyone, even those who refuse to shop there. It has even affected other industries, who have modeled after Wal-Marts efficiencies. I recently applied for life insurance and it is cheaper now than many years ago, but I suffered in the area of customer service - I wasn't provided a number to call or provided any instructions on my application - that's where they saved the cost.

I love the story of the $2.97 gallon jar of pickles. Try to imagine a gallon jar of pickles if you haven't seen one -I sure haven't. And I think it would be ridiculous. But to make a statement, Wal-Mart sold this and basically made a penny off each one, if that. It was so people could look at that prominent display, and truly believe that Wal-Mart had amazing prices. The thing is that Vlasic was help hostage by this, because Wal-Mart threatened to pull all Vlasic products if they didn't keep the gallon jar. And for Vlasic it would have been a tremendous risk to stop partnering with the number one grocer in the world. So they kept going. Not sure if I can tell this story perfectly, this story just shows the power that Wal-Mart has over suppliers.

And then there is the story about the foreign factories. Workers in certain countries get paid 13 cents per hour and make about $12,000 in one career. And they work in conditions that would likely be illegal if the factory were in the U.S. So when we shop at Wal-Mart as the author says it's satisfying and frightening at the same time. The author implies that although Wal-Mart could have tremendous power to improve working conditions around the world, it doesn't as far as he can tell. And this is why Courtney has refused to shop at Wal-Mart for about 2 years now. Honestly I haven't missed it. It hasn't been a pleasant shopping experience on recent trips I've taken there - my main complaints being the inability to find items quickly and the long lines.

This book is the front runner to win my book of the year award, so check it out!

My Workplace - 7101 Tower

2010-06-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

I wanted to give my faithful blog readers a sneak peek at the pictures I took around my workplace.

I am a firm believer in taking a walk in the afternoon, This is especially for those of us who sit at the computer all day. And I am more productive afterward once my body is refreshed from walking around. It can also be a good time for prayer especially if something at work is troubling me.

All through the winter I was kind of bummed because there was apparently no place to walk. So I went up and down the 15 stories of the building. But once it got warmer it gave me opportunity to walk on a trail that someone at work told me about. And it is not too shady, but it does the trick. The nice thing is that I get to see a lot of wildlife. Unfortunately, in these pictures I did not capture the baby geese and baby ducks. They haven't been in this area the past week. Plus they were a lot cuter when they were just born, around when Annique was born. now they are kind of teenagers. but I hope to snap a picture of them sometime.

Here are the pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dan.gras/MyWorkplace7101Tower#

My Workplace - 7101 Tower

Book Review: Love and Respect

2010-06-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

by Emerson Eggerichs

I find this book to be confusing..because it's so simple, yet so expansive. The book is based on one simple concept, but is 324 pages long.

Mostly, I found the book was asking married couples to do what Courtney and I seem to already be doing. And I don't say that out of pride, hopefully. I just think that Courtney and I are both sensitive to each other by nature. Many of the examples put forth in the book were of situations where at least one of the spouses was a very self-centered person, and where there were serious problems.

But..I will say that I am definitely not perfect, and could show appreciation to Courtney more often. There are many ways that I could be more loving. The book purports that as I show more love, Courtney will show me more respect. If one person is not doing their thing, than the mature way to live is to continue to show love and respect, and to not base it on what the other person is doing. I think my childhood models showed this to me, and that is why this concept is not difficult.

I will say that my main complaint about this book is that there are hundreds of examples of "people coming up to the author" or "writing a letter to the author" about how his conferences and writings transformed their marriages. Without all of those examples, it could have been a 100 page book. I am wondering if the publisher thought the book would sell better if it was 300 pages. I am a cynic, but I think there might be some truth to it. Sometimes things are big business that you'd rather believe are not.

Overall, I'm a little confused about what to take away from it. I think watching the DVDs or being at a conference with Courtney would help to get more out of it.

Best of April 2010

2010-05-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

Baby's birth

My cousins at Easter

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: National Treasure Book of Secrets

Best Book I Read for the First Time none

Best Restaurant Dined in for First Time Pizza Fusion

Best online video I watched for the First time:

Movie Review: Out of Africa (1985)

2010-05-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

Won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1985, featuring Meryl Steep and Robert Redford, directed by Sydney Pollack.

Situated between 1914 and 1931, the movie features a Danish woman who has money and is adventurous. She marries someone who has a "good name", and they get a farm in Africa. before she got there, he planted coffee without consulting with her. All in all, her new husband doesn't really love her, and they end up separating.

Our Danish woman, Karen von Blixen, knows a different studly game hunter, and they fall in love with each other. Karen is good at telling stories and has sympathy toward the natives, and Denys is a tender guy although self-centered. and they do fun stuff together like flying in planes and going on safaris.

Anyway, I doubt anyone cares to read the plot on here.

the movie felt really slow. The main actors are beautiful people and the nature of Africa is obviously beautiful. The scene with the pink flamingoes is the best. The story though is just slow and ultimately a bit boring.

The Replacement

2010-05-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of story lines with my new car. Here they are in favorite order.

#1. The drastic change between my old car and my new car.

My 91 Camry had "no power anything", and things were breaking, such as my door handle and emergency brake and the A/C lever. Not to mention it was uncomfortable and ugly. (Though it does look better than most 91 Camrys I've seen out there) There was a lot of rust and non-matching paint from when we tried to fixed rust.

The new car is 17 years newer. It has power locks and windows and cruise control. And it drives normally - like when you press the gas pedal, it goes faster. It is really really pretty.

#2. The evolving philosophy of the car search.

Well I am really used to driving small old cars, and assumed that I would always get another old Camry. I picked a price range that I felt was appropriate for our savings, and considering that we need to replace the Jeep soon as well. I tested out a couple of cars. We almost bought a 99 Camry for way under budget, but the person selling did not end up leaving for India. Then the Accord I tried out (from someone leaving for Turkey) had really bad tires, salvage title, and no proof of timing belt change.

I realized something needed to change, like stop trying to buy cars from people leaving the country the next day. We were also reconsidering our price range and the make/models. I looked into all car brands. I know so much more about 4 door sedans than I used to. But I still had difficulty finding a fair deal on a Malibu or Fusion or Impala, (ie other brands).

And all this time, it is very difficult to focus on my work and also find and test out cars, and prepare for our child. Each car I looked at would take away precious time from other things. So by this point I was more inclined to look at cars that were less likely to have problems. I didn't want to get into a car with 120K+ miles because it would feel like the same old story again for me, with things breaking. Annique was born, and the car search went on a short hiatus.

finally, a couple of weeks later, my car wouldn't start after work at exactly 162,000 miles. It upped the pressure for me to find a car. Also, my mechanic fixed it for nearly free (after we got it there through push-starting). So I decided to listen to my mechanic, who has always recommended Kia. I basically put in some specific searches in Craigslist for Kia, and came up with a couple of nice ones. I asked Courtney if she was willing to invest a little more in a car, and she was cool with that. So after I found this one, it was smooth sailing from there.

#3 The debt story line. If you have known me a while you'd have guessed that I followed a debt-free philosophy long before Dave Ramsey came on the local scene. It was just how I was raised. Growing up, I had never heard of a car payment. So it is still a foreign idea to me, just like "not having a car payment" is a foreign idea to other people. To be frank, I think car payments are a really bad idea mathematically and emotionally and spiritually. This is not really the place to expound on that philosophy, so we will move on.

The other thing is that Courtney and I are not big spenders, and we save a lot. Dave Ramsey has a saying "Live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else". I lived like no one else - for a while I have driven the oldest car out of anyone I know. And now I feel that I can finally LATER drive like no one else - have the ability to drive a nice car without a car payment.

#4. The length of the car search. It started about the beginning of March when we got a wheel bearing fixed, but the clutch problem had surfaced. My mechanic said there were a lot of things going wrong with it soon, and advised to not invest in fixing it. Which was fine with me, because I was ready for a new car anyway. But I didn't know it would take almost 3 months to find one, and happen after our child was born.

#5. God's provision I'm a believer in God's hand in my life, and how He can use events to shape other events. So I am at peace when things are in His hands. I really feel like He was in this.

#6. Protecting it This is the first time I've been protective of my car. I guess that is what the insurance is for, so you don't have to worry.

Will update with pictures sometime...

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

2010-05-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to see these Indiana Jones movies to refresh my memory about what they were all about, and come to find out, I haven't seen this one before. The only one I had seen was the Last Crusade, which makes sense, because it was made in 1989, and I then would have been old enough to watch these. I hadn't known that there was a five year gap between the movies.

Anyway, Temple of Doom opens up with one of the most exciting sequences possible. They travel high speed by car, plane, and boat. Then they end up by fate in a remote Indian village who had their sacred rock stolen, and their children kidnapped for slave labor. Of course our hero, Indiana Jones, and a nightclub singer, and Indiana's adopted Asian kid (?), go to retrieve the sacred rock and rescue the children.

Then a bunch of gross stuff happens with eating gross things, or reaching through, or walking through disgusting insects. Then the people who live in the "temple of doom" are having a religious service with human sacrifice and it's really evil and over the top. And not really entertaining to watch.

Then our protagonists get into trouble, and get out of it. And another exciting sequence, this time a high speed chase by underground coat (edit: I mean coal, but the first one is funny) cart, and on sketchy suspended bridges, ends the movie.

As you can gather, if you watch the beginning and end of the movie, it's really good. But if you skip everything in the middle you're not missing much.

Interesting tid bit: The director of the movie, Steven Spielberg, married the woman who played the nightclub singer/romantic interest / comic relief clown, after working on the film together. He also is quoted as saying he is not too proud of this movie, and he made it at a bad time in his life.

Book Review: The First Twelve Months of Life

2010-04-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

I have a new policy on my blog. I used to only blog about books that I read completely. The purpose of that was so I would have an accurate count of the number of books I read. That was more important when I was having a little competition year to year about the number of books that I read. I will not read 30+ books again for a while, I don't think. Also, it would be good to write about books I started, but didn't like...and that is the case with this book.

I ran across it in the library. And Aunt E recommended it. But it turns out that Aunt E was actually recommending "Your Baby's First Year - Week By Week", but called it by the wrong name.

This book, The First Twelve Months of Life, has not had a reprint since 1994.

And it seems to be even older. There was a sentence in there about how "Negroe babies" have certain health tendencies. And it always used the pronoun "he" as referring to the baby. Although this might have been a victory against political correctness in the 90s, it's just weird now. Also it's really boring and tiresome. It's no surprise that it's no longer in print.

So I read a couple of chapters. I am currently reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child"...that is actually really interesting.

Restaurant Review: Pizza Fusion

2010-04-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

For my 29th bday, I decided to try out Pizza Fusion with Courtney and Mo. (Watching the baby at night is affording me the time to write this) .

The main reason was because they offer gluten free crusts. And I think maybe they make the crusts rather than getting Olivia's oven brand.

It was extremely tasty, and also very expensive. They overdo the environment-friendly theme. They deliver pizza only in hybrid cars. And they use only organic ingredients. We were discussing how Leawood is a perfect place for such a restaurant, since it's one of the wealthiest areas in the county and probably the nation.

I would go again...maybe get a small pizza though.

And I would go on Thursday, because if you buy a gluten free pizza on Thursday, you get a gluten free brownie. And it is really good.

I think baby's asleep. I will apply the swaddle me and get on with some sleep myself.

----------

UPDATE: more info
-I want to say that my Pizza Fusion pizza was the best GF pizza I've ever had - I think it was called Farmer's Market flavor.
- I will review prices to see how they compare to other local gluten free pizzas. This would be a great project anyway. I've been to four places now in KC.
-Also I forgot to mention that our server was very nice.
-Also, it was not very busy on a Thursday evening. We were guessing that it would be more of a popular weekend spot or lunch spot.

Annique update 2

2010-04-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Courtney is a very caring mom, and she jumped into that role really well. Women are very loving are they not?
We've taken Annique to the hospital for a bilirubin test 3 times now (every day). There is a rare health risk related to jaundice. So it's a bit annoying to go every day. But it has been nice to be forced to get out of the house.
Bilirubin today was 13.1, which is a decrease, so we don't need to get it tested again.
We finished Out of Africa :)
Maybe I will post this to FB, Laura!
That is probably the first time I've done laundry and dishes at 4 AM
We visited S1, my old work today. It was my first time back since they moved to the 1st floor. They are still really good friends! It was Annique's first trip just to meet people.
We practiced having Courtney take care of the baby without me, since that will be the norm. I spent a bunch of time mowing the lawn...they are doing well!!
Oh yeah, 24 is on tonight. Might rather be asleep if the baby is sleeping.

Baby updates

2010-04-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Not wanting to flood Facebook with baby posts, I need to keep track of memories somehow. I could do it privately, but this is good too.

I guess we will have trouble finishing watching that Out Of Africa movie that we started watching last weekend. It was a Best Picture winner.
The 2nd night at home was really tough. The baby wouldn't feed. i ran to mom and dad's around midnight to get the breast pump, and we figured out how to use it. Courtney called our lactation consultant at 11 PM, and we called the nurse at the hospital at 1 AM. But mom and baby got the hang of it.
That 2nd night, I also wondered if we would ever sleep. I was exhausted and I knew Courtney had to be even more.
Last night we slept when the baby slept. We also had a tag team effort..i watched Annique a bit while Courtney dozed. And I slept when they were feeding once or twice. I feel pretty good about it now.
I'm sad to go back to work on Tuesday! I will miss spending time with Annique and watching her learn new things, and continuing to bond. I'm a bit nervous about my ability to learn new career skills and work, and take care of the baby in the evenings.
Grandpa Kenny hooked us up with grocery shopping.
Grandma Laurie helped with Annique's first bath.
Annique is really cute and although she doesn't look like me, I had fun bonding and singing to her. she likes my harmonica as well. She is pretty and it's fun to hold her.
My cousin Ann will be the first cousin to meet Annique. And she is hooking us up with a meal. Our aunts so far to meet her are Janice, Elizabeth, and Linnie.

Childbirth story:

There are a lot of things to tell. and I cannot really describe it well. The first thing from my perspective, is that Courtney didn't feel well enough to do anything that day. Laurie came over to help. But for me that did not translate to "Courtney is in labor". I thought it was a more gradual process over several days where you see labor signs. But I came home around 5 PM, and Laurie told me to pack a bag because we were going to have a baby. So far that week my concerns had been about finding a new car and my need to mow the lawn. And Courtney was concerned about work transitions and church youth committee issues. There was never going to be a time when we were ready, I think it just happens that way, where you drop everything at whatever moment. I was in shock. I swear that I thought Laurie was kidding, and I asked her several times if we were really having a baby today. I knew the 5-1-1 rule about contractions, but it happened really quickly. to be continued....

Movie Review: National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

2010-04-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

This movie is really good, maybe better than the first, except I liked the bad guy less this time, not in a good way (wow that is confusing to describe). If you get the chance to watch the DVD, watch the commentary. It is fun to hear how a certain scene is actually filmed on two continents, but the movie makes it looks like it is all in one place of course. Then they comment on how the sets were built, and how the monument in the background is not really there - it's CGI, etc. That really was the White House, but they didn't let us stand on the sidewalk.... Watching special features really makes me appreciate how movies are made.

Missouri Mavericks

2010-04-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

There's a hockey team in Kansas City again...not in Kemper Arena or Sprint Center, but in the new Independence Events Center.

I took my dad to a game for Father's Day. It was a delayed FD present, and this is a delayed post about it. He was very excited, and repeatedly told me how great of a gift this was. Of course, he bought us some BBQ ribs beforehand, kind of evening out the gift.

The Independence Events Center has a huge parking lot, and it is free. We parked about a half a mile away, toward the exits, so we wouldn't have to wait on the way out. We are so smart.

The arena is very nice, and all of the seats are close to the rink. We sat toward one end, and all of the scoring ended up being on the other end, but we did see some nice defensive plays. The PA system was way too loud. I can't stand the two second snippets of rock songs during every stoppage of play. Also annoying was how the mascot was passing out t-shirts while the game was going on, causing a ruckus in the stands. And there was a competition about which section could be the loudest for one full minute to get free pizza or something, and that was during play as well. The main entertainment product should be just the game, not all the other shenanigans.

But the game was fun, even though I don't understand all of the hockey penalties. The Mavericks came back from behind and won. My dad was VERY into the game, and he seriously cared whether the Mavericks won or lost. Hence that is what separates me from what you would call a "sports fan", my ability to not really care when I don't want to. That skill comes in handy when the Royals are your major league baseball team.

The halftime show was fun, a bunch of inflatable mascots did a dance in the middle of the rink. Some other contests were MC-ed by Holly Starr, who hosts 38 the Spot in the evening, which has the Simpsons.

Overall, I would say it's an overly expensive form of entertainment. But I am the same person who was on KCTV5 news a while back, saying that if an NHL hockey team would move to KC, I would not watch any games on TV.

http://lostlifefound.blogspot.com/2007/01/dan-on-news.html
http://lostlifefound.blogspot.com/2007/03/keeping-out-pens.html

I am looking forward to some T-Bones (minor league baseball) games this summer - you can get into that for $3 if you wear green on the right promotion day, and stuff like that. And that is a sport where I actually know the rules. Not spoken like a true Canadian, but that is how it is.

Best of March 2010

2010-04-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Pic of the month: Showered

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Avatar

Best Book I Read for the First Time The Worst Hard Time

Best Restaurant Dined in for First Time Indianapolis Restaurant - Adobo Grill

Best online videos I watched for the First time: Lots of good ones, want to share all
Italian Motor Bike Show:

The funniest video I've seen this year:

26 Gigapixel photo:

Movie/TV special effects...this is an eye opener

Guitar sold

2010-03-30T19:30:00.001-07:00

I sold my Yamaha APX guitar. It was a sentimental time for me, as I have so many memories wrapped up in it. I bought it in the summer of 2000 at Mars Music for $850. That is the last time I paid that much for an instrument.

But the Yamaha has become my less favorite guitar in the last two years. The sound technicians and band have preferred my Alvarez, which has a bigger body, even though it is not as nice as the Yamaha. And I have preferred the bigger sound as well.

I was having a tough time with it, but I have nowhere to place the guitar in the house. And I haven't been playing it lately. (But it was still tough to let go!) So I'm glad that God brought along the right buyer. This man hardly looked me in the eye, but told me how he hasn't played guitar for 6 years because of a wrist problem. But he got good insurance and has a new wrist. He only plays guitar for worship. And he lives just a couple of blocks away from our house. The fact that he was dead set on worship was comforting, because my only purpose for the guitar was worship as well.

An interesting thing is that he never picked up the guitar itself, never asked if it had any defects. I'm pretty sure he would have bought it in the case, without ever looking at it. He just was absolutely positive that this was what he wanted.

Best of February 2010

2010-03-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Again, the best of two months ago!

Pic of the month: From the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Murder on the Orient Express

Best Book I Read for the First Time Cosmos

Best Restaurant Dined in for First Time Genghis Grill

Best online video I watched for the First time: Loop the loop stunt

Movie Review: Avatar 3D IMAX

2010-03-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is the 2nd movie we saw in the theaters in 2010... Shattering our trends from the last two years. Which were 1 and 0 times. We kinda wanted to see Blind Side as well, but didn't get around to it.

I'm not competely sure if IMAX is much better than a regular screen, but we thought we'd go for the best.

I enjoyed all of the special effects of Avatar. Sometimes I felt like I could reach out and touch the things that were seemingly right in front of my nose.

The story of Avatar is quite ridiculous. Spoiler alert! The modern world for whatever reason have become evil, hungry for resources, and not at all interested in cool looking aliens. They have devoted incredible scientific resources to making and training alien clones to learn about the alien culture. However, the aliens are already distrustful of the clones because the clones obviously don't fit it. This whole time, they were just going to blow up the aliens anyway, so I'm not sure why they went through all of that cloning effort. Anyway, a clone ended up falling in love with an alien, and vice versa, but betrays her anyway, and then he becomes their savior and betrays humans. The humans are evil except for the scientists.

I appreciate the movie and hope it opens up the door for more great movies, even ones with plots that make sense.

Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

2010-03-14T20:05:00.001-07:00

This was Courtney's birthday book for 2010 - I read this book for her birthday.

The Dust Bowl is considered to be the worst natural disaster in American history, according to the book. It lasted several years, and also happened in the midst of the Great Depression.

The problems with the land were mostly due to a wheat boom in the late 20s, where the land was ripped up for farming. Then the ecosystem that took thousands of years to develop was thrown off, and Indians who knew how to survive on the Plains were driven out.

Most people actually stayed on the Plains during this time, because they could call the land their own. But if they left, they would have nothing. But they should have left because the dust caused a health problem called dust pnemonia, and the land would not produce anything for years.

Huge dust storms came, cattle died from dust inhalation, and then swarms of grasshoppers came and ate every living plant. Pretty much when they thought times were at their worst, something worse happened, such as scorching heat and no rain.

The New Deal gave people hope (but also paved the way for Big Government - not in the book!).

This book follows the lives of 4-5 families and how they made it through the tough times.

I liked it.

Restaurant Review: Indianapolis

2010-03-12T19:03:00.000-08:00

Our restaurant choices were driven by what was gluten-free-accomodating. Old Spaghetti Factory - NICE, NICE that they include ON THE MENU PERMANENTLY a choice for gluten-free pasta on any of the spaghetti dishes. They used to have one of these in KC. The interior is made to look like an old fashioned place, I know that is vague but whatever.

We tried to drive there, but there was a Pacers game going on downtown, and parking was $10-20. So we went back to the hotel, and then walked over half a mile in the winter cold. It wasn't too bad.

Naisa - Asian spelled backwards. The lady in charge of continental breakfast also had a gluten allergy and told us about this place. Jeff and Louise were also excited to go. Even though they had gluten-free notes permanently on their menu, I didn't think the gluten free selection was that great . And service was kinda slow.

Adobo Grill - Fancy Mexican cuisine downtown. They had a gluten free menu available by request. I thought this place was really tasty. Honestly it was the best restaurant we went to, but the price was higher as well.

Anniversary State IV: Indiana

2010-03-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

We went to Indiana for our 4 year anniversary trip in February. The reasoning for February was that travel would become much more uncomfortable as the pregnancy progressed, and would become more difficult when we have an infant. The reasoning for Indiana was that 1) Jeff and Louise live there and 2) driving distance 3) If we are going to go somewhere in February, might as well be somewhere where museums and restaurants are the only thing to do.

Highlight 1: we stayed in a brand new hotel that opened the previous day. It had some bold colors and designs. Indianapolis is building hotels to go with their indoor stadium for the Super Bowl in 2012.

Aye Caramba Carpet

Highlight 2: Indiana State Museum

We viewed maps indicating where Indiana was throughout the entire evolution of the universe. And saw some old stuff. And we learned about famous Indianaians such as Michael Jackson

I got a big kick about how the TV in this thing is tiny, but the container is huge.

Attraction 2: Eiteljorg Museum of Indian and Western Art

This included a show of artistic guns, "a strange blend of art and violence"

Attraction 3: Indianapolis Museum of Art (No pictures allowed in modern art section, which is the best section)

Attraction 4: Jeff and Louise (my cousin)

They are a fun couple. We dined together a couple of times, went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. And we hung out and talked. Very fun to talk to people during vacations. I have relatives everywhere. Jeff is studying at IUPUI.

Attraction 5: Restaurants. Will blog about that later.

Attraction 6: Stopping by St Louis on the way back, and seeing our sister, bro-in-law and two nieces.

Book Review: Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administration

2010-03-10T18:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, I did read two of these 800 page books to study for my certification exam.

Having taken an exam now, I think one book would be sufficient, and then have a very focused review on concepts that might be in the exam. But this time, my philosophy was to read large books. It actually became difficult to retain everything.

Anyway, Courtney and I call these books the "stalker books", because of the pictures on the front. The people are creepily photoshopped together to make it look like they are in the same room, and there they are staring back at you.

This idea originated with this lovely picture on a different one that I read:

Seriously, if you are doing a photo op for a book cover that will be shipped worldwide, wouldn't you think you would make some kind of effort to look nice?

I really like the inside of these books though. Since the chapters are written by various people, some of them are better than others. But compared to the other book I got, the pace is much slower and there are more diagrams and extended explanations of the reasons you would use various options. So I really like these Wrox books, and this one was good as well.

Best of January 2010

2010-03-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I will ever blog again about things that have happened recently. Here is the best of two months ago!

Pic of the month: Courtney painting. I thought she looked cute. It's crazy how much we've accomplished, and how much remains. It doesn't help the stress that I need to get a car. Anyway, I digress.

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Young Frankenstein

Best Book I Read for the First Time SQL Server 2008 Administration

Best Restaurant Dined in for First Time Stone Canyon Pizza

Best online video I watched for the First time: Speedcubing (Rubix cube champions)

Feed The Hunger

2010-02-28T15:26:00.000-08:00

I helped a couple of times with Youthfront's Feed The Hunger initiative. I am proud of Youthfront for helping students serve the needy by packaging meals. This program has been in place at camp since last year, because today's students are not only interested in having a "fun time", but they want to express their faith in real ways.

When the Haiti earthquake occurred, Youthfront used their experience with this to invite students and families to Youthfront auditorium to package meals for Haiti.

The first time I went, I moved around 40 pound bags of rice and soy for a few hours.

The second time, we came with mom and dad and packaged a bunch of meals. How it works is you bring money to pay for the supplies, which Youthfront already purchased in advance, and you package the meals.

Courtney works for Youthfront and helped several times with registration.

Restaurant Review: Genghis Grill

2010-02-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

This is downtown in the new P&L district. It is basically the same thing as all of the other brands of Mongolian grills around town. I wonder if they are all owned by the same people. You get a bowl. Fill it with your choice of meat, veggies, sauces, etc. You can follow some printed guides if you don't know what you want. And you give it to the cook who grills everything. And then they take it to your table. And you still tip a waiter.

My first and only previous experience with a Mongolian grill was a long time ago for a coworker lunch. (I'm writing this for my S1 readers) We had Dan T, Scott W, Rachel, Abby and me. It's interesting - I remember very specific things that were discussed, and where we were sitting, etc. It's kind of crazy to think of how much changed soon after that. Eventually only me and Dan T were left from that group, and we didn't replace any of the other people. A few other people came on (Jim, Brian, Benee), but didn't fill exactly the same roles as the people who left. That means that I took on a lot of the work of three other people! I like how my restaurant reviews allow me to go on tangents.

Best of 2008: Pictures

2010-02-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

Best pictures we took in 2008.

Paul and Martha's dog, Shelby

This one of the "STAR team" is one of the first pictures taken with our camera.

Meeting Miles in September

Not sure how Courtney did this one, but it's cool

Best of 2009: Videos

2010-02-25T04:49:00.000-08:00

I have documented my favorite videos for the first time in 2009. Now, I've tried to pick out the best. These 3 are the best. It's kind of tough to put them in order.

1. Her Morning Elegance

2. Distraxion

3. Kittens

Movie Review: Murder on the Orient Express

2010-02-21T12:33:00.001-08:00

This was not an Oscar winner, but it was recommended by Kenny, Courtney's father.

It doesn't matter whether it's a book or TV show or movie, I can never guess who did it in a murder mystery.

This one is by Agatha Christie, the legendary author from England. She rarely gave permission to make her books into movies, but for whatever reason was positively inclined in this case.

I really enjoyed the movie, not gonna lie. It is stacked with "stars", supposedly, really the only household names were Sean Connery and Ingrid Bergman. And from my movie watching in general, I have also heard of Albert Finney and Anthony Perkins and John Gielgud and Jacqueline Bisset

Book Review: Cosmos

2010-02-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

It's been 9 days since a post, I figure I should write one. We were on vacation.
Plus, my life has changed, and I am focused less on "get things done" mode. I feel more freedom to do what I want. Our lives upcoming will probably 90% reacting to needs that have to get done. But for now I still do have some discretion. I am getting very close to taking my SQL Server Administration certification exam, and after that I will feel better!

Anyway, I don't have the time to do this book justice. But we came across Cosmos on sale in the book store, which is at first glance a collections of pictures of outer space. But on second glance, there is a lot of text that accompanies the pictures. On third glance, this text is very scientific and difficult to read. But I tried to read it all.

The book is also like two feet tall, so it was difficult to read...physically.

This book challenged my views of creation. Because due to the way the universe is set up, objects in the universe appear to be really old. And this doesn't match a 6 Earth day creation. Sure, God could make things look old that are really new. But for me a more acceptable answer, is "I don't really know". To me it doesn't matter, and we shouldn't let faith get in the way of honest scientific discovery. Now, I believe scientists are also in the wrong, because they can be closed minded toward Creation. They do not want to admit that science will not have all of the answers.

And that is what I gathered from this book....there have been amazing discoveries, but there are more questions than answers. I am very impressed at the science of outer space. There have been many geniuses in our past that paved the way toward understanding the universe. And now we can send probes out to Pluto, and sending people into space is old news.

The most mind boggling thing is the size of the universe. There are billions of suns like ours. And billions of galaxies. There is no way for me to comprehend it, other than considering it as infinity.

The book has a lot of sweet pictures that I'll show my son or daughter.

PS Hey I've come a long way....for 9th grade science class I wrote that snakes only existed because God cursed a salamander and then it no longer had arms and legs. Shoot. Now, I am willing to venture that a snake is a literary tool to describe the way sin entered the world... There are many questions, and we need to have courage to admit that.

Book Review: Becoming a Dud

2010-02-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

This book started out funny and relevant, and toward the middle it was becoming a dud, then it got okay at the end again.

Toward the middle, the authors, who are professional Christian counselors, decide to do a brain dump on everyone about their philosophy of life. And although it existentially had to do with becoming a father, it was a little too deep for what I need right now. I am ready for some practical stuff.

The main premise of the book is that fatherhood is a wild, exciting journey, full of joy and heartbreak. We need to be prepared to be connected with God, and enter into the risk that is inherent with being a dad, not with our own confidence, but that which comes from Him. See what I mean about wanting some practical stuff.

I really want to be there for my child, and get to know him/her. I don't want to lash out at them, but want to understand them. All you parents out there are like ha, ha, good luck understanding a 2 year old. But I'm just talking about a general attitude, one that is not confrontational, but more relational. I need to be prepared that they may like stuff that I care nothing about, and I need to enter into their life and encourage and affirm them. And I will not claim to have it all together, or force my family to think they have it together.

PS If you want a copy of Becoming a Dad, it's $4 at Mardel!

Best of 2009: Movies

2010-01-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here are the 10 best movies I saw for the first time in 2009.

#1
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

The only movie we saw in 2009 that was either 1. rented with money, or 2. viewed out of town with someone else. Although I found it to be a very frustrating movie, plot-wise, I can't deny that it is really the greatest movie I saw for the first time in 2009.

#2
Ordinary People (1980)
Pretty much an amazing movie. It is not the type of movie I typically like (family strife, etc), but I really enjoyed it.

#3
Chariots of Fire (1981)

A true story about guys training to sprint in the Olympics and overcoming life obstacles during the process.

#4
Annie Hall (1977)

It's a funny movie, and creative in the way it was written.

#5
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Despite being a little dated from the special effects standpoint, Close Encounters is entertaining and interesting.

#6
Gandhi (1982)
Gandhi the movie is educational and inspirational, and even though it is around 3 hours long, it kept my attention the entire time, and doesn't drag.

#7
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

There are some good tunes in Fiddler, and good characters, and a message that makes you think about tolerance and change.

#8
The Guns of Navarone (1961)

Although I didn't care for the acting that much, I guess I still like a good old fashioned action movie.

#9
Bullitt (1968)
A good detective/action/mysterious movie.

#10
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Even though family/courtroom dramas are not my favorite, I can still call this a good work of art.

Restaurant Review: Stone Canyon Pizza

2010-01-27T20:27:00.001-08:00

This is in Parkville, MO. What brings us up there, you ask? Two things. Gluten free pizza and Devin's magic.

The gluten free pizza greatly competes with Waldo Pizza in both price and taste. And Devin did a few magic tricks for us.

It was New Years Day, and it was a slow night, so Devin was able to hang out with us a bit.

We also hung out with our Indian friends that day.

Movie Review: Young Frankenstein

2010-01-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

A parody of previous Frankenstein movies that I assume were easy to make fun of. I haven't seen the old Frankenstein movies, so I have to take this one by itself.

Several of the characters are funny, and lots of funny things happen. Some stuff is "inappropriate".

Gene Hackman makes an appearance as "Blind man"

Memorable things - I'll take a chance that someone has seen it.

"It's Fron-kon-steen"
"Elevate me. Right here, right now?"
"What hump?"
"Behind ze bookcase."
"Yes! Yes! Say it! He was my BOYFRIEND!"
"You know, I'll never forget my old dad. When these things would happen to him... the things he'd say to me. "
"What knockers"
"Could be worse. How? It could be raining"
"Abby. Abby Who? Abby Normal."
"You haven't even touched your food. There. Now I've touched it. Happy?"
"SEDA-GIVE? "

SQL Server 2008 Administration, by Ross Mistry

2010-01-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

This book is more of a reference book than a teaching book, but that didn't keep me from reading it! My company paid for it so that I could study for my certification exam coming up.

SQL Server 2008 has a lot of sweet features.

Resource Governor. Create limits for the amount of CPU that user connections can use.
Policy Based Management - set constraints on "Facets", such as names of objects. This would have been useful when I was obsessed about prefixes on tables at my last job!
High availability options, which were also on SQL Server 2005!
Clustering - On failure, the server automatically fails over to a different server. The disk space is shared between the two servers, and a virtual server manages the name of the server.
Mirroring - Each database transaction is also sent to a different server to be recorded to its database as well. A high safety mode can be enabled, where the first database can't commit any additional transactions until the second one has reported back with success
Log Shipping - similar to Mirroring, except the transactions are sent in chunks (called logs) at scheduled times.
Replication - a publisher sends updates on objects to subscribers

Some very nice things about the book are the "What's New with SQL Server 2008" at the beginning of every chapter, and the bullet point summary at the end of every chapter.

It will be good to have this book around as a reference.

Movie Review: Invictus (2009)

2010-01-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

In a rare occasion, we saw a movie in the theater. The last one we saw was Prince Caspian on June 19, 2008. So if I had SQL open, I could do my datediff function to see the number of days we went between theater visits. But roughly that's about a year and a half.

Haven't missed it that much. The theater was nearly empty, but a perfumed lady sat down two seats away from us. But we got used to the smell or it was just an initial waft.

Anyway, Invictus appealed to us because two of our pastors are from South Africa, and this movie is situated in South Africa. It is about Nelson Mandela and his efforts concerning the rugby team after his election to the Presidency. To the many Black people, the official rugby team was a symbol of apartheid, and wanted to dismantle it. But Mandela convinced them to keep the team around. And they ended up winning against all odds, and both races of South Africans were unusually united around the event. So the point is that Mandela saw something that many others didn't. The movie portrays Mandela as really distracted while doing official duties, because he was so concerned about the rugby team.

Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela, and Matt Damon plays the captain of the rugby team. I didn't think Damon was great for the role, but they obviously wanted two stars in the movie, so that is ok. It was directed by Clint Eastwood.

I thought it was a nice movie to see, but not a must see.

blogging?

2010-01-18T07:22:00.001-08:00

With the new year, I haven't been able to document the 3 movies I've watched, and other things I've been doing. The new year might be a good opportunity to turn my blog into something different. But I don't know what.

Happy Birthday Courtney!

2010-01-12T19:48:00.001-08:00

In honor of Courtney's 29th birthday, here are some January/winter pics

Late 2002 (SBU graduation)

Late 2004 (in Israel)

2006

2007

2008

2009

Best of December 2009

2010-01-11T18:15:00.000-08:00

Pic of the month: This frosty picture is on our desktop, and it islike we are looking through a window.

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Gandhi

Best Book I Read: TrueFaced

Best online video I watched for the First time: The Jesus Christ Lizard

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T07:38:00.001-08:00

I really enjoyed my New Years weekend. Mostly because we paid someone to take care of a few home renovations . I didn't have them "hanging over my head", figuratively or literally. So we went out and did things that people tell us to "do before you have kids", such as eating out and seeing a movie in the theater.

We saw Invictus. We didn't see a movie in the theater all of 2008. But we are poised to see at least two in 2009, as we are planning to see Avatar in 3D.

We ate at Stone Canyon pizza in Parkville, MO, and saw Devin do some magic there.

And we hung out with my friends from India. Continuing my grandparents legacy of being friends with international students, (but not for that reason, I haven't even talked to them about it - I just wanted to help people in need), I became a partner with ISI (International Students Inc). These guys are the most fun people from India imaginable, it seems. They also bought us a toy for our baby coming up. I will post a picture of all of us.

Non-feature film review: Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart.

2009-12-28T10:01:00.001-08:00

I have heard of Bela Fleck, my bro-in-law is a big fan of his jazz/folk band. It's hard to categorize the music, but it's good. So I picked up this DVD at the library.

Bela Fleck, a banjo player, goes to Africa to bring the banjo back to its roots. It is commonly only seen by Americans as a Southern bluegrass instrument. And I admit that is how I've viewed it as well.

This film features many African musicians and native instruments. Also, this will sound obvious, but the music is very non-Western. My ear is not trained to be able to follow the melody or harmony of the songs. But of course Bela Fleck was able to improvise and play great music on top of the traditional tunes.

I think it's pretty interesting overall, and it's educational, and it's not too long.

Here is the web site for the documentary: http://www.throwdownyourheart.com

Movie Review: Terms of Endearment (1983)

2009-12-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

This won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1983!

Funny story - I make it my policy to not read anything about the Best Picture winner that I'm about to see. This includes the back cover or anything on the Internet. So the cover shows a picture of two women smiling. I said I was in the mood for a light-hearted movie, and it seemed to fit the description.
And it kind of started out that way. It set the stage by introducing two stubborn women, mother (Shirley MacLaine) and daughter (Debra Winger). Then there is a lot of family angst, with the daughter having children, and then moving away from her mother in Texas to Des Moines, Iowa. The husband (Jeff Daniels!) starts cheating on his wife even when they have 3 kids, and then the wife starts cheating on the husband with a guy who would later be on the TV show Third Rock from the Sun. Meanwhile, the mother is attracted to a wild next door neighbor (Jack Nicholson!) who is a former cosmonaut. The story with the mother and neighbor is really fun, and is the best part of the movie for me. I was smiling quite widely and laughed out loud.

But I never really got into the story of the daughter, maybe not identifying with her very well, so it was not really a tear jerker for me at the end, which everyone else seems to think it should be. And since this was a huge part of the 2.5 hour movie, that is why I felt like I was enduring the movie at some spots.

But overall it's a compelling movie. If you are a fan of these actors that I mentioned, you should see it.

Restaurant Review: Sweet Tomatoes

2009-12-27T18:39:00.000-08:00

Sweet Tomatoes is a salad bar restaurant about a mile from my new workplace. So Courtney wanted to go there with me. And we went.

I was not too happy about paying $8+ for a salad bar, because I knew that the higher price was due to all of the breads and glutenous desserts that are made available. However, it was the freshest and tastiest salad I've had. So I would go again.

The clientele was made up of many middle aged women that I imagined were taking a break from Christmas shopping, but also some professionals from the area like myself. It was pretty well decorated - the carpet was a red tomatoes design, which Courtney said must be especially made for the restaurant, since no one else would want carpet with tomatoes on them.

We left a small tip as well since they had a person very actively taking the dishes and trays.

I felt that the salad bar was lacking in the fruit area. The only fruit there was freshly cut pineapple. So I'm not sure I understand that.

Restaurant Review: Macaroni Grill

2009-12-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

My company took my department out to lunch, and it was about 20 people. I find it pretty funny that my new company is only slightly bigger than my last one. I love small companies! My company is really a combination of two companies, so if you add them in, and then you add the administrative and management, and you have a total of around 50 employees. My previous company has ranged from 15-35.

Anyway, they took us to Macaroni Grill, which is one of the nicest restaurants I've been to in a while. They brought me a nutritional facts booklet, but the gluten free sheet had no entrees on it. It was really weird. It listed the salad dressings and side salads, and ice cream basically. That is pretty annoying. I actually have a coworker that also doesn't eat wheat, and he recommended the Simple Salmon. It was decent.

I drank about three glasses of lemonade, which was really good. The service was great. The restaurant was packed, but the food still came out decently on time and was warm.

I had previously gone there on my first ever "date", when a girl asked me to WPA (Women Pay All) Dance during my freshman year of high school. That evening was also my first kiss, which was on the cheek as I was dropped off at my house. After a couple years of WPA's I got the courage to ask someone out to Homecoming dance on my junior year.

An interesting side note is that I'm Facebook friends with almost every possible date or love interest I have ever had.

This has been the strangest restaurant review ever, hasn't it?

Best of 2009: Books

2009-12-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I only read 12 books this year, about a third of the number of complete books that I usually read. I did read almost as many pages probably, but have either read longer books, or haven't completed them. Next year I will focus on the top 12 books that I really want to read, instead of random books.

So...DISCLAIMERS ASIDE

Here is my take on the books I read in 2009. Click on the titles for my original reviews

BEST BOOKS OF 2009

The winner:

The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas

A captivating tale in the historical context of Christ crucifixion and the years afterward in the Roman Empire.

Runner up:

The Count of Monte Cristo (Unabridged)

This lengthy book drags in the middle and end, but the beginning is really awesome! It seems a bit crazy to not name this book as the winner of my award, but it's just my gut feeling.

Third:

A New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren

It's interesting to have fiction and nonfiction all in one book. Through fictional characters and situations, the author teaches us about changes in the culture and how that affects Christianity.

Fourth:

The Obama Nation

I don't know if it's because I wasn't paying attention, but I didn't know a thing about Obama until I read this book. A still widely unknown fact is that he was a friend and follower of communist teachers. It's not just scare tactics out there, folks - there is a lot of historical truth to the things people are saying.

Fifth:

True Faced

About learning to live out your life in grace. It was good, but I liked the four I just listed better.

SO-SO BOOKS OF 2009

Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand

He was a great man, and had a powerful testimony. It's an interesting read.

The Inner Game of Work

I kind of liked it when I read it, but I haven't applied any of the ideas in the past year. The methods are overall unhelpful.

48 Days to the Work You Love, by Dan Miller

This has nothing to do with 48 days of anything, so I'm not sure why they called it that. It just has some thoughts about work and finding work. It's difficult for career books to apply to my situation. They write the books to be able to apply to any career.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict, by Mitchell Bard

I'm all for the cause of Israel, but this book is very biased for Israel, and is all about Israel. My point is that I was disappointed that this wasn't reflected in the title or back cover of the book when I bought it. Also, it has nothing to do with being a complete idiot, because this is a smart person book!

BAD BOOKS OF 2009:

Experiencing Prayer With Jesus, Henry and Norman blackaby

The most egotistic, "I have it all together" book I've ever read, teaching you formulas on how to pray as well as the authors can.

BOOKLETS THAT WEREN'T REALLY BOOKS:

2 contents, 2 realities, by Francis Schaeffer

Didn't make a ton of sense.

The Little Brown Book of Corporate Advancement

My guide to brown-nosing in office sports and cubicle land!

BOOKS I FLIPPED THROUGH

I only include books if I read them completely, but I read most chapters of the following books:

No More Mondays, by Dan Miller
Your Pregnancy for the Expectant Father
The Meaning of Life, Readings in Philosphy
Eat to Live

Book Review: True Faced

2009-12-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

This book was recommended to me, and really reflects what I've been learning about myself. This book is about the two paths that we can take in our lives - one leads to the room of Good Intentions, where people try to please God and reach perfection by our actions. The other path leads to the Room of Grace, where people are free to share their weaknesses and know that they are already pleasing God.

Now this subject is a little to personal for the Internet, but let's just say I've spent a lot of time in the room of Good Intentions, but am now learning to live in the Room of Grace.

If you are curious to hear more, just ask!

Restaurant Review: Granite City Brewery

2009-12-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

I went here for work for a client lunch. And it was the first time I met any of the employees at the client I've been working on for a couple of months. We met halfway between their Leavenworth office and our Overland Park office, and Granite City Brewery is in the Legends area in Kansas City KS.

I had a salad that was absolutely awful. It was a Chop Salad with Chicken tossed in Italian Vinaigrette. Actually, it was just the Italian Vinaigrette that was the bad part. I didn't know "tossed" would be "soaked and saturated".

The salad was presented in the most creative possible fashion. It was a tower, which reminded me of the sculpture in Close Encounters.

But yeah, an awful salad.

Tis the Season to Eat

2009-12-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

I have three restaurant reviews to write

Granite City Brewery
Macaroni Grill ( I went when I was 15, enough time has elapsed to make it "new"!)
Sweet Tomatoes

The first two were for corporate holiday lunches.

Best of November 2009

2009-12-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

Pic of the month:

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time:None

Best Book I Read: None

Best online video I watched for the First time: Distraxion

Bobby Mcferrin improvisation with Richard Bona

Movie Review: Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

2009-12-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

At first, I had trouble accepting this musical, because it was very unusual. But in the end, it gets my respect, and it can't be compared to other musicals. The ending in Fiddler is very sad, as the Jews are forced from their homes. The other sad ending in musicals is West Side Story, but that is not as sad. The Sound of Music has some sadness to it, but is overall happy. Other than that, most musicals are happy.

In Fiddler, a family with five daughters lives in poverty. And the three oldest fall in love and get married all in the wrong way, breaking with tradition, in increasing measure. That is interesting, although somewhat repetitive. I was actually thankful that the father rejected the last engagement (which was to a Gentile), because it broke the repetition of the movie, where he would give in and bless the marriages. Although it was sad that he treated his daughter as though she was dead.

The music is catchy, although there are a few bad songs, which is normal for musicals. There are a few gems of songs - Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man, and "Tradition". The acting was good.

And I appreciate the emotion of the movie. In some areas, it failed to seem real, with the fake snow, or acting/dancing, or whatever. But at some points I was deeply touched by what was happening. I think film is the best way to communicate injustice, because characters are developed and I love them, and then when injustice happens to them, it affects me. Wheras, if injustice happens in a newspaper in real life, I am disconnected from the people, and not affected emotionally. I feel ashamed to live in a world where people treat each other in the way depicted in Fiddler on the Roof. And these are events that really happened, and these types of things still happen.

Restaurant Review: Five Guys Burgers

2009-12-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

Went here with some work guys. An official Friday lunch with my coworkers will be an opportunity to experience new restaurants.

Many signs in the place tell about the health precautions that the restaurant has taken. I copied them from the web site:

Did you know...

* Zero Artificial Trans Fats
* Zero Gluten, except for our buns
* Two Mystery Shops are done each week at every location
* 38,409,200 lbs. of potatoes were used in our stores in 2008
* Millions of dollars given back to store level employees every year!

I appreciate the GF mention.

And it's one of those places where patrons learn to share the "small" fries, because there are too many for one person. Another quirk is that the "junior" hamburger is really a normal hamburger. And the"normal" hamburger has two beef patties. The only items on the menu are burgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and fries. It makes it easy to decide what to order.

It was really tasty. About as good as a bunless burger gets. I am definitely going there again!

Movie Review: Gandhi (1982)

2009-12-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

Gandhi won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1982. It took a while to get the motivation watch this, because it is over 3 hours long. We split it between two nights. Thankfully there was a nice clean break with the word "Intermission" displayed on the screen.

I thought it would be boring, because it was going to be about a foreign, old, frail, softspoken man. But in reality, Gandhi was portrayed as very bold, wise, witty, and loving, and also well versed in culture outside of India. He was very able to be a Westerner, and wear suits, as were the rest of India's leaders, and he did this for a while. But he chose to identify with India, and that's why we wore the loin cloth and traditional Indian garb.

The nonviolent resistance that he led was actually very bold. It directly attacked injustice, not with weapons, but with noncompliance. Gandhi got thrown in jail several times, and it made the persecutors look very immoral and very bad. The fact that England massacred many nonviolent protestors made England look even more bad. In the end, an England that thought they were good, were proved to be bad, and that is why they gave India her independence.

I hadn't previously known about the Muslim vs. Hindu divisions that continued even after India got her independence. And this made Gandhi really upset.

The movie powerfully portrays the assassination of Gandhi.

There is a funeral scene that shows 400,000 people, and this is a record. This is the day before CGI (computer generated imagery), and it is predicted that this many people will not show up in a movie scene ever again. Gandhi beat out E.T. for Best Picture.

Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for Best Actor, and it is well deserved. He is half-Indian, and a British citizen.

The movie was set into motion in the 60's when Richard Atteborough was asked to direct it. But no studio would produce the movie, and they had to raise money for 20 years to make it. Richard Atteborough appears as the old professor on Jurassic Park, and is Santa Claus in the Miracle on 34th Street. He won Best Director for Gandhi.

Also features Martin Sheen and Candace Bergen.

In short, this is an amazing movie. Even though it is over 3 hours long, it was interesting the entire time, and that is an accomplishment.

Happy Day!

2009-11-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

Four days after I was informed that I lost my job, I finally worked my last day, and left the building with my picture of Courtney as the last item. I am not saying this for dramatic effect, or to harp on the issue, but it is a powerful part of this story. I left the building with a lot of gratitude for my wonderful job at S1, and I was proud of the way I went out, with a lot of respect, hard work, and love. So when I arrived at home, I was not depressed, but I was emotionally tired. Also, I had evening activities the previous 4 days, so I was really ready to stay at home.

After dinner Courtney suddenly said, "Hey, let's go to Liberty Memorial, we can play bocce ball, and walk around." That spot in KC is our favorite place. But I eventually accepted to go only because she really wanted to.

So we drove there, and there was an event on the top of the Liberty Memorial, but there is still a long lawn. So we parked on the side, and climbed up the steep side hill and played bocce ball on the lawn. After that, Courtney had me sit down on the lawn and wait while she went and got me something out of the car to "cheer me up", about my recent job loss.

Then she came back up, and said "Dan come here". She had her hands behind her back, as if she was hiding something. So I was chasing her trying to find out what this gift was. She was standing on the edge of the hill. When I looked over the crest of the hill, I saw the most amazing message I will ever see.

It took my breath away and it was really mind blowing. We had been trying for a few months, and even though it was a short time, I had fears that maybe we wouldn't be able to get pregnant. I was taken completely by surprise. And then Courtney and I embraced, and it was an amazing moment.

Courtney had found out the previous day. She had always viewed this as her version of the engagement, that is, the amazing event that she got to plan and surprise me with! She did an amazing job!

Here are some more pictures we took:

Proud future parents!

Amazing view to complement the event!

We are made to shine

2009-11-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

God created us to shine. Sometimes I have, and sometimes I haven't. I believe we aren't supposed to shine on our own effort. But God has given us life, and we reflect him. Just be ourselves.

Daniel 12:3-4

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens,
and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.

Philippians 2:14-15

Do everything without complaining or arguing,
so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Psalm 37:5-6

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

Trees

2009-11-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

God says we are like trees...or in some cases, branches.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches

Jer 17:7-8

But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.

Col 2:6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him

Isaiah 61:3 They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

I have noticed the following things about trees that relate to our lives, and hopefully I've been helped by the Spirit:

They/we are dependent on outside resources for our growth.
By claiming to be self-sufficient, they/we wither and become useless
Need to be rooted in a good location (not in shallow soil) - the soil in our life represents a good view of God, or rather an accurate view of how God views us.
Even after death, can leave a legacy. When strong trees are cut down they can be used to build strong structures. When we are gone, we can leave a strong legacy.
Trees/we start out small and weak but can become strong. You don't see us growing, but as the years pass, you notice that we've grown quite a bit.
We give back by blessing the world - providing a place for shade/grace environments.

Any other Scriptures or insights that you have?

And to put my own intentions in positive light..not trying to earn anyone's approval here or make some sort of impact. This comes out of my own yearning to know what God really thinks of me. I believe that God showed me that we are like trees. It makes sense. I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Best of October 2009

2009-11-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm excited that we are once again approaching The Best of the Year post!

Pic of the month: In absence of a good October pic, I am posting a now declassified picture from the day in August when Courtney told me she was pregnant

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Best Book I Read: didn't read any. Has a lot to do with having a new job, and also because I got into this big heavy philosophy book from my dad's college class in 1965. I also took on a couple of other activities. I may also have to foray into baby books.

Best online video I watched for the First time: James May from Top Gear rides in a U-2 spy plane

Making its Lostlifefound debut...Baby Gras

2009-11-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

On August 28th, Courtney told me she was pregnant, in a very creative way. More on that later.

It's worth mentioning that on August 24th, 4 days earlier, I was informed by the owner of my company that "we have to make some changes to keep the company afloat and these changes are going to affect you". After a minute or so, I realized that "affecting me" meant that I was being let go along with four other people. I finished out the week, transitioning my knowledge, and August 28th was my last day. I just wanted to sit at home. But Courtney REALLY wanted to go to the Liberty Memorial, where we have gone before to relax. Anyway, more on that later.

Right now I am emptying the guest bed room of stuff, since it will be a baby room. Here are the guests we have had in the room:

B.J. Anderson - Aug 15th, 2006
B.J. Anderson - May 19th, 2007
Brandi Knouse - October 6th, 2007
Hayley and Arlen Redden - March 22, 2008
Hayley and Arlen Redden -April 26, 2008
Suzette Runyan - June 29th, 2008
Alan Boyles - October 5, 2008
Cara Gentry - Jan 25, 2009
B.J. AND Natosha Anderson - April 14, 2009
Dale Lusk - May 15, 2009
Emily AND Alan Boyles - October 23, 2009

B.J. is the winner! This blog will now show up on Google searches of your names, sorry!

The Beej after his 2nd stay

Anyway, I may start a new blog for baby stuff, and keep this as it is. But I'm not sure yet.

Due date is May 7. The mother is tired often, but not too sick.

How we told Courtney's parents

Movie Review: On Golden Pond (1981)

2009-10-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, and Katharine Hepburn appear in this Hallmark-y movie about old couple at a summer home at a lake, and it's especially about the old man who is grouchy and thinking about death all the time. And he has a strained relationship with his daughter, who comes to visit with her boyfriend (Bill), and the boyfriend's 13 year old son (Billy).

Then there's the mailman, who delivers mail by boat. And those are all the six characters in the movie.

The old man is a depressing character, but we come to find out that he is very sharp and funny. The daughter and boyfriend go off to Europe and leave the boy at the lake. The boy is not happy to be there initially, but the old man becomes like a father to him (overcoming the grouchiness).

The old man does old guy stuff like almost set the house on fire, and gets lost, and then he gets ashamed and afraid. Then the old man and boy have a boat accident, and that apparently knocks something loose, because the daughter comes back, and then the old man is better, and it ends happily. Then the old man almost dies, but then lives. Whew! I hope you didn't want to know the plot.

It was kind of a neat movie. I'm glad we watched it. It's not like really exciting or anything. It was based on a play.

The part of the old man is acted by Henry Fonda, who was the star of 12 Angry Men, so I appreciated watching this one. Also I have obviously heard of Jane Fonda, but have never seen her in a movie before. And Katharine Hepburn is apparently a well known actress, but I didn't know much about her before.

Restaurant Review: Kokopelli's Mexican

2009-10-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

When we told the hostess we were 6 people and 2 kids, she seemed really stressed about it, and treated us like we were a nuisance. The place was really busy for a Monday, and there were a few other large groups, and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. It's pretty amazing how often people eat out, you know?

I think I had flautas again. Thank God for flautas. I think it's a misconception that Mexican food is good for the wheat allergy, because most places only have about 2 entrees with corn. And one of them is flautas. Pretty much, I could ask them to substitute a corn tortilla on any entree, but I can't tell the difference easily, and they could forget. That is why I don't do that.

The chips were not that crisp. But our friends did say that it was one of their favorite places. I actually went there straight from work, my 2nd week at my new job. So that was almost 3 weeks ago!

Restaurant Review: Golden Corral

2009-10-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

My cousin had her rehearsal dinner here. All the family was invited, and it was convenient for everyone to get what they wanted at the buffet. But, there happened to be some kind of sports team that also came by. And then there were the regular diners. So everyone was crowding around the buffet. It couldn't have been much busier.

The BBQ ribs were really good, and they were the featured item. I also had mashed potatoes, other vegetables, and maybe a couple of other gluten free dishes. I didn't have to pay for it, so I have no idea how much it costed. I tend to not like buffets because I don't eat a lot, so I overpay.

The service was good - they have waiters that refill drinks and take the plates.

In a way, it was like entering a different world, like I was visiting a small Kansas town. There was smooth jazz playing over the speakers, which didn't seem to match the decor or style of the place.

Restaurant Review: Spin! Pizza

2009-10-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

I thought I remembered writing about this place. Courtney and I took Mom for her birthday. I also benefited, since they have gluten free pizza.

The menu is in the line, so if you take any time to order, you are holding up the line. I think that's a little annoying. But the pizza was really good, and it came out in good time. They have several locations in KC, and hopefully I can go back sometime.

Future posts

2009-10-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

Movie reviews:
On Golden Pond

Restaurant reviews:
Kokopelli's
Golden Corral - think I have been there before, but don't remember when
Spin Pizza

Restaurant Review: Pei Wei

2009-10-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

My new coworkers took me to Pei Wei (119th & Black Bob) on my first day of the job. You walk in and there is a computerized menu on the wall, and a special Windows error message, that my coworkers claim has been there for months.

I noticed Pad Thai, and decided to get it. Since the menu was on the wall, and if Ilooked at the menu a while, I would have held up the line, I decided pretty quickly. It was kind of like my menu experience at Spin Pizza, which sadly, I forgot to review. I will get on that. Which other restaurants have I forgotten to review???

Anyway, they didn't ask me how spicy the Pad Thai should be....I thought that was odd. It wasn't spicy, it just tasted kind of funny. It was actually the worst Pad Thai I've ever had.

But I'd go back and try some other item. Pad Thai isn't really a Chinese food specialty.

Best of September 2009

2009-10-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Pic of the month: Us and our new nephew, Miles

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Chariots of Fire (Academy Award for Best Picture - Year of our birth 1981)

Best Book I Read: The Robe

Best online video I watched for the First time: Validation (Worth watching the 16 minutes)"