Friday Linkage

Running around today on a slew of errands: returning an overdue library book; trying to understand financial aid; doing some grading for Covenant’s Access program; getting an eye exam; etc. This afternoon, our two oldest have their final day at The Magic House camp they’ve been enjoying this week (complete with program finale, which we’re [...]

Rainy Thursday

Spent a glorious Thursday morning working on church details: accumulating intern hours; planning the next two cycles of Adullam leader retreats for this fall and next spring; and giving thought to a redesign of Memorial’s website. I forget sometimes how much I love strategic and tactical planning. As the old Chinese proverb says, “He who [...]

Appleism

Windows guilt? Steve Jobs as messiah? David Kuo on Beliefnet writes about Appleism – “the religion that is Apple” – and if he’s serious, blows things just a little out of proportion:
“Apple isn’t a cult anymore, it has become a full blown religion with scores of millions of followers. The frenzy around the iPhone brings [...]

iWish

This would be about the only thing that might convince me to carry a cell phone again. Watch the 20-minute guided tour and prepare to be amazed. Whoa.
I don’t want actual phone service – just an iPhone to hold. Anybody planning to get one of these when it comes out on Friday? Can I come [...]

Dinner with New Seminary Folks

We had some new seminary folks over for dinner last night (clockwise, left to right): Rick, Ian, Billy, me, Kristin, Jake (holding little Max), and Wes.
Megan did her usual bang-up job in the hospitality department, and the girls (not pictured, but still close by at their own “little ladies” table) loved entertaining and giving tours [...]

Like a Gun Turned on the World

In case you missed it, PowerPoint just turned twenty years old. Despite (or perhaps because of) its commercial success, I’ve never been a fan. In a nutshell, here’s why:
“Perhaps the most scathing criticism comes from the Yale graphics guru Edward Tufte, who says the software ‘elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that [...]

Cheaters Never Prosper (But I So Wanted to Try)

Believe it or not, I can count on one hand the times I’ve cheated to get an advantage over someone else. I remember letting my eyes range free a couple times in elementary school to look at someone else’s paper on a test. I also recall feeling badly after one exam I took during my [...]

Now Taking Recommendations

I’ve got a $10 iTunes gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket and am now taking recommendations for one album (no partials) of ten songs worthy of such redemption.
Post your recommended album title, artist, and demo link (as well as a sentence or two why this album and not another) here between now and [...]

Daddy’s Daughters

As most of you know, I’m the father of four girls. They are the most interesting, different, engaging little people I know, and I love being their daddy. When people ask me if I’m ever sad that we don’t have any boys, I tell them that, honestly, I don’t even think about it. And I [...]

Just Wondering

I’ve only had two comments in the past week and was just wondering if I said something wrong? Am I not writing about anything that concerns you? Someone turn off the Internet?
You’re usually more “talkative” than you’ve been of late. What’s up?

Musical Comfort Food

On the heels of a paper on predestination and a long week of way too much theological reading (yes, there is such a thing), I put on an old CD late this afternoon and remembered how much I miss the melody and meaning of one Rich Mullins. Mullins wrote musical comfort food, and it’s hard [...]

On Predestination

(I’m not sure if anyone’s interested enough to want more than this here, so I’ll just post my strengths/weaknesses lists for Arminianism and Calvinism, as well as my paper’s introduction comparing the books I read on each and we can go from there. If there’s interest, I may post more; if not, no big deal.)
Assignment
Read [...]

Ramen from Heaven

After a busy day of class and study yesterday, I met with Dick Schamp, one of the elders at Memorial, before attending our church’s session meeting later that evening. It had been a few weeks since Dick and I had gotten together, and the plan was to meet at 5 p.m. for an hour at [...]

Why I Am Not a Blogger

Up to my eyeballs in books this week, in particular two from InterVarsity Press called Why I Am Not a Calvinist and Why I Am Not an Arminian. I read the first one yesterday and am reading the second one today. Tomorrow, I’ll write a 5-7 page “paperette” (due first thing Thursday) comparing the two [...]

On Paris Hilton

I just finished watching this music video for a song titled “Paris Hilton,” a really catchy tune that arguably expresses a majority of America’s sentiment with regard to the girl “famous for being famous” (click here for said sentiment on T-shirts and other such gear). Clever.
And yet, in saying that, I [...]

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s Me

As of today, I’ve lost ten pounds (10.8 to be exact) since April, weighing in at 199. My goal is to lose another ten by August 1 and a final ten by Christmas – thirty pounds total, putting me at a svelte 180. (For a preview of what that will look like, here’s a picture [...]

London Logo

The new logo for the London 2012 Olympics has just been released, complete with hubbub over the fact that it is “hideous,” too youthful in appearance, and a waste of Olympic money (as if this were the only such example).
Having designed logos before (and not having seen the other designs that were considered), my guess [...]

Summer Reading List

I normally don’t plan out my summer reading more than a book or two ahead, but this summer is going to be an exception. One reason for my new modus operandi is the Christ & Salvation class I’m taking at Covenant for four weeks (as of the end of this week, we’re a quarter through [...]