So the last time I went skiing (2 years ago!), I lost the basket off one of my poles again. I had forgotten about it, though, having been so long, so never brought it into the shop to get it repaired. Well, I’m going skiing this weekend (Yes! Boarding is fun and all, but skiing is pure bliss. 
) and thought, “Hmm… I should probably do something about that.” (For those who don’t know, a ski pole without a basket is worse than useless because it’ll get ripped out of your hands when you try to do a pole plant. I didn’t realize how bad it would be until the first time I tried to ski with a basket-less pole.)
But how to fix it by the weekend? Have no fear, the AOL CD is once again there to rescue you with its 1099 free hours!
CDs are very flexible, but also pretty tough. I’m really hoping that it won’t shatter on the slopes! I’m reasonably confident that it won’t.
There’s a metal bit still on the pole that will keep the CD from slipping up the pole… Then I had to wedge in some cardboard and protect it with tape so it would fit snugly.
I think it’ll do all right! It’s wider than the standard basket, but definitely quite stylish. And I love getting yet another use out of an AOL CD (though I’ll have to pick another one up one of these days since I’ve lost my coaster 
).
SOTM: “Indescribable”, by Chris Tomlin
From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
I remember when I first heard this song. It was at Cambridge Community Fellowship Church and Jon Hsieh was leading worship. I was sitting in the front row next to Duane (Dwayne?), an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair who has started to come pretty regularly to CCFC. He’s notable because he certainly doesn’t fit the “mold” at CCFC—he had just started coming regularly and said that he was drawn back because he felt God’s spirit in our house. Would that every person who came through our doors might meet God that way!
Well, it had been a long time since I had felt the presence of God at CCFC, so I smiled and praised God that he made himself known to Duane, but secretly hid my slightly bitter heart of 9 1/2 years (oh, how I remember those early days when James, Gary, Mindy and xt_yih (and on rare occasions, even Soong-Chan(!)) led the worship singing and every Sunday was a deeply emotional and spiritual experience… not that the other worship leaders since then haven’t been good, but there was something special (for me) about those early days).
And as I stood singing beside my brother, I felt God as I hadn’t in so long. His presence touched me and I just… felt… There’s a part of me that wonders if Duane brings the Spirit of God with him. But no… God is at CCFC and with Duane and with me, too.
“Indescribable” is the only song I remember from that particular worship set, probably because it was the only one that was new to me. There was something about the words that spoke a deep spiritual truth to my soul. But after penning a quick “Praise God” to Jon, I promptly forgot about the song until I heard it again on the car ride to Pat’s Peak this past weekend. Since then, I’ve been listening to it a lot.
The thing is, I know God is that awesome, but it’s still hard for me to live as if I believe it. You know? I get wrapped up in my petty life. I wonder if I’m ever going to date again (that’s bothered me a lot more this past week than it has for a few months, but perhaps more on that another day). I get deeply unmotivated and I just go through the motions of life without ever living. I was made for much more than this. (And so were you, dear reader. )
And yet through it all, God is still that awesome. Unaffected by how I’m feeling. He has deep and good promises for me, and he will see them through. Indescribable.
Where to go from here? Baby steps. Always baby steps (or so it feels). Re-learning to love. Who will walk with me, loving me and letting me love you? Many of you have walked with me for a long time, as well as others who don’t read this. We’re the family of God. And praise God that in spite of all the dirt and crap in each of us, he uses us to bless each other and this world. How’s that for indescribable?
This just in: for the first time in what seems like an eternity, the VariAsians website has the correct members on the homepage! (Too bad my hair was so messy that day. And why are my eyes so stinkin’ small when I smile?!)
Of course, all the subsequent pages are old members, but hey… You gotta start somewhere, right?
This is a slightly edited version of an email that I sent to some members of my church (Cambridge Community Fellowship Church) board.
I was having lunch with someone from church the other day and they commented that they had switched to electronically giving tithes to the church. We had a brief discussion about the value of putting money into the offering plate on a weekly basis.
The upshot is that we’ve noticed that a lot of people who (hopefully) give regularly the church actually just pass the plate along when it comes by on Sunday because they find other ways to give to the church. I’m wondering if we should abolish the plate altogether and replace it with something else (perhaps a box in the back of the sanctuary or something… although I would probably start giving electronically, I think it’s important to leave a way for those who find technology intimidating to give in a more traditional way).
Couple reasons:
- I think the “dollar in the plate” doesn’t really honor God and doesn’t really benefit the giver either… It feels like an admission ticket or something like that and seems (to me, but what do I know?) to be counter productive (e.g., I’ve given what I need to give so now I can sit back and be a spectator).
- I’d guess that when people are struggling with the issue of whether or not to give 10% to the church, it’s counter productive to see “fine, upstanding church members” not putting anything at all into the plate.
I’m certainly not recommending that we abolish a time where we talk about financial offerings to God (via the church). I think it’s pretty important in this materialistic age to talk regularly about how to use finances for God’s glory (which would incidentally mean that most folks that I know should be giving a bunch more on top of what they give the church to other organizations… but I digress).
Rather, I’m suggesting that we roll it even more into our “family time” so people don’t feel awkward about not being able to (or wanting to) give, but are encouraged to support the church because it’s “family.” One suggestion might be to talk about different ways that our finances are being used to bless our neighborhood and the world so people might be encouraged to give more. Or maybe it’ll be enough to regularly mention that we’ve transitioned off the offering plate because everyone is always welcome in God’s house and shouldn’t feel like they need to pay to be present (I definitely know some people who feel like it’s rude to put nothing in the plate), but that members have both the right and obligation to contribute financially (and in other ways) back to the church.
The ultimate aim, of course, is to help more people give more money more joyfully and to glorify God in that process.
INGDirect and EmigrantDirect
Both fairly new online savings accounts with a reputable bank behind them. I’ve had an ING account (3.8% APY) for several years and just opened an Emigrant account (4.0% APY). Currently, ING has a promotion where they’re offering a whopping 4.75% from now until April 15th.
This is particularly great for me because I just moved the bulk of my funds from ING to Emigrant so (I think) it will all qualify as a “new deposit.”
If you haven’t set up an online savings account yet, now’s the time. No minimums, so even if you can only stick $5 into the account, it’s worth it to get started.
So as I was getting dressed this morning, I realized that I have very few non-holey socks. So I thought, “I should get around to darning these again.”
But then I wondered at what sort of mixed messages I was sending to myself… These socks are too “holey.” I’ll “darn” them all!
Umm… Yeah, I don’t get out much.
When I was home for Christmas, my 3-year-old nephew asked (in Chinese), “Dad, why does Uncle Jon watch kids’ shows?”
I, of course, was watching (a rerun of) Yu-Gi-Oh, that wonderful cartoon based on a card game (à la Pokémon). Every Saturday (if I’m not working ) I’m there waiting to see what amazing card combination is going to help Yugi win against hopeless odds. I don’t know why I find the show so fascinating… but I do. In my defense, at least three of my very smart (and yes, adult) friends also like the show (names have been withheld to protect the “innocent”).
I bring it up because I recently purchased two titles out of the Yu-Gi-Oh: Power of Chaos series. I was initially only going to buy Joey (which allows you to play head-to-head across a LAN), but I was suckered by the included cards… Kaiba, of course came with Blue Eyes White Dragon. (It’s a good thing that Yugi didn’t come with Dark Magician or else I might’ve been tempted by that too (especially now that I know the origin of Dark Magician)!)
Over the past couple of days, I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit refining my deck, and winning cards from Kaiba and Joey. I’d like to think that I’m doing pretty well though they still beat me (also more than I care to admit).
It’s actually a pretty interesting challenge to try to figure out what cards you want in your deck. 40 is the minimum number, and it seems like it’s good to run as close to the minimum as possible, half monster and half spell/trap (and very few tribute monsters like Blue Eyes) or else you end up with a lot of unplayable cards. Trouble is, when you’re looking at your full collection of cards, it always seems like there are more cards that you want to play (in x circumstance, wouldn’t be awesome to play this combination?). And (of course) the cards that you really want to play are impossible to find (this is why I bought the computer game instead of buying the cards—this way my spending is capped).
Of course, the question I have to ask is do any of you readers own a copy of Joey the Passion? And if you do, when do you want to duel? Of course, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one, but yeah…
I guess that’s it for now. But don’t worry… I’m not going off to duel. Yet…
This is fantastic: http://www.hamachi.cc/
So I haven’t actually used it with anyone yet, so I don’t know how well it works in practice, but the user interface is slick, the tutorial is clear, and the concept is phenomenal.
Basically, using Hamachi, you can easily set up a LAN with any other Internet-enabled computer(s) in the world. Obvious uses include:
- Using VNC securely to troubleshoot someone’s computer issues, without messing around with firewall settings.
- Playing LAN only games: Starcraft as a spawn or Yu-Gi-Oh: Joey the Passion—it’s time to duel!
- Easily sharing iTunes music with your friends anywhere in the world. (I recently was given $100 in iTunes music, so expect my music collection to suddenly grow again.)
I’m sure there are a myriad of other uses that I’m not thinking about. Any ideas?
Check out Google’s homepage today.
I just got back from Victoria Seafood Restaurant (yum). My fortune cookie said the following:
Birds are entangled by your feet and men by their tongue.
Best guesses as to what this could mean? (Apparently some other folks are confused by this same cookie… a search on the web returns a couple other people asking the same question.)
Hmm…
Next Page »
