Delicious Irony

So, I'm here working on my super-secret gig here at the Dark Tower and I need to run out from the lab I'm in to grab my glasses which I had accidentially left out in the car. As I'm heading out of the secured area I look up and I see a commercial on CNN. Like to take a guess? Yup, one of the new Mac ads.

More irony next post!

I'm worried for the Pats!

I know. They blow out the Redskins 41 to ZIP in the pre-season and I'm worried. Yup, you bet. Here's why (in the abreviated form - I've got to sleep!)

* They didn't have a wide receiver other than Troy Brown that could get open (read: create separation) against the 1st string defense.

* When one of the other guys did get open - they dropped the ball. (Rechee Caldwell anyone?)

* The running game was non-existant. AGAIN. At least not till the scrubs were in.

* Thank goodness that Maroney got in the endzone - the rest of the goal line running offense was pathetic.

OK. Now something I'm happy about, even though I'm reluctant to admit it. Junior Seau did well. He was a far sight better than anything I've seen out of Bisell in 2 years. He goes up field, maintains his gap and attacks the ball. I couldn't really see how he did in coverage while watching on TV, but if he can bring what he did tonight for the season to spell the other guys as part of the rotation - we'll end up surviving the year. And that I think is because Tully Banta-Cain is ready to contribute on the outside as well as Rosy Colvin.

GO PATS!

I'm going to Be a Life Coach!

OMG. What a scam. I'm watching 30 Days right now, the edition with the guy doing the 30 days of New Age stuff to try to deal with his stress and angry temperament. The first person he goes to is some life coach. What a deal! This chick gets paid (and life coaches can make from hundreds to thousands of dollars per month from their clients) to spew out both sides of her mouth the New Age clap trap. Listen dude, I can do that and instead of clap trap I can give you straight up truth! Help you find accountibility for your life and actions, then get you plugged in to the Mas Pappi of all life! Man, that's a way better deal! So, I'm going to be a life coach that actually gives life, not just some scam artist. Ha!

Ohhhhh. I've done it! I've insulted the New Age movement. Shame on me. OK. Listen, if you don't want me to offend your sensabilities because I don't respect the New Age then you should stop reading now. BUT, if you think you have the fortitude - or at least the strength of your convictions - then please, continue a bit.

Me and the New Age

First, I love the people that are life coaches and are into yoga, shakra's and every other thing. Really, I do. Most of them are people that are genuine and they are searching to fill a void in their spirit - they recognize they are spiritual and they are trying to find the solution. That's where the love ends. Why? Because the new age (of which most things aren't new at all) is not the spiritual solution that people are looking for. It's a melange of anything and nothing, asian, Indian, Native American and whatever "spirtuality" that does nothing but invite (or open up a soul to) every wicked spirit that can come in. And yes, that's narrow minded! Now, come on, ask me the question... how do I know?

I know because I know the New Age. I was a devote before I was saved AND I actually use some of the same (sane and healthy) principles of stretching and alternative health care as the New Age does. How can I condem it then? Simple. I condem it because from a spiritual perspective it's garbage. There's a difference between knowing that stretching is good for your muscles and your health and claiming that you're "cleansing your spirit." You know, that whole "breathing out negative energy thing." I'm not breathing out negativity, I'm breathing out air and allowing the muscle to stretch more. If I want to get out "negativity" then I submit my mind and my heart to the Holy Spirit and HE then cleanses me of my SIN which allows me to have more intimate fellowship with almighty God.

So what's the Difference between Cleansing Breath and Cleansing from Sin?

So, you may be asking, what's the difffernce - it just sounds like a different way of doing the same thing. Ah, but it isn't. The New Age stuff is all about you. What you do. Or, in some cases what your spirit guides (read: deamons) tell you to do. It's about "moving your energy" and aligning your shakra's and the like.

Quick time out...

Wait... Before I say any more, let me say this. I do believe in accupuncture and accupressure. Why? Because they've proven that the physical manipulation of the body through these practices is the real deal. In fact, energy does flow through your system. You're like a closed loop electrical circuit almost. I don't believe this "energy" is spiritual at all. I think it's functional and part of your body. This isn't the "energy" that you give off - that's (as they say) a spiritual vibe. And, there are only two sources for the spiritual. God (and in you the Holy Spirit) and the enemy of our souls - Satan and his demonic hoard of followers.

Back to the Spiritual Stuff....

With the New Age, they try to tie these physical truths of stretching and the functions of the body to a spiritual practice. That's where they fail. And, if you follow the exercises - including by the way deep breathing which does wonders for you in getting you breating again they way you did as a child, allowing that oxygen to get into your system - you'll see the physical benefits. All of it works completely independant of the other spiritual stuff. That stuff is just ritual to "dead" gods that aren't even really gods. It's superstitions that they associate with good physical practice. Christianity, and specifically relationship with God Almighty, is not that same thing. And that's the difference.

No, Christianity doesn't prohibit you from doing the exercises, like I said, they're good. But instead of doing rituals and pulling tarrot cards (OH WHAT A LOAD OF BULL!), what a Christian does is enter a conversation with a loving God who then takes the old nature of the person and because of a loving sacrifice, exchanges that old nature with a new and loving nature born in the heart of God. That's not breathing out "negative energies" that's being reborn in your spirit man. That's having sin washed away. That is having God impute (or give directly to you as if it was your own) HIS righteousness to you.

More spiritual stuff - What's the difference between Tarot and Prophesy?

Instead of tarot (a bad rip-off of the prophetic voice of God), the true God speaks in and through the gift of prophesy. What's the difference there? Simple. With tarot or mediums they're relying on chance and a "skillfull interpretation of the cards (can you say MANIPULATION OF THE OBJECT with vague enough speech) to direct someone. For a Christian who shares a word of the Lord through the Spirit of Prophesy, word of Knowledge or Widom or by a Prophet - there's no guess work! God isn't into 50/50 prophesy and neither are his servants. The Lord knows the beginning from the end. That's the reason why he is called the Alpha and Omega. When he provides a word through any of his children (those who are Christians), then it should be accurate - not guess work.

Again, how do I know? (a) Because that's the way scripture says it should be. (b) Because I operate in those gifts. Also understand, prophets don't prophesy "on demand." Unlike the false prophets, mediums, and tarot card readers, the person with a gift of prophesy only speaks if the Lord speaks to them. It's different right from the start. And, usually, the Lord will speak to you during a time of intimacy with him - also called PRAYER. And so, there's no guess work on the part of the person that shares a prophetic word. I can tell you honestly, if I'm praying for someone and I have a word from them, I have no idea what to say other than what God tells me. And so far, by grace, I've been accurate and specific. By the way, to be clear that's not tooting my horn. I know other good men and women of God that are also very accurate in their ability to hear the voice of the Lord as well. What I'm really trying to convey is two things. (1) No gimmicks, no guessing. (2) Accuracy. Something the New Age can't lay claim to. One last thing. Have I been perfect? NO. Being that I'm a falalbe human being who isn't perfect, neither is my ability to hear the voice of the Lord. But I know, along with many others, that I'm way more than 80% accurate (which still would not pass the test for Old Testament prophet by the way - that was 100%) and I know I'm way ahead of the New Age practitioners.

Note: There are people that not only have the gift of prophesy, but are actual prophets. Those rare individuals operate in a different level of gifting that in many ways can allow them to "prophesy on demand." Of course, the accuracy of their gift is also dependent upon their relationship with God - so that's no different. But I wanted to note that just in case anyone may have seen someone like that practicing their gifting.

Time to Wrap This

OK. I'm done with this rant that started with the life coach business. I guess I shared this much because I saw the "life coach" pull a tarot to start with the guy (barf) so I wanted to address that and I wanted to point out differences between getting rid of negative energy versus having your sins forgiven. Listen - anything the New Age offers is a hack of true relationship with God. You want peace? Stop trying to chant your way out of it - instead, repent of your sin, trust in God who promises to be your savior, your provider, your strong tower, your peace - and then you'll have peace. It's not about the chanting baby - it's about the relationship and the LOVE of God. Know that, know Jesus and you'll know peace!

Well, I'd like to go on more here but I'm getting cross-eyed and need to sleep, but if you need a life coach, call me! :-)

Pardon Me While I Puke

i just got done watching a lame attempt at humor on the Comedy Channel. It was called a roast. Let me tell you, it wasn't a roast - it was a profane spewing of insults. Sure, roasts are all about poking fun of the roastee, I get that. But this - it was lewd, gross and primarily disgusting. And, after getting done with fast forwarding through a large part of it, I still feel like I need to take a spiritual shower to get the CRUD off me. And yes, it really did make me feel ILL. I did think I was going to throw up. The first time I think I ever felt the grieving of the Holy Spirit so strongly that I felt physically ill. Ewwwww. GROSS.

Do yourself a favor, don't watch this piece of garbage. I know, you maybe wondering "what, did they drop some f-bombs? What's so bad about that. Listen, for a couple f-bombs I don't think I would feel like puking. No, this was a display of referencing to body parts and what orafice they could ever possibly go into, profanity on a grand scale, beyond what I even experienced in college. It was gross.

So, I have one request. Can someone out there please prove to me that you can be funny? Thanks. Until then, pardon me, I'm going to be hanging over a toilet bowl.

My kid keeps telling me I'm Goofy.

Seriously. Every time Chloe (the 3 year old) watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she says "Daddy, you're Goofy." I don't know why I'm not Mickey or Donald or even Pluto. Nope, always Goofy. Is Chloe tying to tell me something?

Ah, to be Home on my Mac

Well, I know I haven't posted anything about the current gig I'm on (but I'm sure it will show up somewhere in one of my podcasts!) so you may not have context for this - but man. Am I SOOOOOOOO glad to be home on my Mac. The short version...I have to work on a Windoze PeeCee all day long right now. So dude, when I get home, I'm ready for the Mac experience.

Sure, I've got a new Dell Latitude D820 with some sick resolution and it's pretty well tricked out on the inside. BUT. It just feels like a cheap piece of crap. The keys are cheap plastic, I'm always catching the edges when I'm typing, the mouse pad (and believe me it is NO Trackpad!) is too small and doesn't scroll like my Trackpad does (though according to the drivers it can be set up that way, but of course like a typical Windoze machine - the drivers don't work!)

But that isn't all. Everything is so damn ugly. Eventhough I've got it skinned with a Vista look and feel (hey, almost anything beats XP), the apps are just ugly. Look at Gaim (for Windows) compared to Adium X or Fire. Ewwww! AIM versus iChat, and on down the line.

I've even got software to make it feel more like a Mac, apps that serve the same functions as Spotlight and QuickSliver and Expose - and they're not bad... but they aren't my Mac.

So, when I finally get home it's nice to take out my Mac, feel the Mac and do some stuff. And I haven't even told you the half of it. So, if you're reading this on a Mac, then go thank whoever it was that got you to buy it!

Pecos Phil Makes it on Buzz Out Loud!

HEHE. Check out Friday, August 4th's Buzz Out Loud (http://bol.cnet.com). You have to listen all the way to the end, but our favorite crotchety desert dwelling dude - Pecos Phil makes it as a call in. :-) ALL the way at the end mind you - after Tom and Molly say goodbye. Hehe. :-D

Who's Pecos Phil? Well, he's a character from the "MacNation - One Nation Under Pod" podcast. If you want to know stuff about Macs, then you should check it out! http://macphilly.com/wordpress

Rash Wars - Part II: The Rash Strikes Back

So, against my better judgement and along the lines of the instructions from the ER doctor I started and finished my course of steriods that aleviate the symptoms (but not the cause) of my rash. I won't go into detail on the hows and whys steriods work - or even what the side effects listed were (knarly dude!) - but they don't do anything FOR the rash itself.

So, I finish that, I'm using my prescription cream and BOOM a rash explosion 2 days after the steroids flush from my system. Oh LOVELY. Just what I was hoping?

So, what do I do? Well, being that I'm mostly broke I did the only thing I could do - I went to the doctor in my healthcare system. That isn't what I wanted to do - I wanted to go to a homiopathic doctor. No such luck. So, what does my primary doc say? Well, that the ER doc had it wrong (he was treating for candadiasis - fungal - that's what the cream does) and that the rash was from a food allergy. Then he prescribes the EXACT same steriods, except for at DOUBLE the doseage! E-gads man! I asked him if they actually did anything and he said no, they only treat the symptom of the rash. So I asked him if I removed anything possibly in my diet that had changed and just let the rash flush out normally if that would be OK. He didn't even understand my question! so, I spent the next 5 minutes or so trying to convice him that I didn't want more steriods and I wanted to let the rash go away by itself! And that's what I'm trying.

The thing is, I can't figure out what it is!!!! I've check for symptoms regarding cashew nuts, soy and tahini (pureed sesame seeds) - none really match. But I sure do have the rash! Well, I've already cut out the cashew butter (which I miss dearly) and as of tomorrow no more soy or tahini. I'll see what happens.

In the mean time, I am going to schedule an appointment with an allergist for the scratch test so we can figure this out! I'll keep you posted.

Ciao!