In Lockdown

I just started a new gig.  Yah, yah, a lot of stuff has happened since voting day, I'll catch up on that another time.  For now, I'm more just posting to update you on something.  Like for example, the place I’m working is locked down tighter than the Iron Curtain used to be. 

Is the company bad?  No, they're great.  People are great, equipment is adequate (I've got to use a Windoze PeeCee - eww!), software tools are fine too.  But because of the industry, they are VERY strict on electronic access policy.  In fact, I can't even check my Gmail account (can you say withdrawal?), or IM with anyone.  Brutal man, totally brutal.  But it's a gig and it looks like it will be a good one - so I'll learn to adapt.  Like posting this way.  Of course, I'd love to be able to include a pic (something I've done quite a bit I think!) but I don't know that I can.  I think I'll put a pic in the email and see what happens… :-)

More to come!

Get Out and Vote! Even if it doesn't make a difference damn-it!

Hey, you can see it in the picture - that's where I am and that's what I'm doing. Exercising my constitutional right to vote. Sure, I know that living in the Commonwealth of MA that it was essentially "vote for the liberal of your choice day" (true - there were only 2 Reps and 1 Indy running for any major office). I knew that my vote was the same as spitting into the wind, yet, I still went out and did it. :-) Oh, and by the way, the Republicans in this state are so liberal they'd be considered liberal Democrats anywhere else in the union!

But, today I went out and voted. I got mad though. Why? Because there were so many people that ran unopposed! Why is that? Have we become so apathetic that we don't run either? So, we have no alternatives to the people in office and then no one comes out to vote. Seems kind of self-defeating, don't you think?

It looks like the Democrats are going to pick up around 30 seats. Actually, it's a pretty amazing number for the US to have that much turn over. I remember reading a stat once that showed that members of the Politburo in Communist USSR had more turnover than our houses of Congress. In this case that 30 seats is almost 7% of the seats available. Thinking about that - it's really pretty pathetic. We've got an unpopular war, an imperial and bullying President, issues with the budget, stem cell research and of course, abortion. With all that, we still only turn over maybe 8-9% of the total houses of Congress (including the Senate). Isn't that wrong?

Listen. I really don't give a Ding-Dong, Ho-Ho or King Don about labels. I care about getting stuff done. I'm a registered Republican, but I don't agree with a lot of the current Neo-con agenda or methodology. I think that the truth runs somewhere between a true conservative (fiscal), progressive (think 1920's progressive) and libertarian. I want fiscal restraint, I want less government pork but I want the government to help where it can and in a way that only the government of a nation this size can do. I'd love to know what you think.

Oh, if you've made it this far... I've got an offer for you. If you can prove to me that you voted, I've got a gift for you. If you like Mac stuff then you can have my book, A Mac Eye for the Windows Guy. If you'd like some great Palm software (PDA Essentials and TuCows say it's great!) then I'll give you any piece of software that you'd like. Just let me know!

The Return of the KKK

I'm sitting in my bedroom with the lights out, my wife getting ready for bed and the baby sleeping in the bassinet. I'm blogging here in the dark because something so profoundly disturbing happened this past week that I didn't want to forget to post about it, so, even though I'm exhausted, my eyes are burning and my knee hurts because of the position I have to be in so that I can type this in bed - I'm posting.

Here's what happened. A local church (Methodist) in the town where I attend church (though at a non-denominational congregation) just got a new pastor. Which was actually pretty exciting news. The guy seems really cool, has a hyphenated name, very contemporary dresser (and dresses well) and for a pastor - the most important thing - he really loves God and wants to show his love in the community.

So what's the problem? Well, it seems that the problem has to do with his being black. You know, of African American extraction. At least to this group of people that sent the threatening letter to the church anyway. And yes, they signed it the KKK.

Now, I used to live in the south, and in the south the white folk with red necks and names like Bubba are pretty openly prejudice. These crackers are still fighting the War of Northern Aggression and battling the imposition of desegregation. Thankfully there are fewer now than there were even 40 years ago - but they're still out there. Not to say that all southerner's are like this. That would be a gross injustice. But there are still enough pockets of these ignorant fools to make life potentially dangerous for someone with dark skin in the south.

However, at present, I live in the Commonwealth of MA. The cradle of liberty. The place where blood was first spilled on April 19, 1775 as we resisted the imposition of British tyranny. I live in a state that was one of the most supportive in both the War for Independence AND the Civil War. And in the civil war, and the years leading up to it, MA was a hotbed of abolitionist support.

So tell me, how the ***BLEEEEP*** did some nut job (or jobs) end up in this state sending threatening letters to a black pastor in a town that at one point was considered part of Plymouth - you know, the town the Pilgrims, those seekers of religious freedom - in a state that has been known for it's support of civil rights and it's long standing Democratic leanings?

The answer. I don't know. But I do know that I want them the devil out of MY state and the town where I worship - NOW. There is no place in this world - or any other world - for this horrific behavior, this base defilement of people that were made equal in the eyes of a loving God and redeemer. It makes me sick. It makes me mad. And I'm doing something about it - here and now and also in the community I live and worship in.

Here's my request. Make sure you do something about it where you live too. Let's not ever have anything like this ever happen again anywhere in the US - OR the world.

Knee Surgery is the New Black - Part II

OK, so, where was I? OK. So I'm home now. The knee feels pretty good, but I still have to take it easy. Of course, kids don't get that. Chloe, bless her heart, just wants to be hanging with daddy. Literally. OK, hanging ON daddy. She's climbing on me and trying to hang over my right leg because I've got it propped up on the coffee table on a pillow. This, to a 3 year old, is a swing!




So, you can see there is still some swelling (these were taken on Monday, two days after I took off the original packing) and I still have to treat the knee well. There are only two fairly small puncture wounds (sorry the image quality is so bad, shot with my phone at night in the bathroom's yellow lights) and that's it. But I do have to keep them dressed to prevent any infection - and the one on the inside is giving me a battle trying to go there.

The knee doesn't hurt to bear weight - it's the muscles all around it that took the beating during the surgery, so that is what remains sore.

OK, gotta run. More to come, including why you shouldn't just come home from surgery and immediately try to participate in the family... Ciao!

Knee Surgery is the New Black

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures - yet! Till then, here's a general info picutre. My surgery was to repair the right medial meniscus.

I had the knee surgery last week on Thursday. It was a day surgery thing, I got dropped of at 11:30 and Shanna came to pick me up at around 5:30. Like a short day at work, just more painful - well more painful than my current gig. And really, I've had some jobs that were way more painful.

Anyway, they went in, scoped the knee, cleaned out the torn pieces and didn't make it good as new. But, at least it's cleaned up. I won't loose any mobility, but I do think I'm loosing some stability. I'll know for sure when I get the pictures later this week.

As for pain, it hasn't been that bad. Nothing like the pain from shoulder surgery and way more easy to deal with. The knee is stiff and swollen, but not as bad as I thought. Not nearly. And, the doctor's office called on Friday to tell me to get up and walking. Obviously I didn't go out and try to do anything, I just walked around the house. Of course, I couldn't go into work (I couldn't drive there - and the drugs I was taking were a bit much to drive on), so I stayed home and worked it gingerly. I couldn't get cleaned up either, I had to keep the bandages on until Saturday. MAN! Was I dying for a shower.

Oh. And I SLEPT. I was constantly wiped out. Don't know if it was the healing, the drugs or possibly something else... We'll see and I'll update you more on that next post.

So, to wrap, everything went well. I'm home, medicated (Vicodin - I think it just makes me sleepy) and resting. Ciao!

Happy Birthday to Me (10.10)

I'm not sure if this will be posted east or west coast time, so this might actually go up *after* my birthday. But, I wanted to post it before I went to bed.

You can see the picture above. It was one of the many things that my girls (including my wife) did for the celebration of my birthday. I can't tell you ALL the stuff they did - really, it was amazing! They made cards, made party hats (including a crown for the King of the House), they choreographed two different dance routines (one by Bayley and Chloe - the two middle girls) and one by Halle and Bayley (the two oldest), and Chloe did an impromptu song AND dance. They made presents for me, and at the end of the day, they gave me all the love a daddy could want. It was awesome seeing the different things they did, amazing seeing how much their gifts have grown. Unbeknownst to them, they had no idea that the best gift was THEM. Sure, the other stuff was neat, but nothing (other than the relationship with my wife) beats just having my kids love and honor me (and for that, I have to give my wife lots of credit too) for being dad. Of course now, it's my responsibility to make sure that I'm the best dad I can be in order to ensure that love and that honor is not misplaced.

That, ladies and gents, makes for a great birthday.

Torn Meniscus = The Suck

To be more specific, torn medial meniscus. Here's the link so you can read the technical blather.

Anyway, I actually did this on July 1st, the Saturday of the long weekend. I dislocated my kneecap at the same time, I think. I know that it basically occurred when I was crouching down to get something in the cabinet in the island in my kitchen. (that's a lot of ins...) Anyway, I heard a massive CRRRAAACKKKK! I knew it couldn't be good. But, I just thought it was something else, and my knee wasn't really killing me - so I went out and cut the lawn. I came inside and I did this little plant of my foot and twist and I heard this "pop!" That's when I think I actually dislocated my kneecap. Unfortunately, I had dislocated my kneecap before last year and when I did, I went to the chiro and got it put back in place. I was thinking the same thing this time, but 4th of July weekend - no one around. It never occurred to me to go to the emergency room. Doh. Go figure.

Well, I had to go to Cali the following week, and I just kept getting chiro treatment for it, but I noticed that it wasn't getting better as fast as I remembered. In fact, it stopped getting better. A bunch of symptoms persisted. It still hurt. So, finally, about 10 weeks after the day - I went in to my primary doctor. He bent, asked questions and the like, then told me to get an MRI. Well, the MRI came back and sure enough, I've got it torn. Which, in my humble opinion, really bites.

So, if you've had this happen, let me know. I know that it's possible to fix the tear if it is in the correct spot, but there are few times when it works like that. And, my age is also working against me (46 in less than two weeks!) for a possible repair. The other alternative (if you followed the link) is just remove the tear and contour the meniscus. I'm not sure that helps me long term or returns any stability to the knee - which is a concern as you can imagine. But, like I said, if anyone out there actually reads this blog and has had it happen - let me know!

Till then, I'll be looking forward to meeting the surgeon next Friday.

It's my Anniversary! Yea!

It's my Anniversary! Yahoo! Yup, today in 1992 my beautiful wife Shanna and I tied the knot. Unbelievable! 14 years and 4 kids later, she looks amazing, gorgeous, vivacious and more. Me? Meh. I look older, have less hair and what I do have is going gray. Such is life ;)

Marriage is everything I never dreamed it would be. It is awesome. It's way more work than I ever thought. It's totally worth it. And, being that I know I've got God's girl for me (looooonnnnggg story), I know it's going to keep getting better.

Has it been perfect? No. Have we had disagreements? Most assuredly, we're bound to because I'm wrong so often :-p There's never been the threat of divorce - we agreed on that from the go. Homicide maybe, divorce - never.

One thing I know, I'm more in love with this incredible woman today than I was the day I married her. I love you Shanna!

So Google - Where was this picture?

Really. I got up before 8:00, went to check my mail and lo and behold NOTHING. Not a sausage! And it stayed that way pretty much until around 5:00 in the afternoon. There went my 26th! Geesh!

By noon at least the notifiers were letting me know that I had mail, but there was no luck in getting it through the web interface. I wanted to blog about it, but Blogger (where you're seeing this) was down too. I couldn't do my normal search - like on Google! - because I couldn't access the homepage either! Finally, I figured out that I could pull down my Gmail using a mail client on my Mac (Mail specifically is what I used) so then I spent the next couple of hours pulling down 6,000 (really, no exaggeration, in truth a shade of understatement) e-mails so I could see the most recent messages.

Anyway, everything is now up again but BOY man was that a scary thing. Hmmm. Maybe I'll consider putting up some of my blog stuff on my own server, and maybe I'll move my business e-mail back to my own server as well. It was just way to scary to have the interface go down like that for a full work day. I hope it never happens again!

Wonder Pets to the Rescue!

Indeed! A kiddie show to the rescue. The rescue from the mind numbing idiocy that is children's television to a large extent. In steps Wonder Pets, the operetta for the kids. No, it's not one of the masterpieces, but it is good fun and music is at the center of the action as the three pets (Linny the guinea pig, Tuck the turtle and Ling Ling the duck) go off to save other animals in distress.

Seriously, I could see this becoming a cult classic with the college age kids in the dorms across America. LOVE IT!

Two New Shows - One Stays on the TiVo

Gee, can you guess which? Yup, Heroes. I watched both Heroes and Studio 60 tonight. Both were good shows, but... I liked Heroes better... for now.

Heroes was good (except the little Ali Larter strip scene at the beginning), had suspense and seemed cool. My only issue was that these heroes just so conveniently kept running into each other, but I'll cut some slack because I know they only have so much time to develop a plot.

Studio 60 was good. Loved Matthew Perry in it. And the other guy from the West Wing. Amanda Peet did OK. Of course I found the Crazy Christian bit interesting. Odd thing is, what they were saying was primarily true. But, you know, as a Jesus Freak, I'm not so sure I would care about someone having at (poking fun of) Christian doctrine on a comedy show, at least nothing quite so ancillary as the Rapture. Sure, if they got rude like Madonna is planning on doing on NBC (I think it's NBC), coming out on a cross and the like - yes, then I get upset. Listen, I think Madonna is a whack job who follows the virtually occult like Kabbalah teachings, yet another teaching that's all for accepting all religions and beliefs - except Christianity of course. That's OK with me, but don't go dissing my belief in a artistic presentation where you can't be touched, if you're going to dis me, do it to my face and lets have a chat. But I digress.

Anyway, both shows were good. Heroes has potential and that's the one I'm going with for now. Studio 60 has good actors, I just don't know if I can hang in with the show premise for that long. Of course, there are a lot of "old friends" in the cast like Timothy Busfield (30 Something), the guy who played the younger brother on Wings and others, but I don't know if that can get me to hang around.

That's my take. What's yours?

Shiver Me Timbers with a Bottle of Rum

Yes, yes. I know speak like a Pirate Day is now long past, but I couldn't resist putting this up anyway.

As for the rest of life... like what I've done most of the month: Went to Houston, taught Photoshop and InDesign, had an AWFUL trip, got a nasty cold (which I'm just finally getting rid of, I think... Lost 5 days of training revenue (which TOTALLY sucks), got an MRI on my wanky knee that I hurt on July 1st and cut the grass which was so long it took 2 1/2 hours.

Other than that... everything else is great! We had a guest speaker in to the church, a dude named Fergus McIntyre. Dude rocks. I was bummed that I had to leave before his last meeting to go to Houston. God has been good too, Halle had a birthday (which I didn't get to celebrate with her because I was in Houston - unfortunately), I got two teeth worked on - I know, most people don't celebrate that but I really needed the work on them! - and I'm prepping for my 14th wedding anniversary on September 27th. Yikes, was that fast!

Have a happy - and don't forget to check out my new podcast! http://biographypodcast.blogspot.com

I Like Vista - Not Love - Like

Blasphemy you say? No. I'll say it now, Vista (even Vista Ultimate) will never be OS X Tiger - never mind Leopard. But, having said that, I will say that I do, indeed, like Vista.

Maybe it's because I've been forced to use XP on a daily basis over the past 3-4 weeks, but I really noticed that Vista is a significant upgrade (at least if you've got a 2ghz machine with 2 gig of ram and a sick resolution - like the Dell laptop I get from work does) in elegance from XP. And, even if you don't have a great honking machine, the usability is still an improvement. Of course, you can credit that usability benefit directly to the fact that Vista liberally "borrows" from the Mac for it's interface. Even in elegance, Vista does borrow from OS X, specifically the effect it has when opening and closing windows. But, that isn't all the Vista has going for it.

First, Vista does carry several things that I've always liked about Windows and ALWAYS wished that the Mac had, into this century. Simple things like one click navigation or launching as an option. Honestly, it is the singular biggest thing I miss for the Mac and I've been hoping desperately for 4 years that someone would create a hack for me!!! That and the faithful Alt+Tab is still around - but now provides you with thumbnail images instead of just the logos of the app. Heck, that's better than OSX. And, as someone who is older, stares at a screen all day and wears glasses - I LIKE that feature. In fact, even with an Expose' like feature provided in the OS (and software that does it for me in XP) I think that if Alt+Tab worked like it does in Vista on a Mac - I wouldn't use Expose. So, what do you think of those Apples?

I know, I know. You all think I've taken leave of my senses. Don't worry, I'm only talking about a couple of features here! Regardless of how much I like the new look of Vista (and - I DO - including how customizeable it is PLEASE TAKE NOTE SOMEONE AT APPLE), I still far prefer OS X and Apple hardware.

Props out to where it is due though - Vista takes big steps in making the experience better. It's good at recognizing the hardware (at least on this box) and it works nicely, while also providing a nicer environment - including getting rid of that hideous Start button!

So, after all that, why still on my Mac? Start with the hardware. Gosh, my PowerBook is so much nicer to use. Better track pad, better keyboard, better touch. Screens are now a wash though because this Dell I'm using actually has at least as good a display as my PowerBook (but not as good as a MacBook). Then, procede to the OS. Even with being gussied up and made a bit more friendly, Windows is still Windows. I was trying to fix a partition (which I blew up while trying to adjust it so I could install Vista - that's a 3 day oddesy for you), and I HAD to go out to the command line to do it. I'm still working on that. It's also still Windows when it comes to how and where things work.

Lastly, and importantly, I'm also NOT planning on dropping $400 to get Windows Vista Ultimate. Oh, sure. By the time I get done upgrading to Leopard I will have spent that on Mac OS X - but if I had skipped all the other releases (which many folks do), the upgrade would still be $129 NOT $400. And, if you don't get Ultimate - or close too it - you loose some of the cooler features and connectivity of Vista. That SUCKS doesn't it? And that is why Windows is still Windows, Microsoft is still Microsoft and why I'm going to happily upgrade to Leopard and put it on my MacBook Pro :-) (when I get it that is) Then I'll install my copy of XP to run the one or two apps I need in Windows until all the pricing comes down!

So, there you have it. I like Vista, but I don't love it. It's good, and if you're stuck in a Windows world it at least gets you closer to the Mac. But as for me an my house? We'll take the Mac thanks!

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