Wax paper is not a labor saving device.

This must be said.  I know I have already posted to the blog today. I know that the three of you that read it are probably not going to check it again for a while but hey I just have to say this.  Wax paper used when making things that you do not want to stick ie brownies.  Does not save much labor, plus the paper sticks to the brownie and you lose half of it.  Why do we think that this is a good thing?  Nothing worse than getting a mouth full of wax paper.  

Nuff said.

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Finally Linux Love

So I have to say this.  It's imporant.  Open source software has become my new defacto favorite for so many things.  For instance I am posting to the blog from a pretty great open source mac program called Qumana I love it much better than mars edit, plus it's free.  Anything that is free is good, but when it works it's even better.  Since switching the blog to wordpress I like the categories option.  Well with the other program if I wanted to post to a certain category I had to do the post then log in and switch it from the wordpress manager.  Qumana shows them it's truly a one stop option, however I'm not here to sing the praises of Qumana. This is a rant and a happy.  If that makes sense.  The rant portion comes from the fact that I really can't stand Microsoft Operating Systems.  It seems to me that when people are asking to downgrade to the old system there is a problem.  Now they are promising that all the problems with Vista will be fixed in 7 and they are going to charge for the privelege.  One of the reasons I'm such a Mac fan.  I never get any viruses on my Mac,  things just work I love it.  We do however have 2 intel boxes in the house plus the windows xp laptop that J uses.  Notice it's an xp box, in fact I just put tinyxp on it stable and less space than the other iteration that I have.  The big box we have was giving us fits because of a virus, leave it to Gates even with virus software that was up to date.  So I was redoing it and decided to go open source.  Tried several differnet distros and then remembered gos.  I love this.  It's like a mac it's stable and things just work again.  Plugged in my ipod it found it and low and behold it just all works.  So there it is.  I love this disto, It does it all, if I have to run a windows app I can do it in wine, and it's stable, takes very little space and the 4 gig of ram makes it scream I can edit video yadda yadda yadda.  So for all you out there that are stuck with the evil empire of Darth Gates, become a real Jedi, get a mac or if you can't do that just gos,

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Amazed

I become increasingly amazed at the amount of mess and the quickness with which 2 little girls can work said mess inot a house that was only yesterday clean.  It's like a freakin tornado hit, the only thing missing is the Kansas house.  Still it beats the alternative which is no Z and Amberly.  Something that is simply unimaginable to me. 

Lots of things seem to be happening.  I have an interview tomorrow at 6:45 and just got a message about job coaching.  I am going to be intersted in seeing what happens and what opens up.  I'm almost frightened to enter the world of work again.  I want to don't get me wrong but it makes me feel a bit wibbly wobbley at the same time.  Will I succeed?

it's all about these three ya know

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The things they say.

Kids are awesome.  Espcially my kids, of course I'm supposed to say that but it's true after today.  I am looking for some sort of job.  The thing is I really want to do someting that reaches hurting communities.  Lately the idea of being salt and light really appeals to me.  It always should and it always has but more and more I am becoming convinced that many churches have forgotten well many Christians have forgotten that Jesus told us to "Go into all the world."  We have forgotten the demise of the goats, in fact many of us have become the goats.  Still this is a funny blog not a religous rant.  I said all that to say that as we were in the worship part of the service at this really cool ministry the band was playing a really blusey tune durring the offering.  They were a tight band who could rival Jimmy Fallons band on late night.  As we were returning home J said that she thought that I should play the blues more for Zoey.  She said "Zoey really liked the blues"  Zoey chimed in from the back "No I like the Red's."  Kids are cool, even when they have no clue, they say what they are really thinking and that really is all that matters.  Probably why Jesus said we needed to come to him like a little child. 

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How Far We Dare Go

Sometimes I wonder, especially when it comes to Evangelical Christians and their belief that they have the inside track on what God thinks and what God wants. They then make it their mission to let everyone know that they are right and everyone else is wrong, or worse yet they pass value judgments and refuse to recognize that some of the things that they are espousing as Biblical truth is merely the interpretation or fabrication of their favorite religious leader/celebrity of the moment.

Having spent some time with my parents this past week (I am actually writing this at their house but will be unable to update until Friday, they don't have the internet, how do they survive?) it became more and more clear to me how much of a difference there is between them and me, and how much they really don't and probably never have known me. This time also made me question the validity of my natural birth to my parents as I am light years away from them in beliefs including, but not limited to religious, social, political, and in some cases even moral. Don't get me wrong I have a moral standard it's just that as I study theirs more I find that some of the things that they feel about people groups, or political ideology or even Christianity are not based so much in Biblical study, and personal conviction, but in what they are supposed to believe or say.

Last night my dad said yet again that I had left my beliefs behind. The beliefs that I had been raised with, but how does one explain that he or she, in my case he, never really had those beliefs in the first place.

I think my dad has it in his head that because I don't go to the right kind of church, and because I don't hold the people that he thinks are great up as paragons of morality and religious truth that I'm somehow less of a Christian, and it's not just my dad, it's a whole slew of people who have gotten to the point where they don't really remember what Matthew 25 says.

This Missing

Have you ever lost something? Well about 2 months ago give or take 20 days we lost the dvd out of a case from the library, now this is a tragedy as we get 90 percent of our entertainment from the library. I personally am in the middle of two books that we need to check back out. Only problem is that we can't take those books out as the fine due to this missing dvd is quite large. We returned the case not the dvd. Yesterday I found it. The DVD. Then forgot to take it back today. Jumped on the Library's web site and found out they were open till 9 PM.

Some people should not be allowed to be the first line of defense, in a establishment that works with the public at large. Entering the Library I put on my best well shucks we have a six year old and a two year old these things happen face and tone of voice. Now keep in mind I have just the disk. First word out of Pellulahs (names have been changed to keep things on the up and up and to keep any type of ethnic connotation from being misconstrued)mouth is "what this" " Um it's a dvd see we returned the case a while ago and we found the dvd yesterday we have a six and a tow year old awe shucks go figure" "you have card?" "Well no but my daugthers name is Amberly insert last name here" "Huhhhhh Okay" At this point I was wondering what was going to happen, still smiled and was ready to launch into yet another apology, at the very least I was ready for some awe yea I understand laughter, yea not so much. "This missing." Um well it was missing but we found it." "This Missing" "Yes but it's not missing now" "but this missing" "not any more" Now see at this point you would think that she would get the idea that I wanted the DVD checked in but she was stuck on the fact that it was missing. Her counter mate was laughing at this point at me I'm sure or at least he situation. I said "well can you check this in" "This Missing" Haven't we already established that? Finally with a great sigh and a "fine" she checked the dvd in.

So what have we learned? Well aside from not losing DVD's and aside from the fact that I obviously can't really pull off awe shucks thing any more, at least not with Pellulah, we learned that some people just shouldn't be allowed to talk to the public.

The Legacy of Jonah

What is Jonah's legacy? I have read in Job and Jonah and Matthew and Proverbs, all over the Bible in recent weeks, then today Amberly and Zoey watched the Veggie Tales Movie with the Story of Jonah and in doing so made me look at this story again, mainly because of the way that they ended it, not the movie but the story part. See so much of the Bible has some type of redemptive quality to it. Noah's Ark saves Humanity, The Plagues of Egypt lead to the freedom of the Hebrew Slaves, Job's trials end in justification and blessing from God, not because of Job's righteousness. Even Jonah's eventual obedience leads to a revolution in repentance for the people of Ninevah, even if it is short lived (they are judged at a later time.) But Jonah's personal story ends with the man of God shaking his fist at the sky and refusing to see that the destruction meant for the people of Ninevah is not reserved just for that people group. How hard to remember that he was in the belly of a big fish so recently, and while God allowed those three days to teach a lesson to Jonah he missed out on a few of the essentials. He got the idea of obedience but missed out on the idea of grace, understood the capacity of punishment but missed the picture of mercy, and so when he sat on the hill over the town he cared more about a plant than he did about a person. How many times in my life have I been that way? Sadly I believe it's a lot more often than I would care to admit. I have cared more about a program or about a plan or about a concept than the people that matter. It's easy to do and it's easily justified, still I don't want to sit on the hill and shake my fist at God while other people are living and moving and having their being in the God of Light and Life. What about you?

Long Time

So ends the rants and rages of a man who couldn't let go of the past, who had issues with himself and others, and who really needed some perspective. The last post to this blog was March 26, if you are a regular or had been a regular reader you probably wonder what happened, where was I. I loved this line from a movie once and well I have always wanted a place to say it so here it is, "I Must Know," "get used to disappointment" well not really I may share some of my journey but for now I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and am back and am enjoying the sun and the family and the new vista's (not to be confused with that atrocity that Microsoft foisted on most of you my adoring public, as many of you know I'm a mac man through and through) that are open too me. I will be doing some schooling if all gets going the way it's supposed to, no I'm not looking forward to physics, but who knows I could find some latent talent in that area, and possibly working with J's school a little if that door opens or with TTLC if that door opens. I'm going to be remaining optimistic and I'm going to take care of what matters.
See you around the blog, and thanks for all who have been sending up communications keep doing it.

A