The Naked Green

2004.11.30 Tuesday

Servants of Christ

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 8.20 am

This is a quote of a quote from Jim’s Blog:

Some without fulfilling the commandments think that they possess true faith. Others fulfill the commandments and then expect the kingdom as a reward due to them, Both are mistaken, A master is under no obligation to reward his slaves; on the other hand, those who do not serve him well are not given their freedom.
St. Mark the Ascetic, β€œOn Those who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works: Two Hundred and Twenty-Six Texts” 18-19 in the Philokalia, Vol. 1, p. 126. 146

Thanks to jburnett.com for the complete text.

Edit 2004.12.01: I agree with this statement and think it is well put and to the point. I may read more of this Mark the Aescetic’s works (linked above) when I have time.

2004.11.27 Saturday

Thanks for the Holiday

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 5.57 pm

We had a great time on Thursday with family playing The Settlers of Catan (a great board game) and of course eating lots of food. I had a good talk with my cousin Andrew before taking off. We discussed some of my plans and he agreed that it is important to find someone to “disciple me” and some to disciple. I feel more and more that discipleship is my calling and though that is a broad spectrum, it’s nice to have some direction and some idea to measure against.

Yesterday I worked, finishing up “the harvest” from earlier, while Jamie worked hard at spending the money. She did lots of shopping and left before I got out of bed to get the good deals!

I met with Justin (our Associate Pastor) today to begin a re-design of the church’s website after it sat with nothing on it for a while. Nothing has been uploaded, so I won’t give a link yet. Jamie and I just got back from getting new tires and an alignment and now I should get some sleep because of the snow coming down.

2004.11.24 Wednesday

Bountiful Harvest

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 5.42 pm

I guess it’s harvest time at work because yesterday three massive files came down which has made me busier than ever. I spent all day today copying one file. I guess file is not a good word for it because it conjures up images of a folder. This file took up three boxes and they wanted two copies. Hopefully I will be able to get everything done on time.

It wasn’t a bad day overall, though. I was in fairly good mood and made some good money for My Company which I’m sure they’ll enjoy.

Tomorrow I get to enjoy another bountiful harvest from the lovely fields of supermarket with my family. Jamie and I are going to my parents’ house for food, fun and festivities. Stephen is back from college for a few days and Andrew and Natalie will be paying a visit all the way from Illinois! I think I’ll miss opening Christmas presents on Thanksgiving like we did here last year.

God is good and I have a lot to be thankful for!

Edit 2004.12.01: I changed the name of my company to “My Company” in light of this article on Personal Blogs and The Workplace. I have taken care to hide the identity of “The Company” I work at, but it’s good to keep my employer anonymous for now.

2004.11.23 Tuesday

Draw Near to God

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 9.19 am

I want to be “near to God” and am beginning to develop quite a passion for it as I experience depression, confusion and unfulfillment. I have run across some good quotes on the web that have touched my heart:

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

- James 4.8a (WEB)

From Chilly’s Blog:

“I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.”
– C.S. Lewis –

From Jim’s Blog:

Abba Muthues said: β€˜In proportion as a man draws near to God, it is proper that he should regard himself as a sinner, for the Prophet Isaiah, who saw the Lord, calls himself wretched and unclean.’
~Athanasius of Alexandria, Palladius, Jerome, et al., Paradise of the Fathers, B#21, Vol. II, #552, P. 124

Father, I desire to be close to you and I am drawing near to you today.

2004.11.21 Sunday

Not the Sabbath

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 12.59 pm

Today may be Sunday the “new Sabbath", but it was not my day of rest. Thankfully yesterday was somewhat relaxing.

I received the call to plow at 3.00am this morning after about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I got off just in time (11.30am) to pick up Jamie from church and am now home. I just took a shower and got dressed up to have our pictures taken at Wal-Mart at 2.30pm. We’ll go from there to my parents so I can work on retrieving data from a corrupted hard drive (again) and Jamie will do her crafts. I have to wait there while Jamie goes to “her thing". She just said it’s to make crafts and have dinner. I’ll probably sleep…maybe my Mom will let me crash in my old bed.

5.52pm:
Too tired to work on computer. Here is a picture of me after plowing this morning. Must to sleep….

2004.11.18 Thursday

Pi

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 11.39 am

3 . 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5 8 9 7 9 3 2 3 8 4 6 2 6 4 3 3 8 3 2 7 9 5 0 2 8 8 4 1 9 7 1 6 9 3 9 9 3 7 5 1 0 5 8 2 0 9 7 4 9 4 4 5 9 2 3 0 7 8 1 6 4 0 6 2 8 6 2 0 8 9 9 8 6 2 8 0 3 4 8 2 5 3 4 2 1 1 7 0 6 7 9 8 2 1 4 8 0 8 6 5 1 3 2 8 2 3 0 6 6 4 7 0 9 3 8 4 4 6 0 9 5 5 0 5 8 2 2 3 1 7 2 5 3 5 9 4 0 8 1 2 8 4 8 1 1 1 7 4 5 0 2 8 4 1 0 2 7 0 1 9 3 8 5 2 1 1 0 5 5 5 9 6 4 4 6 2 2 9 4 8 9 5 4 9 3 0 3 8 1 9 6 4 4 2 8 8 1 0 9 7 5 6 6 5 9 3 3 4 4 6 1 2 8 4 7 5 6 4 8 2 3 3 7 8 6 7 8 3 1 6 5 2 7 1 2 0 1 9 0 9 1 4 5 6 4 8 5 6 6 9 2 3 4 6 0 3 4 8 6 1 0 4 5 4 3 2 6 6 4 8 2 1 3 3 9 3 6 0 7 2 6 0 2 4 9 1 4 1 2 7 3 7 2 4 5 8 7 0 0 6 6 0 6 3 1 5 5 8 8 1 7 4 8 8 1 5 2 0 9 2 0 9 6 2 8 2 9 2 5 4 0 9 1 7 1 5 3 6 4 3 6 7 8 9 2 5 9 0 3 6 0 0 1 1 3 3 0 5 3 0 5 4 8 8 2 0 4 6 6 5 2 1 3 8 4 1 4 6 9 5 1 9 4 1 5 1 1 6 0 9 4 3 3 0 5 7 2 7 0 3 6 5 7 5 9 5 9 1 9 5 3 0 9 2 1 8 6 1 1 7 3 8 1 9 3 2 6 1 1 7 9 3 1 0 5 1 1 8 5 4 8 0 7 4 4 6 2 3 7 9 9 6 2 7 4 9 5 6 7 3 5 1 8 8 5 7 5 2 7 2 4 8 9 1 2 2 7 9 3 8 1 8 3 0 1 1 9 4 9 1 2 9 8 3 3 6 7 3 3 6 2 4 4 0 6 5 6 6 4 3 0 8 6 0 2 1 3 9 4 9 4 6 3 9 5 2 2 4 7 3 7 1 9 0 7 0 2 1 7 9 8 6 0 9 4 3 7 0 2 7 7 0 5 3 9 2 1 7 1 7 6 2 9 3 1 7 6 7 5 2 3 8 4 6 7 4 8 1 8 4 6 7 6 6 9 4 0 5 1 3 2 0 0 0 5 6 8 1 2 7 1 4 5 2 6 3 5 6 0 8 2 7 7 8 5 7 7 1 3 4 2 7 5 7 7 8 9 6 0 9 1 7 3 6 3 7 1 7 8 7 2 1 4 6 8 4 4 0 9 0 1 2 2 4 9 5 3 4 3 0 1 4 6 5 4 9 5 8 5 3 7 1 0 5 0 7 9 2 2 7 9 6 8 9 2 5 8 9 2 3 5 4 2 0 1 9 9 5 6 1 1 2 1 2 9 0 2 1 9 6 0 8 6 4 0 3 4 4 1 8 1 5 9 8 1 3 6 2 9 7 7 4 7 7 1 3 0 9 9 6 0 5 1 8 7 0 7 2 1 1 3 4 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 3 7 2 9 7 8 0 4 9 9 5 1 0 5 9 7 3 1 7 3 2 8 1 6 0 9 6 3 1 8 5 9 5 0 2 4 4 5 9 4 5 5 3 4 6 9 0 8 3 0 2 6 4 2 5 2 2 3 0 8 2 5 3 3 4 4 6 8 5 0 3 5 2 6 1 9 3 1 1 8 8 1 7 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 3 7 8 3 8 7 5 2 8 8 6 5 8 7 5 3 3 2 0 8 3 8 1 4 2 0 6 1 7 1 7 7 6 6 9 1 4 7 3 0 3 5 9 8 2 5 3 4 9 0 4 2 8 7 5 5 4 6 8 7 3 1 1 5 9 5 6 2 8 6 3 8 8 2 3 5 3 7 8 7 5 9 3 7 5 1 9 5 7 7 8 1 8 5 7 7 8 0 5 3 2 1 7 1 2 2 6 8 0 6 6 1 3 0 0 1 9 2 7 8 7 6 6 1 1 1 9 5 9 0 9 2 1 6 4 2 0 1 9 8 9 3 8 0 9 5 2 5 7 2 0 1 0 6 5 4 8 5 8 6 3 2 7 8 8 6 5 9 3 6 1 5 3 3 8 1 8 2 7 9 6 8 2 3 0 3 0 1 9 5 2 0 3 5 3 0 1 8 5 2 9 6 8 9 9 5 7 7 3 6 2 2 5 9 9 4 1 3 8 9 1 2 4 9 7 2 1 7 7 5 2 8 3 4 7 9 1 3 1 5 1 5 5 7 4 8 5 7 2 4 2 4 5 4 1 5 0 6 9 5 9 5 0 8 2 9 5 3 3 1 1 6 8 6 1 7 2 7 8 5 5 8 8 9 0 7 5 0 9 8 3 8 1 7 5 4 6 3 7 4 6 4 9 3 9 3 1 9 2 5 5 0 6 0 4 0 0 9 2 7 7 0 1 6 7 1 1 3 9 0 0 9 8 4 8 8 2 4 0 1 2 8 5 8 3 6 1 6 0 3 5 6 3 7 0 7 6 6 0 1 0 4 7 1 0 1 8 1 9 4 2 9 5 5 5 9 6 1 9 8 9 4 6 7 6 7 8 3 7 4 4 9 4 4 8 2 5 5 3 7 9 7 7 4 7 2 6 8 4 7 1 0 4 0 4 7 5 3 4 6 4 6 2 0 8 0 4 6 6 8 4 2 5 9 0 6 9 4 9 1 2 9 3 3 1 3 6 7 7 0 2 8 9 8 9 1 5 2 1 0 4 7 5 2 1 6 2 0 5 6 9 6 6 0 2 4 0 5 8 0 3 8 1 5 0 1 9 3 5 1 1 2 5 3 3 8 2 4 3 0 0 3 5 5 8 7 6 4 0 2 4 7 4 9 6 4 7 3 2 6 3 9 1 4 1 9 9 2 7 2 6 0 4 2 6 9 9 2 2 7 9 6 7 8 2 3 5 4 7 8 1 6 3 6 0 0 9 3 4 1 7 2 1 6 4 1 2 1 9 9 2 4 5 8 6 3 1 5 0 3 0 2 8 6 1 8 2 9 7 4 5 5 5 7 0 6 7 4 9 8 3 8 5 0 5 4 9 4 5 8 8 5 8 6 9 2 6 9 9 5 6 9 0 9 2 7 2 1 0 7 9 7 5 0 9 3 0 2 9 5 5 3 2 1 1 6 5 3 4 4 9 8 7 2 0 2 7 5 5 9 6 0 2 3 6 4 8 0 6 6 5 4 9 9 1 1 9 8 8 1 8 3 4 7 9 7 7 5 3 5 6 6 3 6 9 8 0 7 4 2 6 5 4 2 5 2 7 8 6 2 5 5 1 8 1 8 4 1 7 5 7 4 6 7 2 8 9 0 9 7 7 7 7 2 7 9 3 8 0 0 0 8 1 6 4 7 0 6 0 0 1 6 1 4 5 2 4 9 1 9 2 1 7 3 2 1 7 2 1 4 7 7 2 3 5 0 1 4 1 4 4 1 9 7 3 5 6 8 5 4 8 1 6 1 3 6 1 1 5 7 3 5 2 5 5 2 1 3 3 4 7 5 7 4 1 8 4 9 4 6 8 4 3 8 5 2 3 3 2 3 9 0 7 3 9 4 1 4 3 3 3 4 5 4 7 7 6 2 4 1 6 8 6 2 5 1 8 9 8 3 5 6 9 4 8 5 5 6 2 0 9 9 2 1 9 2 2 2 1 8 4 2 7 2 5 5 0 2 5 4 2 5 6 8 8 7 6 7 1 7 9 0 4 9 4 6 0 1 6 5 3 4 6 6 8 0 4 9 8 8 6 2 7 2 3 2 7 9 1 7 8 6 0 8 5 7 8 4 3 8 3 8 2 7 9 6 7 9 7

The number Pi has interested me since I watched Pi, the movie which is a fascinating movie directed by Darren Arronofsky about a brilliant tortured mathematician. I like the movie on several levels, but check it out yourself and see what you think.

What’s the big deal about Pi? We know that A=Pi*R^2 which calculates the area of a circle, but what is Pi and what makes it so fascinating? Simply put, Pi is an irrational number that is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. The fascinating thing about it is that it never ends or repeats (that we know of) and is a constant. Mathematicians have been interested in these characteristics of Pi throughout history. Pi has been calculated to 1,241,100,000,000 decimal places (that’s 1.24 trillion) by a truly nutty professor.

A good resource on Pi, The Pi Pages has the following quote from the book Pi: A Source Book by: L. Berggren, J. Borwein and P. Borwein:

“The story of pi reflects the most seminal, the most serious and sometimes the silliest aspects of mathematics. A surprising amount of the most important mathematics and a significant number of the most important mathematicians have contributed to its unfolding – directly or otherwise.

Pi is one of the few concepts in mathematics whose mention evokes a response of recognition and interest in those not concerned professionally with the subject. It has been a part of human culture and the educated imagination for more than twenty five hundred years.”

Pi has inspired some interesting and sometimes humorous websites on the internet. At the Pi Search Page, you can search for any number within the first 100 million digits of Pi. There is actually a sourceforge project dedicated to creating programs for calculating Pi. Dr. Math has some great answers to kids’ Pi questions and The Pi Pages are a great place to start for more Pi madness. For people like my brother, there is this page for calculating Pi with your pencil.

2004.11.17 Wednesday

Dreams of Insider Trading

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 8.59 am

I had a dream(s) that seemed to be about money….

I gave Joe (my boss) my passport and four or five thousand dollars to get me a new one. He said he would have it to me the next day with the money inside which I wasn’t comfortable with, but agreed to do that instead of coming back at 3.00am. [Why did I give him so much money in the first place?] He was doing it legally, if you’re wondering, but in a completely different manner than usual.

I was in some back room with a large machine when some “higher up” in the company came in and pushed the down arrow below one of the small green displays. He was buying puts on some company. He started talking about buying Gateway stock [GTW ] and I went over to a computer to sign up for an online stock trading company and buy some. I was asking the guy and some other guy about insider trading which they didn’t know much about (I don’t either). I asked, “Where do you draw the line?” to which the 2nd guy just shrugged. Later there was a bunch of hullabaloo about this inside trading. Some lady got got fired and was trying to get a job in the finance department at the ministry my dad works. We were walking down the road and I started walking down a long driveway to my massive house inviting the execs to come on in if they wanted. a few followed and with some dreamy gender confusion over the man/woman who was fired, I suspect it was the first guy.

Later I got my passport back with $2000.00 in it, lots of notes and a small tape with all the phone conversations my boss had. There was a detailed breakout of all the taxes and fees taken out of my original wad and a note saying I would receive the rest in three months. Sounds like my pension (not so big of course).

[I also saw many large 20 cent coins toward the end of my dream]

This dream brings up interesting questions like if God tells you to buy stock, is that insider trading? If I had bought Gateway stock in my dream not knowing that the man knew inside information, would I be liable? I mean, I didn’t even know where I was let alone what I was doing. I guess it was good I was too distracted to sign up for an online trading account. And how in the world did I end up with such a big house and not even think it to be odd until now?

My prediction: Gateway (GTW) is at $5.85 a share right now. I predict, based on my dream, that it will go up and some other stock will fall. So, hurry up, you may still have time to buy! Don’t worry, I think that some guy in some company in some dream of someone like me (knowing as much as I do about all this) is a hazy enough trail for you to avoid being charged with the ominous “insider trading".

Disclaimer: I know almost nothing about stocks or Gateway as a company. I don’t recommend that you follow my advice as I probably won’t myself. I am not responsible for any stock trading you may or may not do or any damages as a result of such trading whether they be monetary, emotional, physical or any other type of damages.

2004.11.15 Monday

Mr. Green’s Blogger

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 3.23 pm

I was going to write a comment on Jennifer’s blog and got roped into signing up for my own on blogger.com. Well…not roped, but you get the picture. I don’t think I’ll use it much (if at all), but I figured it would help get more traffic here if I link to myself. Is it unethical to SPAM yourself…on your own blog?

Here’s a phone call from Jamie and I need to get back to working.

Here is the link to Mr. Green’s Blogger: https://321green.blogspot.com

Work a Tired Man

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 3.10 pm

I’m feeling tired and all wacky, like I’ve been using crystal meth. This of course is due to the snow plowing I did on Sunday morning, not drugs. I was called at 1.00am and didn’t get to bed until 5.00pm not wanting to go to bed too early. At least I got a couple hours of sleep before getting called this time. It’s not so much that I didn’t get enough sleep, just that my schedule is all wacky. Now I don’t feel so good…maybe it’s something else too.

I took some pictures at Intel (where we plow) so maybe I’ll put them in our Gallery.

Of course, wouldn’t you know it…. Now they have me working hard all day here. I’ve been working almost non stop all day (unusual and annoying) and I have a stack of nine orders! I was going to wait until i had free time to blog, but i don’t think that’s going to happen today. Needless to say, I had better stop writing and start copying. blah. :(

2004.11.12 Friday

Portentous Goose

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 12.33 pm

As I was going out to start the car this morning I heard a goose that was being quite vocal. Looking up, I noticed that it was a lone goose flying North. There is probably a good, normal, scientific reason for this, but it got me thinking: What if it’s a portent?

The problem is, I don’t know what sort of portent or sign it would be. Am I being warned against being rebellious? Me, just “swimming upstream", not in any purposeful manner, but just a desire to be different to the point of stupidity. This rebellious goose will probably not fair well on its northward journey by itself.

On the other hand, maybe it’s a sign to go against the flow, making dynamic decisions that are against the grain. Trusting that God will be the protector and provider and not fearing the cold loneliness. Standing against tradition saying, “Wait! I’m not going to fly South any longer just because we have always done it!”

Possibly, it’s a sign that we should move North. That we need not just stay here because it’s warm and cozy. It just might be that God is telling us it is time to move, even though we will go alone. Perhaps…and perhaps not.

Whatever it might be, the bird made an impression on me. I guess I’ll have to ponder it some more. It might not be anything, but I can use it as an opportunity to turn to Christ and seek His direction. I thank God for that goose.

2004.11.10 Wednesday

Oozing and stirring

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 12.12 pm

I don’t have any orders to work on yet, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading on The Ooze. It is partially due to this and a “waking up” that’s happening aided by my distaste for apathy that I’m feeling the way I am. I have an obvious lack of direction after going to DTS which has led me to reiterate my goal: relationship with Jesus Christ.

There is a lot welling up inside of me, I can feel it. I don’t know what it is exactly. There are lots of ideas going through my head, but also muddled “what do I call thems". There is this feeling (or feelings)…like something is about to happen, or needs to happen. Oh, that’s not quite right! how I wish I could understand or express my emotions sometimes.

God is certainly doing something in my life and I praise Him for it. He is drawing me to Himself even as I seek Him out and my desire to be with Him grows. It’s amazing to me how God’s Spirit is at work within us. Father, make me more like your Son, Jesus!

This post is one of those that doesn’t seem like it will make it. The fact that no one is reading this blog still doesn’t help me post something that seems so silly. The post lacks substance and I realize that, but I guess it does give the reader a glimpse of the emotional confusion that I regularly experience.

2004.11.9 Tuesday

Browsing Utilitarian Dream

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 3.04 pm

Firefox 1.0 is here and ready for download at mozilla.org and getfirefox.com! I’m in the process of downloading it here at work on my 28k connection and will get it at home as soon as possible.

Get Firefox!

Usefulness (utility) is a big deal to me (probably an obsession) and Firefox focuses on usability. Ben Goodger, the Lead Engineer of the Firefox development team said today:

Our goal for Firefox has always been to create a stylish, usable browser, making as few compromises has necessary - which was largely possible by being free from commercial constraint. When I design new features, I try to think about what people are trying to accomplish, and design the feature so that it helps them as best possible. This has not always been easy. I’ve been very demanding of myself and on others that I work with, trying to exact every last ounce of usability of a given scenario. Some tasks that we have worked on have taken a considerable amount of time, much of that time spent fussing over the tiniest of details, details that in the past (when working on the Netscape product line, for example), we would never have been allowed to fret so profusely over. The result is software that works for the most part exactly as you expect it. All your settings, favorites, passwords and other data are brought in from IE, downloading files is easy and free of superfluous prompting, your passwords are entered automatically and slickly managed, just to name a few. These things are not easy, but the quality bar has to be set high to be noticed, and in that department I think our focus on detail has paid dividends.
- more -

Blake Ross blogged:

Our original manifesto for Phoenix set out a few key principles: make a product that just browses, and browses well; keep the team small and focused; and keep the focus on the user. I am proud to say that we have delivered on that today. Whatever your language, whatever your platform, download Firefox 1.0 now and let us know what you think. We’re listening.
- more -

Congratulations to the Firefox team!

2004.11.8 Monday

I AM Thirsty!

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 11.21 am

Thanks to Clint who posted this from Spurgeon’s Morning Devotional:

“I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”
Isaiah 44:3

When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle’s wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace. It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to Jesus’ bosom. Are you this morning thirsting for the living God, and unhappy because you cannot find him to the delight of your heart? Have you lost the joy of religion, and is this your prayer, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation"? Are you conscious also that you are barren, like the dry ground; that you are not bringing forth the fruit unto God which he has a right to expect of you; that you are not so useful in the Church, or in the world, as your heart desires to be? Then here is exactly the promise which you need, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.” You shall receive the grace you so much require, and you shall have it to the utmost reach of your needs. Water refreshes the thirsty: you shall be refreshed; your desires shall be gratified. Water quickens sleeping vegetable life: your life shall be quickened by fresh grace. Water swells the buds and makes the fruits ripen; you shall have fructifying grace: you shall be made fruitful in the ways of God. Whatever good quality there is in divine grace, you shall enjoy it to the full. All the riches of divine grace you shall receive in plenty; you shall be as it were drenched with it: and as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall you be-the thirsty land shall be springs of water.

This is exactly how I have been feeling lately and just this morning as I prayed before breakfast, I cried out to God that I was hungry for Him just as I was feeling the physical hunger pangs. So often in the last months have I sung the Psalm:

Create in me a clean heart oh God
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence oh Lord
And take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
And renew a right Spirit within me.

I’m tired of trying to find what he want me to DO with my life. This is important, but only as an extension of a relationship with Jesus Christ. I feel like I don’t know Him at all to even know if it’s Him speaking to me or not. I truly am thirsty for a real relationship with Christ…for a fruitful walk as a disciple of His.

Thank you for the encouragement Clint, I really needed it today!

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 - Tomorrow!

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 9.55 am

Computerworld Interviews Ben Goodger in Preparation for Mozilla Firefox 1.0 - MozillaZine Talkback

I’m excited about the official 1.0 release of Firefox tomorrow, 9 November! I am using the 1.0 Preview Release with great success, but look forward to a public ready release that’s polished up.

I should probably post here the answer to the question I often get from family: “Why Mozilla?” For many people it semms the answer to this is security. While security is important for me, I don’t know much about it and it is not the reason I switched to Mozilla (and Firefox) or really my primary concern (though maybe it should be). Is switched because it is much more functional to me in the following ways:

  • Tabbed browsing!
    • This makes the desktop much more clean as I have many applications open and am researching some particular product and/or looking up help on some code I’m working on.
  • You can add extensions to customize your browsing experience
    • The most important exstension to me is Tabbrowser Extensions which I don’t know that I can live without now as it offers almost complete customization to tabbed browsing.
    • Web Developer Toolbar is quite helpful for web design
    • I can sychronize bookmarks at work and home
    • Scribe allows me to actually save form data! No more timing out and losing everything.
    • There are many more great extensions for all kinds of functions that are freely available at extensionroom.mozdev.org!
  • It’s Open Source so you can edit everything! A lot of things I can actually do without spending a lot of time.

With Firefox I can take charge of browsing, which takes up a lot of my time, and not just float around on the surf. I don’t have to deal with the internet in the way that some big company wants me to, but can really “take back the web” with functionality.

Sleepy Weekend

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 8.21 am

What a weekend! We spent most of Saturday morning sleeping and laying and the rest of the day getting ready to make this massive building for the cat to play on. Sunday, after church, we spent some time taking back all the materials for this building because it was going to cost about as much to build it than buy it online (although ours would have been much bigger). We then went home and took a long nap. I don’t know why I’ve been so tired lately, but it was nice to just relax and not do anything.

I finally finished The Idiot by: Fyodor Dostoyevsky after putting it down a while back. I basically hadn’t read much since we came back from England in early July. I don’t know why it’s hard for me to finish Dostoyevsky’s books, but I’m glad I did and even though I didn’t particularly “like” the ending much, it was certainly a good one. :) Now I’m going to have to go back and skim through the book to refresh myself to the prince’s adventures and separate them from all the Karamazov brothers in my hazy mind.

I got to sleep late last night because of the nap and the book and had vivid dreams again. They had to do something with protecting painted eggs with my life, a big wad of cash, carrying around my dad’s gun (9mm), selling our cat and meeting an old friend who is not doing so well. I don’t remember enough to go into it and don’t even want to try to analyze it.

2004.11.5 Friday

Over the Ledge

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 10.22 am

Inspired by Nathan’s blog, I decided to share an unusually vivid dream I had this morning.

I have been waking up during the night in the past several days due to our cat, Caviar. We think that she is probably in heat and hope that getting her “fixed” later this month will help. The reason I mention it is because it may have something to do with the vividness of the dream and my remembering it.

The dream(s) that I remember started with me going shooting with my grandpa (never did that before) and the next thing I remember is the main plot line:

Jamie and I were at some friends’ house who had several children. My Mom was there and perhaps some others. Dinner was finished and we were sitting around downstairs talking in a living room area. My Mom began to talk about something spiritual (as if teaching a Sunday School class) and was reading excerpts from a book I believe. She suggested we all go outside for some object lesson with the kids. They started out the sliding glass door that was in the room and led out to the back yard.

Jamie and I had been needing to leave to get to work on time or something. [I couldn’t quite calculate the time as I do to figure the deadline for leaving, but knew we should do it soon]. This was a good opportunity, so we began saying our goodbyes and getting ready (don’t know what that entailed). Jamie was waiting in the car, but I was because intrigued with my Mom’s lesson.

Mom had all the kids up top near this ledge and I could hear her down below directing the adults to gather some leaves into a pile. I thought, “Oh, this is that faith thing where you fall into someone’s arms and they’re just adding leaves to make it safer". [All this time I’m watching from a ways back because I was on my way to the car.] My Mom was then at the top giving one of the younger girls directions as she stood on the ledge with her back to the fall. As she fell, I ran over to the ledge to see what was happening. (more…)

Elijah was not taken by a fiery chariot

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 8.23 am

Last night I read 2 Kings chapter 2 and was reminded of one fact I learned in DTS. One of our leaders, Sean pointed out that Elijah was not taken up in a fiery chariot as most people think. Read it for yourself:

“It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both apart; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
-2 Kings 2.11 [WEB]

It’s interesting how we have a certain idea of what the Bible says and even read a passage several times and not realize what it’s saying. There are other things like that as well. It reminds me that I would like to do an SBS (YWAM’s School of Biblical Studies) some time.

2004.11.2 Tuesday

The First Plow

Colored in: — Mr. Green @ 4.10 pm

Holloween brought with it plenty of cold weather as usual here. I had a pretty good idea that we would be getting enough snow to plow, but didn’t know when I would get “the call". It came shortly after 11.00pm when I was just about asleep. I drove through blinding snow in our Cutlass Cierra and made it to work a little before midnight. What a night…morning…day…whatever! There were only three of us and two trucks because Zach (the boss) is out hunting and didn’t bring all the equipment down.

I plowed in a beast of a truck and spent most of the night plowing one road because the snow kept coming down. Some time before sunrise (if you can call it that) I started feeling quite ill, but once it got light I felt better. I did call in to work to let them know I wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t show up which I ended up feeling bad about after I woke up at 3.00 that afternoon. At 8.30am I was relieved by someone fresh and went for breakfast (for some strange reason) where I tried to eat food when all I wanted was bed. The drive home was probably the worst and I nearly wrecked after I sloshed around on some slush without realizing I was speeding. :| Last night I was back at it for a couple hours cleaning up the parking lots.

Today, I’m feeling a bit ill and quite tired today in a sort of “what kind of drugs was I on last night” sort of way. I did have a good talk with Joe (my day job boss) and may be getting a night job that pays more than what I’m doing now. I told him why I called in and that it wouldn’t happen again because it’s importnant to me to be honest. Honesty, in my opinion, is more than not lying. It’s about telling someone truth that you think they want or need to know, not just truth that makes you look better.

At any rate, plowing was kind of fun, very tiring and pays nicely. I plan to try to keep it up for a while. The next time I plow and actually force myself to come into work may tell a different story, though.

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