Archives for February, 2006
Freehouse Lite :: Now with Nutra Sweet
The first of the Freehouse Lite gatherings are starting on March 5th and will be the first Sunday night of the month. They are different from the main worship.freehouse gatherings in that they are simpler and more social. We have some film in the future, some discussion nights around a topic and some nights there is nothing at all. March 5th is one of those nothing nights. No agenda at all and we are getting together at O’Shea’s Irish Pub at 7:00 p.m. I recommend the potato skins. Todd Peters recommends the Irish nachos. You also can’t go wrong with the poutine. Since it is still March, we will be downstairs.
Technorati Tags : worship.freehouse, Freehouse+Lite, Saskatoon, O’Shea’s+Irish+Pub
Why not work at Apple
Why one designer chose not to take a great job at Apple
Let it be said that the chance to work at Apple, the prestige that comes from doing so, and the challenge of working with a highly talented team was undeniably attractive. But regrettably, it was the other parts of the equation that weren’t, well, quite as attractive.
Amidst a sea of pros and cons, two factors weighed heavily on the decision we’d end up making: cost of living and flexibility of schedule.
Having grown up in the Bay Area and still in touch with family and friends, it came as no surprise that housing is ridiculously expensive. One can talk all day about the economics of supply and demand and how the market is merely working towards equilibrium, but when the same humble home I have now in Utah is priced at five times the cost in Cupertino — nearly a million dollar home — I’m left only to wonder where the buck will stop. Or in this case, where it doesn’t.
Further, housing in the area isn’t kind to a 6-member family. Being a sole provider of income for that same 6-member family isn’t a kind proposal either. On top of all this, we were considering scenarios which reduced commute time, limiting ourselves to homes closer to Apple headquarters, and therefore driving the overall cost of living even higher.
But enough about money. How about the intangible pros and cons? Flexibility of schedule? Time with family? Freedom to speak at conferences, author articles, and the like on the clock instead of off?
Knowing I’d have to dedicate myself 100% at Apple, this would have resulted in nearly a total reduction in blogging, conference speaking, and the like. I did the work-a-long-day-go-home-to-hours-of-side-work thing for years before going solo, and the daily grind took its toll on me physically and mentally. And the family, too. Needless to say, I’m done robbing hours from the wife and kids.
While work is going quite well and showing no signs of slowing, I don’t know that I’ll bring in more revenue freelancing this year than I would have at Apple. But increased time to be with family, pursue hobbies, and live a life a bit less hectic isn’t exactly something you can pin a dollar amount to.
You are going to mock me for this but during my sick leave, I hated having the time off to spend with Mark and Wendy. The physical pain totally obliverated almost everything else and I ended up resenting how little time I had to myself. I had today and yesterday off to goof off with Mark, have coffee with some friends, and run some errands and I just realized how much I enjoy not being married to work yet still able to enjoy it. I am sure there is a price on it but I probably will never realize how much that is.
Blogging as a community
I had a discussion the other night via GTalk with a friend of mine (I have a policy of not posting names of e-mailers and IM conversation partners) about my fatigue over keeping up this weblog and he brought up the point that he would miss the community that he has built if he shut his down.
I was thinking some more about this and I wonder if blogging has being our virtual veranda for many of us. For those of you who have been to the worldwide headquarters of jordoncooper.com on the corner of Avenue D and 35th in Saskatoon, you know that the front of our house is your basic five step and you are on the front door kind of entrance. While we have planted a hedge and we have a funky circular hedge in the front, not a lot of action happens up there until it is dark in the summer when Wendy and will sit out there and drink some iced tea while hoping the house will cool down so we can sleep. All of our socializing happens in the backyard. Since we have a corner lot, it isn’t as big of a deal for us as we see our neighbors out for a walk and we have a lot of opportunities to chat and say hello. For most houses that don’t have verandas or large front porches, most of our home lives are pretty private. Six foot fences and two car garages keep the family life away from prying eyes (growing up in Lawson Heights, one of our neighbors liked to tan naked on his back deck in full view of us and our neighbors backyards. That drove all of us to the front yards and some to counseling I think)
I wonder if the reason we create these blogs is not so much to fulfill the promise of personal publishing but as an online place to hang out on a front porch. Maybe that’s why so many people keep showing up and posting, we have loyalty to our community and our readers. Today I was at Market Mall and the place was packed with senior citizens drinking hundreds of cups of coffee. Why do they keep showing up? The uncomfortable chairs, the chance to chat with Wendy at Safeway? It’s because of their friends and it drives coffee rows all over the world. Maybe that is what this is. We keep showing up everyday because we know that everyone else does and it makes us feel a little less alone.
Technorati Tags : community, blogging
Renee Alston on her Moleskine
Renee Alston, publisher of i took the red pill and Stumbling Toward Faith (Zondervan, Harper Collins 2004) has a great essay about her Moleskine. I remember when Darryl posted about moving from his Palm to a Moleskine, the tech geek cried out in pain. How can he go from something so wonderful as a Palm to paper. After he sent me one and I started to use it, I realized that while the Palm is wonderful for organizing contacts and dates, it is terrible for taking freehand notes in. The Moleskine for me is great as it fits in my pockets and at work, I can scribble down a series of thoughts and they are all with me later.
I have also realized that I am finding myself using less and less technology lately. Something about paper and a pen that I find appealing when I am trying to organize my thoughts and create. It was an accidental discovery but one that I am enjoying. Who knows, I may or may not let you know how it goes.
Technorati Tags : moleskine, Renee+Alston
Who can you trust?
One of the smartest guys I know, John O’Keefe has these thoughts on trust…
just recently i was in a discussion with a person i trusted, and had a great respect for. we disagreed on a topic, and that was cool with me. i had no problem discussing the matter, and i admit we both had strong feelings about the topics - and the way the topics where delivered. but the problem came at was now the end of our conversation, when he mentioned - after some nine emails [there were three short emails after this where i said thank you, but no thank you], sharing things that were some what personal in nature at times - that he had been “bbc’ing” some of his friends all our emails. now, i most likely would not have cared if i knew this from the start; in fact i have been involved in emails where this was expressed in the front end and i was good with it. i know i would not have had a different point of view - but i might not have shared personal information as i did. this seemingly small event, this short volley of emails ended in a violation of trust at core levels - so, where is the trust? what happened to trusting people?
there is a natural fallout to this kind of thing;
first, can i trust others? while i have lost trust in that person, i now have a different trust level for others. think about it; if he can do it to me, why not others? so, his actions not only effect my views of him, his actions effect my relationships with others as well, now and in the future. i see this as the “the butterfly effect of sin.” his actions cause me to distrust others, his actions effect the relationships i develop from this point on - and that is just wrong. his small action, cause the larger disturbance in my reality.
second, can he ever build back trust? it is easy to discount this and just toss it up to a person who just did not know - but when confronted with how i felt, my feelings were discounted and he simply wanted to “support his view” - and stand by his point. so, what do i do if he emails me again? do i respond? do i trash? do i just answer with a “thank you, but no thank you?” if redemption is sought, how can one tell that redemption is real, has meaning, seeks forgiveness?
thrid, in the reality of it all does this matter? it is hard to see this little event as anything that counts, but i have to say that it caused me to get very upset. it hurt, it was a trust that was violated and i tend to think it does matter.
Years ago I would have said that one could build back trust in almost any circumstances but after learning a lot of life lessons the hard way, I am not so sure. What causes a person to do something stupid like this in one situation will probably lead them to do it again in a similar circumstances. People don’t tend to change very quickly. Sadly when someone feels justified in doing something like this the first time, they will probably feel justified to do it again. As for John’s thoughts on trusting others, I tend to think that for every idiot in our life that betrays our trust, there are those that have the honor and the love to keep it.
Technorati Tags : trust, John+O’Keefe
Is the emerging church really any different?
This has been a discouraging post for me because I fear he is correct…
- The conversation still looks to much like the old conversation, white, male and academic. The dominant culture still dominates.
- The values behind the conversation aren’t readily expressed in actions. No generous orthopraxis to go with the generous orthodoxy.
- The lexicon of the white European theological framework which still dominates. There is very little inclusion of black theologians and the theological framework of people of color. People of color seem to be included in the conversation only if they are willing to use this language and framework. It seems we all need to read NT Wright in order to have any credibility.
- Talk, talk and more talk. My experience is we love to talk about this stuff but other than retro worship stuff we don’t get around to acting on it. Even so talk about diversity has never come to the fore. I want to be the church and act like the church not just talk like the church.
Technorati Tags : emerging+church
Another side of Christianity
Blogger Buzz linked to this blog written from the perspective of a homeless family.
We spent the first official night as members of the Guilford Interfaith Hospitality Network. As I’ve mentioned before, there is only one other family present in the program, a single mother with two little girls, one about Nessie’s age. The fact that there is only one other family in the program at present should not lead one to think that the problem of homelessness has been blown out of proportion. To wit, see the statistics here, and a response to my initial posts at Chosen Fast here. This, to say the least, is a huge problem, but more on that later.
We were taken from the Day Center to a large local church. The volunteer staff had already prepared rollaway beds for each of us and had a meal prepared. The volunteers are some of the nicest people I ever met, so nice in fact, I actually felt guilty about them having to stay and deal with us. It’s always bugged me having to ask for help, and even more so now that I think of these good people spending time away from their own friends and families to be with us. Still, they seem to have no problem with it, and I would observe, have even come to expect it.
Pay attention, boys and girls; these people are what being Christians are all about. Not Pat Robertson’s political abortions or Jerry Falwell’s overly-smug social dictums, but people helping people as commanded by God. “Out of their works will you know them” I think is how it goes.
Technorati Tags : Christianity, homelessness
iPod Nano
Wendy bought me an early birthday gift. We had been talking about selling our 20 gb Nomad Zen and getting an iPod Mini or even a shuffle. With our lives changing and no longer four hours in a car every Sunday, we wanted something more portable. Today while in Future Shop, we saw that they had an open box special on some iPod nanos for dirt cheap. We found a white one and decided to get it. After we sell our Nomad Zen, we should come out slightly ahead and still have the Nano.
Jason Kottke offers up 50 things that you can do with your iPod.
Technorati Tags : Apple, iPod+Nano, iPod, Nomad+Zen
The end times
I am Free Methodist and to be honest we have a couple of weaknesses. One of the minor weaknesses is that we don’t care that much about eschatology that much. Among Methodists, I care less about eschatology rather than even your average Methodist which means that I have never touched let alone read one of the Left Behind books. Over the years I have read about auto executives and department of energy officials in Canada and the U.S. pushing for policies that would damage the environment so we can trash the earth a little faster so Jesus will come back sooner. I generally file those stories under “How do idiots like that get high ranking jobs?”
The other day I bought Ideas: Brilliant Thinkers Speak Their Mind, which is a compilation of essays and talks from people that have been featured on CBC Radio’s Ideas program (which desparately needs a podcast). The first essay is about how eschatology has played a much bigger role in history than what historians like to give it credit for. Everything from the crusades (we need to be Jerusalem when Jesus comes back) to rooting out the anti-Christ (c’mon, we all know it is Bill Gates) have been driven by a desire to bring about the end times a little faster.
The essay tries to answer the question of why the fascination with the end times and I think it misses the mark a bit as it looks at the question from a academic sociological perspective. Since eschatology is primarily an obsession with evangelical Christians, I thought I would give a short theological response. I think the reason the obsession exists is that it is our attempt to be God. It is an attempt to force God’s hand. In some ways it is us playing the role of Satan and offering up the temptation to Christ in the desert. How can I force God to react and come back. It isn’t an act of faith, it our attempts to get God to reveal Himself and taking a really wrong approach in doing so.
Technorati Tags : escatology, Left+Behind, end+times, theology
Monday’s Open Thread
- Malcolm Gladwell is finally blogging via
- David Emerson is confident that he would win as a Tory
- Top 10 New Cars of 2006 :: Chevrolet has brought back the Camaro.
- WSJ thinks that there is some life left in the blogs…
- The story of the Canadian couple murdered in Mexico keeps changing by the hour :: The Mexican authorities are being made look incompetant by Stockwell Day so that is saying something…
- Reporters on war footing with PMO
- Indie bands turn down money from Hummer :: Washington D.C.’s Trans Am were offered $180,000 by Hummer for the song “Total Information Awareness.” “We figured it was almost like giving music to the Army, or Exxon,” guitarist Philip Manley said. They said no. The post-punk band LiLiPUT, who broke up more than 20 years ago, could have pocketed $50,000 for “Heidi’s Head” after making close to nothing during their five-year existence. But they, too, said no. “At least I can sleep without nightmares,” Marlene Marder reasoned. via
The State of the Blog 2006
Over the last couple of weeks and months I have been thinking about this site and what I wanted to do with it. It has been around in some form or another since 1996 when I launched my first personal site on GeoCities. It started just a couple months after I started pastoring in Spiritwood and was a tool I relied on heavily when I was at both Spiritwood and Lakeview Church. For me, it was an online database of resources, links, and unexplored ideas.
By the time I quit Lakeview Church, it had taken on a life of its own but recently I have been questioning it’s worth. I am not pastoring and the need to keep track of my links can be handled pretty easily by del.icio.us Yesterday a friend of mine sent me this in an e-mail.
First-annual Atrocious GM Summit
It explains how things went so wrong in Toronto…
Technorati Tags : basketball, NBA
Technorati Favorites Woes
I took some time adding all of my favorite sites to Technorati Favorites the other night. I like the Kinja like interface for Technorati Favorites but as I was looking at it, it seems like Technorati’s problems with indexing sites is rearing another ugly head. A number of the weblogs that I added, Technorati isn’t updating. While the problem is especially pronounced with Typepad powered blogs, Real Live Preacher isn’t updated either. It seems like Technorati’s problems with search are continuing…
Technorati Tags : Technorati+Favorites, Technorati
Saturday Open Thread
- The rise of the cafe start-up
- The Future of the Blog
- The Hip Hop Church in the WSJ :: Ginkworld and TheOoze.com gets a mention :: sn’t this Religion Lite, with graffiti? Quite the opposite, insists Mrs. Tickle. “This is religion like it hasn’t been lived in 300 years,” including a renewed interest in fasting. “They are going back to a religion that costs them something. In many ways they are going back to first-century Christianity.”
- A PC case that looks like a iPod
- The MC Hammer blog :: Yeah, you heard it right. MC Hammer has a weblog now.
- Hillary Clinton hires Paul Begala and James Carville for her Senate race :: Officially, he and his long-time partner, Paul Begala, have been hired by Mrs Clinton to raise funds for her campaign for re-election as a senator for New York state in November. But as she already has nearly £10 million in the bank - against the £138,000 raised by her probable Republican challenger - she seems to be trying for the White House. According to campaign finance laws, any money she has left in the bank from her Senate campaign can be used for a presidential run.While polls suggest nearly a third of Americans remain wary of a woman in the White House, and recent public appearances suggest she will have difficulty “connecting” with Middle America, her ratings continue to rise. She is the out-and-out favourite for the 2008 Democratic nomination with one poll suggesting she has actually gained a few points from a Republican bid to paint her as angry and irrational.
Microsoft End User Agreement
For those of you who are Microsoft users, you will want to check out the new Microsoft End User Agreement.
Technorati Tags : Microsoft
Our Cabin Weblog- Recently listened to music
- David Gray – Be Mine October 19, 2008
- David Gray – December October 19, 2008
- David Gray – Knowhere October 19, 2008
- David Gray – Real Love October 19, 2008
- David Gray – Last Boat To America October 19, 2008
- Recently additions to my library
- Messy Faith: Daring to Live by Grace by A. J. Gregory October 28, 2008
- Rediscovering Church: The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church by Lynne Hybels October 26, 2008
- The Teeth of the Tiger, A Novel by Tom Clancy October 26, 2008
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell October 26, 2008
- The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy October 26, 2008
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