Archives for May, 2007
Just call me Lance Armstrong.
For those of you who read and enjoy Dave King’s weblog know that by this time this year, he has usually biked from here to the moon twice which is kind of discouraging for those of us who are quite lazy. Today I start riding my bike the 2.5 kilometres to work which isn’t much. The challenge isn’t so much the ride to work but keeping my bike from being stolen while at work. We have a locked compound at the back that is on camera but even there bikes get stolen. I bought a heavy duty lock and I may or may not keep my bike inside while working late. The idea is to get some exercise, cut back on greenhouse emissions and find some quiet time for a couple of minutes a day. We will see how it goes. Wendy and I are riding together in the mornings as well (she bought a bike last week to replace the one stolen while we were out for a Mother’s Day brunch in 06)
Update: It didn’t go well. My legs hurt after a lousy 2.5 kilometres! So. Out. Of. Shape! Also, while at work, a couple of people tried to steal it before I moved it inside.
Pray for my quick healing
Tonight one of the guys around work had some Harley Davidson dog gear for sale for cheap. I bought Maggi a Harley Davidson denim jacket which means that tonight when I get off of work I get to try to get her to wear it. Considering I was lucky to survive putting socks on her one night, this may be going too far.
May 27th :: Mustard Seed vs. McWorld Resources
Some of the resources that we used for the May 27th Freehouse, Mustard Seed vs. McWorld.
Contextless Links
- Bush the Neo-Liberal :: Read it yourself :: via
- Mark Cuban on the future of music :: I would say the music industry has put itself in the position of being incredibly stupid. They are dependent on a format, the CD, that few people listen to. Although this is a guess, my guess is that the majority of CD purchases are then put in a PC and imported into an MP3 or other format for consumption on a mobile device. Few people buy a CD and just listen to it. Which means you can say goodbye to impulse buying of CDs. We are in a market where, whether we like it or not, the music industry has tethered us to our PCs. The easiest way to buy, the easiest way to get the greatest utillity of their products is via the PC. Thats a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE mistake. Did i say that it was a huge mistake to make the PC an inevitable part of the music buying process. Our ability to consume music has gotten incredibly easy over the past 25 years. From the walkman to the CD Walkman to the IPod, we have ditched the album (to the chagrin of milk crate manufacturers everywhere) and evolved to the point where an 80gb IPod has the capacity to carry every song we might imagine listening to over the course of our lifetime. So easy that it revived Apple and catapulted the company from an innovative niche PC marketer to a technology leader. So easy that we consume more music than ever before, yet total sales are in a tailspin.
- Why I don’t like or respect Kobe Bryant :: Kobe has to turn on everyone at some point, cut people and ties in almost every relationship in his life,” a former Bryant associate said Monday. “He turns on people because he believes he’s not getting what he deserves. He has a one-track mind that thinks the world revolves around him and doesn’t take a second to consider the costs, or what’s the best way to handle something. “This is the same stuff he did with (Shaquille O’Neal). He would leak the story, instigate it and then not understand why it never worked. Shaq is still more beloved than Kobe, and he will always be in L.A. People have seen this all before with Kobe. This never turns out right for him.” Bryant has stayed true to character in this embarrassing episode, going back and forth on his demands over the weekend. First, he ripped Kupchak, insisting that he had been, more or less, incompetent on the job. Then he told ESPN the Magazine that, unless West was brought back to run the Lakers, he wanted a trade. Once that got out, Bryant must have understood he had far overplayed his hand, done devastating damage to the mythical rehabilitation of his image.
- Maggi has her own website now on Dogster
- CEOs vs. Slaves
- Once you lose your professional sports team, you lose it for at least a generation.
- Tips for taking the train :: via
Church Signs
You all know the customizable church signs that I am talking about. The ones with a pithy, cliched, and often condemning message on it to encourage people to come to church but don’t work. Why isn’t obvious to everyone that it would be far more effective to use that space to promote your website? There are some churches in Saskatoon on some high traffic streets that would be much better served with a website being advertised rather than telling people they are going to hell (which is another big issue) and while many advertise their sites, so many do not.
Forget just those with pithy sayings, there are many events that I find interesting and I would like to find more information about but… no website to give me more information.
My resonate.ca e-mail isn’t working. If you need to get a hold of me, try jordoncooper AT gmail.com
Not a Leader
I have never minded Stephen Harper that much as Prime Minister, he hasn’t really inspired me to dream great dreams but he isn’t as evil as some have said it is (he isn’t a neo-conservative) but this kind of stuff really turns me off the Conservative Party. The blog by Kyoto seems especially juvenile. Sadly, more often then not, it works.
Wendy Cooper: Novelist
I don’t know if I mentioned this but Wendy has spent the last several months writing a novel and is well into it. She is wondering on the best way an unpublished author can bring a book to life.
Here are the options.
- Shop it to publishers, deal with an overwhelming about of rejection and if she is lucky, a small Canadian one would pick it up and maybe be distributed through Amazon.ca, McNally Robinson, and Chapters with no promotional help.
- Publish it on CafePress.com or Lulu.com and promote it online. The idea would be to get feedback on the novel from readers and maybe reshop it to the publishers later on.
- Sell it as a PDF/ebook.
Anyone have any thoughts or advice?
So sick
Am I sick today. Went home last night, had a nap and then did some last minute stuff for tonight’s Freehouse and then went to bed. Woke up a couple hours later with the flu, fever, shakes, and I was either delirious for part of the night or Chewbacca is renting out part of my basement.
Kiva
Wendy and I are now international bankers
We are lending micro development loans through Kiva. It’s pretty easy. You sign up, choose an entrepeneur and then lend some money though Kiva. It lists default rates, success rates and all of the information you need to make an informed decision. You transfer your loan to Kiva via PayPal and they handle repayment to you. They have raised over $6 million in loans from 60,000 lenders. I like it.
This Sunday
As most of you blog readers know, this Sunday is Mustard Seed vs. McWorld, a worship installation at Albert Community Centre put together by your friendly neighborhood Church of the Exiles. This is the last of our beta gatherings and we will be doing a much bigger launch this fall for the neighborhood with some more advertising and stuff to let the hood know we are there. C’mon out and if you have a blog, link here and help let the world know.
Which lottery pick did the Raptors get?
I was watching the draft lottery for a second and you know you are a Raptor fan when you are trying to see which pick the Raptors got before it clicks in, “They made the playoffs and don’t get a pick.” Then the realization hits you, my team isn’t that bad right now.
Microfinancing Information
Over at the Church of the Exiles website, I put together some information on how to get involved in microfinancing that we will be using for the next Freehouse. Wendy and I have given through Modest Needs in the past and we are looking at doing the same thing globally. It’s pretty easy to get involved so check out some of the links on the post.
Contextless Links
- Crunching the numbers on church membership :: The numbers are generally inflated
- Dan Sheffield is evaluating local theologies
- The best review on Spiderman 3 that I have seen so far.
- Al Gore has a new book called the Assault on Reason :: I can now see him running in 2008. Check out Gore’s amazing Mac setup in his office.
- How Derek Powazek and Heather Champ got screwed out of JPG Magazine
- d.Construct 2007 :: I love the design of this site.
- Larry Flynt eulogizes Jerry Falwell
- Learning to spell is not a prerequisite of being elected as an Alberta MLA
Talking about living life
So where did all the content go? Looking back 10 months or so, we started the process of planting Church of the Exiles and I started working full time at the Salvation Army. While I do have internet access at work, I don’t have a lot of time to surf the web although if our office. My bookmarks are Flickr (for wallpapers), Saskatoon weather (helps me make decisions on housing for people), Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! and Google News (self explanatory), and some links to frequently asked questions (what time buses run, library hours, job search stuff), that sort of thing. The reason I don’t surf that much is that for most of my shifts, there is a steady stream of people that need something or the other and that is what I am paid to take care of. Like most jobs, there is also some paperwork to be done, databases to input stuff into, and some chatting with co-workers. That is 40 hours of my week spent at work.
Other than that, the Church of the Exiles is a labour of love and there is stuff that needs to be done by myself and as a group. That takes up time. Many of the things that I have blogged and written about will hopefully come to life in Exiles but it takes time and a lot of small steps. A friend of mine keeps saying, “I always overestimate how much stuff I can accomplish in the short run but am amazed by how much stuff I get done over the longhaul.” Despite that, a lot of steps need to be taken in the short run for Exiles and more hours taken up.
As I write this post, I am reminded of the underground seminary some of us are trying to start and the work that it needs to keep it moving.
A couple of weeks ago when I started shopping for Mark’s birthday presents, I felt sick to my stomach. When I turned seven my relationship with my father got a lot worse and he was gone by the time I was eight. By Christmas his last year around, I remember thinking he hated me and when he left, I blamed myself. While those feelings are from the past, I want Mark’s next trip around the earth to be better than mine was so I find myself spending more time with him. By the time he is eight, he will probably be sick and tired of having me around but for now I am reminded of my past and the desire to make sure his future is different. Plus, we have a slingshot to master and some knives to carve things with.
So what does that mean for the blog? It means that I am spending a lot more time living life then doing it. I enjoy being a pundit but I much rather enjoy starting things and living life.
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
-
Search
Recent Photos
