Close, But No Cigar

Well, my first pick for American Idol didn’t win, but I feel good picking someone who at least made it into the top three.  Syesha picked up her game a bit too late to overcome the lead the Davids had on her.  I still like her, but it was the right decision.

Our last update on Fantasy Idol before the final show:

1. MomH (56)
   Jaime (56)
   Annie (56)
2. Karen (43)
3. Alicia (3
   Sue (3
4. Kathy (36)
5. Jason (34)
6. Tracy (29)

So Annie and Jaime’s hopes ride with David Cook.  If Cook wins Idol, Annie and Jaime win our first Fantasy Idol competition.  If Archuleta wins, it’s a tie.

Updating the Scripture Memory

About a week ago now, I purchased a new Bible from my friends at Life Resources. It’s the first paper Bible in English (2 in Greek) that I’ve purchased in about 3 years. I decided to give the English Standard Version a try. Until I got to First Trinity, I always used the New International Version. Pastor likes the New American Standard Bible. The ESV is closer to the NASB literal–or word for word–translation style than the NIV, but promises to be more readable like the NIV.

So far, I’m enjoying it. It feels familiar and different all at the same time. I’m beginning to see why my grandparents made such a fuss about the switch from KJV to NIV while I was growing up. If I decide to switch to the ESV permanently, I’ll have to re-learn all the passages I’ve memorized, probably over the course of years. To help decide, I’m working through 1 Timothy with an eye for what Paul tells Timothy about being a leader in the church, but also in contexts of the family, among friends and in the world.

I’ll be posting my thoughts here as I go. If you’d like to follow along, you can read the ESV at Bible Gateway. As we go, feel free to share your insights in the comments. Start out by reading the entirety of 1 Timothy (6 chapters) for a big-picture view of what God would have you learn.

200th Post

I must admit, when I started this journey, I wasn’t sure I’d actually make it this far. As I said in my very first post (which was actually posted on my TypePad blog, a for-pay competitor to the for-free WordPress), I didn’t consider myself an avid blogger at the time, but figured I should give it a serious go again after at least 2 failed attempts on Live Journal. Some interesting stats on my first 200 posts:

General Stats

• Blog Hits: 7,144
• Best Day Ever: 134 (Monday, February 25, 2008)
• Comments: 410
• Categories: 15
• Tags: 383
• Spam: 654
• Banners: 2 (First, Second)

Top Posts (Views)

1. NYMC: Day 2 (113)
2. NYMC: Day 3 (Abridged) (97)
3. Hopening The Heavens (83)
4. Pseudo-Christian (77)
5. Fantasy Idol: The Contestants (75)

Top Search Terms (Views)

1. birthday (86)
2. beautiful places (35)
3. earth today (29)
4. fantasy idol (25)
5. neil diamond christian (16)

Top Referrers (Views)

1. firsttrinity.com/staff.htm (230)
2. firsttrinity.com (227)
3. morethandodgeball.com(175)
4. sweetsoup.wordpress.com(173)
5. mail.google.com(81)

In celebration of the 200th post, I’ve updated the blog layout and design, moving from my original 2-column theme to a 3-column one. If you’re reading in an RSS Reader or Email, you’ll need to visit the actual site to see the changes.

Next big milestone: 500 posts, predicted at my current rate (.93 posts/day) to happen on February 16, 2009, one day after my Mom’s birthday. My bet is I get there sooner. Leave your guess in the comments and we’ll see how I do! I’m going with Dec. 15 (and I promise not to drive up the post-count to get there!).

Battle of the Davids

I wasn’t that into AI tonight.  Archuleta’s first song was probably my favorite.  Cook’s last one was a close 2nd.  I also enjoyed hearing Switchfoot’s “Welcome to the Planet.”  Syesha was good, but not good enough to beat out the two favorites.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Ummm… No.

Strange thing happened to me this evening.  I was about to go into a Workcamp Adult Leadership Team meeting when a young man asked if he could hang some posters up for a community event.  I asked what he was advertising and he got a poster out for me to look at.  The event?  A seminar for parents talking about how to raise your kids without religion.  Seriously? 

“I don’t think we’re interested, but thanks for stopping by.”  I wish I had more time to talk with him to see why he thought it was a good idea to advertise at our church.

The History of You

A few weeks back, I hosted an Internet safety course for parents.  One of the reasons we have be serious about what our kids do with technology and the Internet is that your history never goes away once its online somewhere.  Try as you might, you simply can’t stamp it out.

Darcy sent me a link recently about girls taking nude photos of themselves and forwarding them to their boyfriends.  What happens when those pictures make it on the Internet and everyone at their school starts talking about them?  What are the long-term damages, nevermind the short-term ones?

Thankfully, our history with God is different.

Happy Birthday Jaime!

Jaime turns 31 today.  Leave your well-wishes in the comments!

Vroom!

Our home computer has been running slowly for a long time now.  I tried erasing everything and starting from scratch about 3 months ago but the problem still persisted.  I didn’t think the computer was that old, but when I checked my purchase history at NewEgg, it showed I was already pushing past 4 years on this PC.  $360 later I had an almost entirely new machine.  For the techies who read (is that just Joe?), I ended up with:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 Allendale 2.4GHz
• 4 GBs Ram
• Pioneer DVD +/- RW
• nVidia GeForce 8400GS 256
• Abit AB9 Pro Motherboard

After about 4 hours, the machine was up and running with Windows XP installed and patched up, Network/Video/Sound drivers updated, and Firefox installed.  This morning I got down to tweaking Firefox with my favorite add-ons.  Next up is getting Microsoft Office and iTunes installed.

Swingin’ On the Cheerios

Camp Pioneer 2008

Some of the Crossroads gang spent Saturday at Camp Pioneer on the ropes course doing team building exercises.  Leah did a great job leading us through 5 different elements on the course.  We spent the most time trying to get across the bowl of cereal by swinging on the cheerios (ok, tires) that were “floating” in the bowl.  It was really hard, taking us around an hour, but we all made it across safely.

I loved watching our students work together to problem solve.  It was great to see everyone contributing and giving it their best, even though it was really demanding physically.  The weather was perfect for our event, though it was a bit muddy (check this picture out!  That’s mud all over the shoes.)  Lots of fun pictures.  I’m thinking about having this one made into a poster to decorate my new office.

Sunny Days, Keeping The Clouds Away

It’s beautiful outside. I know that because I have an office with a window now. I’ve nearly completed the move to my new office between Sue and Pastor Chuck. I really like the setup, but as I feared, sunny days carry with them a slight problem, most notably in the late afternoon. The sun is streaming in on my monitors, causing awful glare. I’m willing to live with it, of course. I just need to get used to it.

Jason’s New Office

Tim was kind enough to buy me a writing desk so I have a flat surface to pile things on. Alicia doesn’t think I can keep it clean until she returns from vacation on Tuesday, May 20th. I’ll show her! I pledge to wait until May 21 to start messing up this office!

I’m now accepting ideas for creative decorations for the office.  If you have a good one, send it along!