May 2007
Monthly Archive
Monthly Archive
Posted by nathan on 31 May 2007 | Tagged as: random.
Okay, so after i posted the previous blog about Ron Paul just a few hours ago, i had 11 search hits on “Ron Paul” to my little site in just the first two hours (and they’re still coming, though more slowly now). Considering that’s about the total incoming search hits on my blog on any given day, i would say Ron Paul is something big…very big…
I just read an online gaming firm changed his odds of winning the election from last week:200:1, to 100:1, and now they are at 15:1.
Crazy, huh?
I need to spend some more time figuring out if Ron Paul is a candidate i can back or not. His previous voting history is 100% pro-life, and that is a litmus test for me–that’s about the only issue where i run a litmus test, so he does make it over hurdle one…but i need to research this guy this weekend.
Crazy…liberals going crazy over a classical conservative? very interesting.
Posted by nathan on 31 May 2007 | Tagged as: random.
Have you heard of Ron Paul? This Republican congressman from the 14th district of Texas is hot.
He claims to be a true, classical conservative, which means he has some views which aren’t in line with the republican party, which makes him look very good to liberals. Yes, that’s right, liberals are falling in line behind a conservative? come again? Bill Maher likes Ron Paul?
As of the time i write this, the term ‘Ron Paul’ is the third-most searched-about term, according to technorati. (he has been listed in the top 10 since May 9, 2007).
Check out the informative Wikipedia article here.
NOTE: this is meant as informational and not as an endorsement of Ron Paul.
Posted by nathan on 30 May 2007 | Tagged as: my life., thoughts on god., thoughts on life.
So i’ve really been working on getting in shape the past few weeks. It’s not as easy as i wish it was…i’ve lost about ten pounds in three weeks, and that’s a good thing, but it’s not the most simple thing, it’s hard, and it’s continual hard work.
Just today Perry Noble wrote a wonderful blog entry about abuse. Does food abuse constitute abuse, or is it only alcohol which can be abused? Check out Perry’s blog here, and be sure to let me know your thoughts on this.
Posted by nathan on 29 May 2007 | Tagged as: churches on the ball., thoughts on life.
Follow-up to this post.
So, i just watched a video which showed a church do so-and-so. Now, because this church does so-and-so, does that mean every church does so-and-so, or does it tell us nothing about other churches?
Is one church doing so-and-so necessary and sufficient to conclude that all churches do it?
Is one church not doing so-and-so necessary and sufficient to conclude that no church can do it?
Are are these two (1. one church doing it (or not) and 2. all churches are the same) related?
Posted by nathan on 26 May 2007 | Tagged as: churches on the ball., thoughts on life.
Here is a thought i’ve seen repeated by churched people over and over again:
Because i haven’t seen other churches do so-and-so, it does not exist.
Is there anything fundamentally incorrect with that statement? if so, what?
If there is not anything wrong, how do you support that statement?
Posted by nathan on 25 May 2007 | Tagged as: Tech Stuff.
Joomla! is the powerful content management system (CMS) of choice for more than one million web sites. It is also the CMS used to build New Hope’s website. Joomla! is open source, meaning you have full control over the source code, which is especially beneficial to someone like myself who has strong programming skills. It is also free, which is very nice when working with a very small (or non-existent) budget.
earlier this month, the Joomla! teamannounced the next large step toward release of the next stable version, 1.5. Beta2, code name Red Barchetta. In just about three weeks, the beta2 has had more than 65,000 downloads–and it isn’t even a Release Candidate (RC) yet. A week ago, core team member Wilco suggested a RC could be released in 4-8 weeks.
Congratulations to the Joomla! team on a great accomplishment. This is a very large step forward for the team! Keep up the awesome work!
Posted by nathan on 24 May 2007 | Tagged as: my life.
Nathan, have you been losing weight?
I was just asked this question. How good does that make one feel???
Posted by nathan on 24 May 2007 | Tagged as: thoughts on god., thoughts on life.
Yesterday i posted about learning from my mistakes. Today i wanted to take that a step further.
I see my walk with Christ as a lot of small, mid-course corrections. I know where i’m trying to get to (be perfect, never sin, exactly as Jesus himself is), but i’m far from attaining that goal. Try as i might, i still mess up. But every time i mess up, i hopefully learn from my mistake and can take steps to correct. If I am being convicted of driving 60 mph in a 40 mph zone, the correction is to go 40. Even 59 is better than 60. Once i can go 59, maybe i could go 58…
Small corrections. A large correction is to go 40. That’s okay too, but in some instances, that may be impractical, or a big step–so 59 is better than 60. (i also might add here that going 20 in a 40 is just bull-headed and you’re going to tick off a TON of people and probably have a lot of people wave to you with one finger. (and yes, that was a joke, so lighten up!))
Small, constant, consistent course corrections. The problem comes when i refuse to make any adjustment at all–when i refuse to get better and only want to do 60. That is a problem. I’ll never attain my goal if i refuse to make adjustments to get closer to the goal.
So, rhetorical question: what small steps are you taking toward being more Christ-like today?
Posted by nathan on 23 May 2007 | Tagged as: my life., thoughts on life.
Today i put into practice a new productivity tool, so we’ll see how it goes. So far, it’s been nice.
I am doing just one little thing differently. I now check my E-mail twice a day instead of like 50 times a day. I now check and respond to emails at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (i also do any needed approvals to the church calendar only during these times.)
I’ll keep you informed about how much of a difference this makes…but only at 11 and 3:30…
Posted by nathan on 23 May 2007 | Tagged as: my life., thoughts on life.
I have been walking to and from work every day for a little more than a week now. It certainly changes things.
1. I have more energy first thing when i walk through the door.
2. I no longer can make quick trips home to pick up what i forget.
3. I bring a briefcase to work every day. I didn’t the first day, and wished I had. It was a pain to carry lunch, coffee and other things along.
4. Yesterday I missed an appointment–I have to pay more attention to my PDA’s appointments, because i can no longer run out the door, jump in my car and head off to an appointment.
Really, what I’m getting at, is the importance of learning from my mistakes and making the corrections needed to make sure the mistakes don’t happen every day.
I got to thinking about that–What if I no longer learned from my mistakes? What if i made the same stupid mistakes over and over again?
It seems the more corrections I make, a new, smaller mistake comes up. But i keep on fixing the smaller ones, and they generally keep getting smaller.
Do you make a special effort to learn from your mistakes? Do you make strategic corrections to what isn’t working so you don’t keep messing up in the same way?
Posted by nathan on 22 May 2007 | Tagged as: my life., New Hope stuff.
Yesterday, I attended an all-day workshop entitled ‘Web’.
Kem Meyer lead the seminar, Daryl McMullen (Web Driven Church) spoke briefly, and Jason Powell (Church IT) was there as well.
The seminar wasn’t what i expected going in. And i certainly didn’t leave with what i expected to leave with in hand. It was so much better! Instead of practical, short-term fixes, Kem really instilled in me the importance of long-term planning. She really sent me back to the drawing board on our Communications.
It also reinforced that what i’ve laid down already as a guide already is a good thing, and needed–required–but i still have some work to do at the initial phase of development.
I am really looking forward to putting in to practice the great tools I was empowered with yesterday.
let the fun begin…