January 2008

Monthly Archive

Soccer League Recap

Posted by on 30 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: my life.

Soccer TeamJust one final recap of my recent excursion on a seven-week indoor soccer league. This time, I have the photo to prove I was a part! In the front is Terry, who scored five of our six goals during the tournament. In the middle row, left to right, is: Guy, Sergio, Scott, Bo and Sean. In the back row, myself, Troy, Justin, Jose and Jose.

My Soccer Tourney

Posted by on 28 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: my life.

Friday night was my 30 & Over league’s tournament. (Yeah…I’m barely old enough to play in that league!)

There are eight teams in the league, which means there are three rounds–quarter finals, semi-finals, and the championship game.

We were 4-2, and were the 3-seed. We won our quarter-final match fairly easily.
In the semi-finals, we scored the first goal in about 18 seconds, and jumped to a quick 2-0 lead. That lead quickly went to a 2-4 deficit, and I was starting to get concerned. We scored two more quick goals to tie it at 4-4. With about three minutes left in the game, we scored again, 5-4. We were very happy about that goal. We played keep-away the last three minutes or so, and won the game. That one was a nail biter!
It was also in this semi-final that I hyper-extended (bent backwards) my knee. I’m still recovering from that…my knee isn’t swollen any more, and doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as it did on Saturday!

Not sure why, but the 1- and 2-seeds played each other in the other quarter-final game. The 1-seed (who went in 6-0) defeated the 2-seed (5-1), 3-2 in an overtime victory (Overtime is 5 on 5 with no goalies).

So in the championship match, we faced the 1-seed, the team that beat us badly in our match up the second game of the season, 5-0. They were expecting a pretty easy win.
Due to the coaching of Scott, we were able to put together a good game. They scored first, 1-0. We tied the game with about 10 minutes remaining, so it was 1-1. With 90 seconds remaining, they were able to score the winning goal. We lost 1-2.
But I was okay with the loss, because it was no 5-0 blowout. I actually had a ton of fun!

After the game Emily and I joined teammates Terry, Scott (my former high school mate), Troy and Sean, along with Scott and Troy’s wives, at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was great fun. I had a very wonderful night on Friday. We ended up getting home around 1 a.m., and it was worth it! It was so much fun!

I am taking the next session off, so make sure my knee has plenty of time to heal. I need to let the ligaments tighten back up and the muscles to strengthen again.

Getting Soft

Posted by on 26 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: my life.

Water SoftenerEmily and I recently had a water softener installed. Waterloo doesn’t have the hardest of water–we could always get soap to suds up–but we had a considerable amount of lime buildup. After we renovated our kitchen, our new kitchen sink and faucet started to develop lime scale.
We decided it was worthwhile to us to fix our lime problem to preserve the ‘newness’ of the kitchen sink and faucet.

We can really tell a difference with the soft water. Every time I take a shower, it’s like I can’t get the soap of my skin…my skin is so slippery. The installer, Steve Jennings, told me this would happen, and was because with hard water, your skin holds on to the elements (lime) in the water, so the skin feels more rough. With soft water, there aren’t any hard elements in the water, so the skin is actually clean.
It feels nice. I’m still adjusting.

Surefire Failure

Posted by on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: thoughts on life.

The first recipient (1917) of the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting, Herbert Bayard Swope, said this:

I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.

What do you think? Will that bring you surefire failure?

Jesus Complacency

Posted by on 24 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: random., thoughts on god.

Several days ago, I was looking through my blog reader, catching up on posts people had made.
I subscribe to around 25 blogs, some are friends, two are marketing gurus, and several are pastors of churches.

When browsing the different pastors, I thought I clicked on one certain pastor (who will remain nameless), and started reading, and the guy was completely not his normal self–he talked about Jesus. After I checked, it wasn’t wasn’t who I thought it was–it was instead Perry Noble (who talks about Jesus all the time).

I understand different bloggers have different personalities, but what happened was the pastor I thought I was reading has NEVER talked about Jesus, so when I thought he did, it was a shocker.

I never processed this before…some people just never talk about Jesus–they never talk about their faith, even. What a travesty to have a reputation as a pastor who doesn’t talk about Jesus on their so-called ministry blog.

FYI–the pastor in question is NOT in my links in my sidebar, and it’s no one I’ve ever met, so If you’re a friend of mine, I am NOT talking about you! 🙂 You are good… And don’t bother to ask who it was, because I refuse to talk bad about fellow Christians.

May I never become complacent in my walk with Jesus. May people always know I am a Jesus-follower first, and a man in ministry second. And may I never forget that.

Playing Soccer in 2008….

Posted by on 21 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: my life.

This year, for the first time, I picked up playing in a soccer league. Not just any soccer league, but a 30-and-over league. I figure since I don’t have a bunch of young energetic punks running circles around me, I can keep up decently.
This past Friday night, our team, Espresso, completed our regular season at 4-2. My wife was kind enough to snap a few photos during the game. Shooting through dirty old plexiglas greatly decreases photo quality, which I’m sure you’ll notice…
I have enjoyed playing soccer this league. My knees, on the other hand, are tired of getting scrapped up. This past Friday, I got a massive rug burn. This wasn’t the normal rug burn (I get rug burn every week). This one was BAD! It was bleeding, and it’s still a raw 1″ circle. I have it covered with a massive band-aid and Neosporin (the cheap, generic kind). Hopefully I will be able to run by this weekend’s tournament.

Reason for Hope Seminar

Posted by on 21 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: random., thoughts on god.

I have made plans with my great friend Todd Helmkamp to attend the Reason for Hope seminar on February 1 & 2 at Trinity Evangelical Church (directions) in Fort Wayne.
This seminar will feature Dr. Craig Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. Blomberg was one of the people interviewed in The Case for Christ.

Todd and I are looking forward to this conference, and would like to invite you to join us, too! The more the merrier! We have invited Todd F. and Jeremiah O., but haven’t heard final confirmations from them yet. [EDIT]Todd and Jeremiah are BOTH going to join us![/EDIT] Perhaps you would be in for a good intense lecture on apologetics from one of the world’s greatest, we’d love to have you join us as well. There are also some group sessions, too!

The cost is $20. You will need to register yourself, via snail mail. For your convenience, I have included a PDF version of the brochure here: Reason for Hope Brochure.

Microsoft’s Invalid Standard?

Posted by on 21 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Tech Stuff.


Microsoft if attempting to push through a ‘standard’ which is invalid code (Something Microsoft is notorious for doing anyway.)
If ISO (International Organization for Standardization) adopts a standard which directly is invalid to other standards, what good are standards? We could be in for trouble…

Microsoft could lose billions of dollars (they are already starting to lose millions) if this standard is not adopted, so you can believe they are fighting for the adoption.
But then the purist (those who believe a standard should be a standard and not a ‘general guidance’ who are opposed.

Me? I’m against the passing of a standard which allows the compromise of already existing standards!

Join the petition to stop ISO from adopting the OOXML ‘standard’.

My Windows Machine Got a Facelift.

Posted by on 21 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: my life., Tech Stuff.

My New DesktopSo here’s a screenshot of my Windows XP machine’s new look. Do you like it?

Before this facelift, my desktop had literally 50 icons on it. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a ‘before’ screenshot!) Last Wednesday, my mom sat down on my computer, and she had problems finding the browser button.
‘Enough.’ I thought, and I got rid of the annoying Windows taskbar, deleted all the desktop icons and installed RocketDock, which is the dock you see at the bottom of this new screenshot. On the dock I have all my most-used shortcuts: My Computer, My Documents, Network Drives | Firefox, Safari, Opera, IE7, Thunderbird | InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop | Notpad++, Excel, PowerPoint, Word | Roll Call, MediaFace, Juicer2(PTK) | FileZilla and some settings, Recyle bin and the clock!

I have fallen in love with the dock since I purchased a mac for my business several months ago. The dock is just so nice…everything I need, right there!

Now, before you’re all like, ‘What? You’re still on a 4:3 screen instead of a 16:9 screen?,’ please realize I have two side-by-side 4:3 screens, so I’m really running at a 16:6, which is considerably more ‘wide’ than your precious 16:9 screen. If I had two 16:9 screens, I would be at 16:4.5, which is a bit too wide for me…
So I’ll be keeping my 4:3 screens, at least for a while.

And to reinforce, I do suggest you implement a dock on your Windows XP or Vista machine. It’s well-worth it, and I think you’ll be happy you did.

First: Town Council Meeting

Posted by on 09 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: my life., Town Council

Last night was my first Town Council Meeting as a council member.

I made a motion and voted yes on all items.

Jim, our Water Superintendent gave a wonderful presentation about the real cause of water quality issues reported above fold on page one in a misleading article appearing in a weekend edition of The Evening Star. It ended up being a faulty water heater. Jim did a great, thorough examination and report. I can only hope The Evening Star will be sure to include this correct information in their paper tonight–although it will probably be buried and contain no photographs.

I enjoyed the meeting, and I enjoyed getting to talk to council members Bob Knott and Al Shuman for the first time, too.

Garage Door Issues Plauging Me

Posted by on 08 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: my life.

My garage door confuses me.

Last week, I had some issues with it–it started going down, but would stop after it went down about 6″ and would go back up. Sometimes it would take three or four tries, other times it would work on the first. Then it just started working properly. It worked great for several days. I finialy went to queencitygaragedoors.com, and contacted them to come out and look at it. Then last night, I noticed my door was open after I closed it–and I was POSITIVE it made it past the 6″ it got caught on last week, so I closed it again, making sure it made it halfway down. Later, I noticed it was up again.
This time, I was on the way to the local grocer, and as I pulled my car out, I watched it go all the way down and stop. Then I started backing up onto the road. After I was on the road, I gave it a glance, and it was all the way up again!
WHAT?
I went ahead to the grocery store and when I came back, I watched as the door closed all the way, stopped for about two seconds, then came back up again.
If I hold the button in for about 5 seconds past the stop, it stayed, so I got it down all right.

This morning, as I backed out, I stopped my car and was waiting for it to come back up, but it didn’t. It appears it works fine again.
WHAT?

I don’t understand! Got the garage door services Riverside CA contacts or United Garage Doors garage door repair, but how am i supposed to troubleshoot something which I cannot duplicate?

Anyway, I’m glad it’s my door and not my wife’s garage door. Better me than her!

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