Another Miniaturization

Another try - this one is pretty good, I think.

Des

Mini Sao Paulo

I found a tutorial on how to use Photoshop to make scenes look miniature . . . Thomas the Tank Engine like I guess. Here's my first try using an image of Sao Paulo. The supposed mini edition is on the top.

I don't know.

Maybe.

Des

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo (Live)

I saw these guys tonight on Letterman and had to post this video. This ISN'T from Letterman, but is the same piece. It's absolutely incredible.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela.

Des

4 Down, 8 to go

With Digitial Image Manipulation G133 under my belt, I've got 4 of my 12 courses for my Web Design Certificate complete. That's very cool. My next course, Computer Animation for the Web (i.e. Flash) begins in January - so I've got a nice little break before I'm back at it.

Grace,

Des

Photoshop CS3 (Beta) Launches Today

I knew this was coming today. Earlier this week, Adobe announced that it would be releasing the long-awaited first update to Photoshop in Universal Binary - which if you're an Intel Mac and Photoshop CS2 user (like myself) you understand all too well. So, I've been waiting all day to get my hands on this. By the time I left for Waynesville this afternoon, the update hadn't been posted yet, so it was closer to 11:00pm before I finally got my hands on it.

CS2 was a great program, but it was dog slow on the Intel Mac (if you care, it's because it hadn't been optimized for the new Intel Chips). CS3 that was released today FLIES. I haven't had a lot of time to really play with the thing, but even opening the program . . . I can't even explain it. What takes closer to 30 seconds with CS2 takes 5 with CS3. I'm very impressed, and all the more excited, now, about creating stuff.

My first project will be an ad for Waynesville that will appear in an upcoming Smoky Mountain News. I'll post it here once it's done.

If you run Photoshop CS2 (either windows or Mac) and have a valid Serial Number, you can download a Beta of CS3 from http://labs.adobe.com.

Grace,

Des

The Final Version

So, my fictional ad creation is over - and here's what I've come up with.

No Creative

Anybody recognize that little throw-back to summer 2004 (I think)?

If you are at all creative and have the need to often match colors, or come up with cool color schemes, I wrote about a really cool new tool from Adobe over on my Web and Flow Blog (http://blog.webandflowdesign.com). The tool is called Kuler - and, it's nothing NEW, per se, but it really makes the process of picking great color combinations a neat and interactive process.

That's it.

Des

O Holy Night

Poking about the internet as I so often do, I found this gem today. It's a musical tribute to New Orleans from the NBC Show, Studio 60. You can download the file from this link:

http://www.nbc.com/Studio_60_on_the_Sunset_Strip/music/studio_60_o_holy_night.mp3

(PC: Right Click -> Save as . . . ; MAC: Option Click - or both, click on it, and it may play in your browser, depending on what you're using . . . . you should be using Firefox, btw).

Anywho, its a great, FREE, mp3. You can also read a little more about it here:

http://www.nbc.com/Studio_60_on_the_Sunset_Strip/music/

NBC Legal Stuff:

O HOLY NIGHT, a musical Christmas tribute to the city of New Orleans.
Arranged by WG Snuffy Walden, Patrick Rose and Randy Kerber. © Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.

That's it. Enjoy.

Des

Something for School

Something I've been working on.

Des

The New Star

Some friends of ours recently gave us a gift . . . a Krups Espresso Machine. It has quickly become the star of our apartment. We are officially Baristas.

Grace,

Des

Treadmill Dance

I saw this a long time ago and WANTED to post it - but kept forgetting. It's kind of dated now, BUT, if you haven't seen this thing, it is incredible. One take. Eight Treadmills.

Amazing.

Des

Around the World in 1 Daze

Has anyone else realized how little they know about what's going on in the world?

I have realized recently that I know heresy about what is going on in a few countries. I've heard that the Sudan has some horrible ongoing atrocities and that Rwanda is still going through some civil war. But I am inside a box that has very little input about what is going on outside that box.

My realization started from a tech netcast where some video guys were discussing the new launch of Al Jazeera English and about, even though it won't take off in the U.S. for obvious reasons, the international coverage and scope is absolutely incredible. They also started talking about the BBC and their world coverage.

There is so much out there that I don't know.

For example:

• South Africa's Most Wanted Criminal Caught
• First South Africa Gay Wedding Celebrated
• Rwanda has Doubts over French genocide claim
• Norway puts off Tamil Tiger talks
• Turkey and Iran discuss Iraq
• Fiji troops disarm police
• Annan: Iraq worse than under Saddam

Oh, and did anyone know that there was about 1,000 dead in the Phillipines after a typhoon passed through?

This really bothered me . . . the fact that there's so much that I wasn't aware of. Not because I thought I should know . . . but because I thought I SHOULD be concerned enough to know. My concern should be global. Being global-centric is the complete an total opposite of self-centric . . . is it not?

Hmmmmm.

Grace,

Des

A Little Photoshopping

A friend of mine sent me some photos from her wedding - but there was a problem . . . so she asked if I could fix it. What do you think? A good 30 mins of Photoshop and this is what we have. I've loving Photoshop by the way. There's SO much that you can do . . . once you know how. Problem is, there's so much to learn.

Grace,

Des

Great Big Sea

So, recently - when I was in Canada, I picked up a copy of the new Great Big Sea CD/DVD combo, called Courage & Patience & Grit. I've said it many times before, but there is no other band that comes close to Great Big Sea when it comes to energy and getting the crowd involved.

Maybe it has something to do with their audiences being made up of primarily Newfies who are far from home and desperate for a little Newfoundland anything. If you're a fan, pick up the album. It's pretty incredible.

The DVD is about 2 hours long . . . .the whole concert and has much better audio quality than their first DVD.

Granted, it makes me very homesick . . . but that doesn't take much anyway.

Grace,

Desmond

P.S. Check out these lyrics and let me know what you think:

Shines Right Through Me
Released February 2004
(written by McCann/Mahoney/Doyle)

These days I feel a change, All the patterns rearranged
Though I can‘t explain, I know I’m not afraid
Now I realize all good things can be supplied
And they come from you

Chorus
It‘s all brand new, and it shines right through
Shines Right Through Me
I look at you and you, and it shines right through
Shines Right Through Me

This feeling that I‘ve found, like sleeping on a cloud
Smiling at the sky, Not even knowing why
Strange how things work out, I know without a doubt
That it comes from you

Break me out of emptiness, Lead me to your light
Anything worth having is worth some sacrifice
Laid too long in lonliness, This world was made to change
Half an hour of sunshine is worth a week of rain

Air is flowing free, it‘s a little easier to breathe
This soul unbound, was lost and found
No reason left to hide, I feel a light inside and it comes from you

Pride & Glory, Truth & Beauty

I've had the opportunity to work with Phil Laeger on at least one music project, and on several other things too. If you're reading this blog, you may remember his first album "All I Held Onto" (which is available at iTunes, among other places - just follow this link). Today, Phil has released his second EP, Pride & Glory, Truth & Beauty and has made it available as a free download from his website, PhilLaeger.com. It's got four great acoustic tunes that speak volumes of Phil's love for his Creator and Savior, and the great gift for songwriting that God has blessed Phil with.

So, go get it. Listen to it. Be inspired by it. Click the image above to go directly to his site.

Grace,

Des

Welcome to My World.

As part of my Photoshop assignments this week, we had to create a surreal, fantasy image using some of the techniques we've learned thus far. The instructor seemed to stress the idea of having some "foreign" objects in the image - he mentioned whales on the moon, dinosaurs on a subway, etc.

So I came up with this pretty cool planet-scape image and then added some hideous green killer squirrels (e.g. R.O.U.S.). I've put both the images here, just so you can see both and let me know what you think.

Grace,

Des

Fill in the blanks for extra credit:

"What about the R.O.U.S.es?"

"______________________? I don't think they exist. Arrgghhhhh!"

Post comments if you know the answer!

Bitter, are we?

As you may have read here a few days ago, I've been reading and listening to a lot of things about hell lately, and particularly about our (i.e. Christians') various views of what hell is, what hell means, how hell came about, etc, etc. There are some great books and more that I want to add to my reading list.

There's one thing, one thought that came to me whilst reading all this, that I haven't been able to shake. We have to make a lot of assumptions . . . but hypothetically, if at the end of time, what would happen if God was, in fact, a universalist in His view of hell - aka, everyone gets in because of God's grace - whether they lived their lives in a "worthy" way or not? Would we be bitter? Would we be "happy" for the "sinners" or would be put out they they actually got shown God's incredible love in that way?

We get bitter at a lot of things. It doesn't take much - I remember one instance where a friend of mine got bitter because privileges were extended to our peers that hadn't been extended to us in the past - when we were at that "lower" position. Completely not a big deal (and I'm deliberately staying cryptic here).

But I think this reflects some of our thoughts on heaven and hell. It's almost as though we are, at best, indifferent about them being sent to hell (are they expendible because they're going there anyway?) and we would be upset if we lived our lives to get into heaven and then God had to ruin it and let everyone in.

I relate to the pseudo-fictional Chip from The Last Word, and the Word After That who says that there are two sets of questions depending on your view of life, the universe, and everything:

In my way of telling the gospel, what [is called] the modern Western way, there were always two key questions:

1. If you were to die tonight, do you konw for certain that you'd go to be with God in heaven?
2. If Jesus returned today, would you be ready to meet God?

Jesus is important because he paid for your sins when he died on the cross, so if you die tonight, or if Jesus returns today, you'll be forgiven and you can enter heaven.

But in this new understanding of the gospel, two very different questions come to mind:

1. If you were to live for another 50 years, what kind of person would you like to become - and how will you become that kind of person?
2. If Jesus doesn't return for ten thousand or ten million years, what kind of world do we want to create?

Here Jesus is important because he leads you and forms you to become a better and better person, and the kind of people who truly follow his way will create a good and beautiful world.

The first set of questions, which used to satisfy me, don't anymore, at least not on their own. I'm realizing that both sets of questions have validity, and the second may be more important.

I, too, am realizing that the second set of questions are vastly more important than the first. I'm less like Chip in that I've never subscribed to the first set of questions to the same degree as he describes.

And there are a lot of other things going on in my head as well. Things about church, about faith, and worship that the established faith community are not fulfilling. I'm neither benefiting nor being a benefit in the current arrangement.

In anycase, one final quote:

To believe in God is to believe in the salvation of the world. The paradox of our time is that those who believe in God do not believe in the salvation of the world, and those who believe in the future of the world, do not believe in God.

Christians believe in the "end of the world," they expect the final catastrophe, the punishment of others.

Athiests in their turn . . . refuse to believe in God because Christians believe in him and take no interest in the world . . .

Which is the more culpable ignorance?

. . . I often say to myself that, in our religion, God must feel very much alone: for is there anyone besides God that believes in the salvation of the world? god seeks among us sons and daughters who resemble him enough, who love the world enough so that he could send them into the world to save it.

Louis Evely, In the Christian Spirit (Image, 1975)

That's it. More to come.

Grace,

Des

Those-People.org

Quick Note:

We're getting ready to add some features to Those-People.org. It's live now - there's not a LOT there, but I'll be adding stuff pretty regularly (as I can, at least) and there should be a considerable pick-up in blogging activity.

Just thought you may be interested.

Grace,

Des

Disco.app

I'm late in reporting this, but I have a new toy on my mac. I've downloaded Disco, which is a great new disc-burning utility. There are some interesting reviews out there - some great, some not-so-great - but I think it's a great little app. And it's got some great mac eye-candy to boot.

When you start burning stuff, the app actually starts to smoke - just like you can see in the picture. It'll do all kinds of formats and media (CDs and DVDs - plus they've committed to being ready for when Apple adopts either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD or both). You can change the smoke to different styles (like fire and goo, among others). They've even taken the time to make the smoke interactive. So, if you run your mouse cursor through the smoke, it blows around, in response to the movement. Very slick.

The UI is great too - nice and animated . . . very mac-ish. It's a different style - it's all black and gray . . . as opposed to the red, yellow, and green window buttons for example. It's a nice change.

I'm a geek - and I enjoy how things work - but I'm also a sucker for eye-candy.

Grace,

Des

What about Hell?

I'm amazed, as I read more and study more and listen more, at how many different interpretations about hell there among members of the Christian faith. It is absolutely mind-blowingly incredible to hear that people throughout the ages have had so many different thoughts about hell: about whether or not it is a real place, about what Jesus meant when he said this or that, about what happens when we die.

I'm beginning to think that we as Christians need to re-evaluate our concept of hell, which may or may not lead to a revision of doctrines relating to hell. What does that mean for the church? I think great things. I know that for as long as I can remember I've thought that becoming a Christian because of fear of going to hell just didn't cut it. I mean, I guess it cut it. Well, then, maybe it's not for me to decide if it cuts it.

Either way, it seems as though, through centuries that hell has become more about winning than anything else. There must be someone going to hell, or how else are those going to heaven differentiated. When Jesus talked about what we call (read: translate as) hell, more often than not it seems as though he was referring to a real place (namely Gehenna, the town dump of Jerusalem). It was a place where the fire never went out (because of the need to burn garbage), where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth (as the wild dogs would whimper, cry, and fight each other for prized food items), and where it was just generally a not-nice place to be.

And the gates of Hades . . . that was a real place too. There were gates and they were at a place called Hades.

There's a great sermon that talks about hell (Rob Bell's Jesus Wants to Save Christians III - from http://www.mhbcmi.org), and the book The Last Word and the Word After That both deal with these things fantastically.

I'm not saying there isn't a hell, or anything like. I'm saying that I really believe that we have a screwed up idea of what it is, and what it means, and that we need to review it for ourselves and not just take what we're fed.

Anyway, this will probably be controversial, and I probably haven't explained myself very well. But I will. I'm still thinking about this pretty intensely.

Grace,

Des

I Like This

I like this.

Grace,

Des

Closure

Isn't it great when you settle on something? You may have been wrestling with an issue for a long time - going back and forth on what you should or shouldn't do . . . and eventually you reach a decision. It's a fantastic feeling. It's liberating. It's eye-opening. It's empowering.

I feel good.

Grace,

Des

Rule of Thumb

A very interesting tidbit from the latest Rob Bell sermon (number 07 in his series "Jesus Wants to Save Christians") - and I quote:

If people who are really desperate and broken and screwed-up LOVE to be around you, and people who are very uptight and self-righteous find you disturbing, then you're probably being like Jesus. Just basic rule of thumb. If really, really, really screwed up people who are way outside . . . un-, non-, . . . LOVE to be around you, seek you out, tell you their secrets - and people who are very sure they're "in" and everyone else isn't are disturbed by you and find you a bit offensive and maybe right letters to the editor or say things about you and slander, then like, maybe there is always the chance . . .

If you're part of a group of people where atheists, and prostitutes, and drug-addicts, and people who are barely hanging on, if you're part of a community where they feel love and accepted, and people who have nice neat brick walls and have dotted all their i's and t's find you very disturbing, there's always the chance that it could be because you're being like Jesus.

Very interesting. His latest sermon talked about the narrow gate. I can't describe it, just go listen. Download from the link: http://www.mhbcmi.org/listen/index.php.

Grace,

Des

No Post for You

I guess the title of this post is a lie.

Because I'm posting right now.

And now, I have to stop.

Grace,

Des

Those People

Today was a very interesting day.

Kristy and I were at the Coffee House in Waynesville tonight - only a very few others were there as most of the teens were on a field trip to Atlanta. It's neat being there. I really enjoy it. Tonight was great because we just sat around, drank coffee, ate chili, ate ice cream, and chatted.

God is really working. In fact, in our chatting we found out that God is in the middle of doing a miracle in one of the soldier's lives - there's been some heavy stuff looming around his life for a couple of years now and God is getting ready to take it all away. Pray for it. Pray for a miracle.

The rest of my evening was spent at Haywood Regional Medical Center. My buddy, Chuck, has been battling some pretty big health, among other, concerns. Tonight he was brought to the hospital for emergency surgery to correct some serious breathing problems. Our friend Robert was there and stayed with Chuck through it all. It was a blessing to see that kind of compassion. It wasn't anything spectacular. It was what those people do.

There are lots of people in our lives. But then there are those that you want to surround yourself with. There is something about them that is not the usual. There is some aspect about their approach to life and others that makes them stand out without even realizing it. Being around those people makes life better. Of course, I'm not just talking about Waynesville. I'm talking about those people that we meet - that are few and far between, and often unassuming that you know you have to be associated with because they're going to make life better. Not just by what they can do for you . . . but by what being around them does to you.

Maybe it's their positive attitude (bad attitudes aggravate me). Maybe it's their compassion. Maybe it's their straightforwardness. Maybe its the fact that you just know they care. Maybe its their passion. Maybe it's their gentle-spirit and kindness (I married one of those people). But you know those people when you meet them.

Are you one of those people?

Des

Shoool House Polka

I saw this on Saturday when the VeggieTales came on the NBC morning cartoon block. It is, indeed, brilliant.

Please enjoy - I particularly like the bit about adjectives.

Grace,

Des

My First Photo Comp

Hey, it's my first photo composition. This is Jonathan playing in front of a very large group of people . . . the concert was amazing. He just sat back there and played 'til his fingers bled. I managed to take this shot before security dragged me off stage.

You rock, Jonathan!

Vista on my Mac

I've been intrigued about the possibility of installing windows on my mac for some time. I haven't done it for whatever reason. But last night, I downloaded the latest Boot Camp beta, updated my firmware, and downloaded the RC1 candidate of Windows Vista ultimate.

I have to say that Vista looks pretty good. The polish is very nice. Lots of transparency, little animated things like windows opening and closing - the 3D rendition of fast alt+tab switching is in the picture above. I haven't had a chance to really get into it and play around - and I certainly don't foresee giving up OS X to come back to Windoze.

But I want to be informed!

There are more pictures online at http://picasaweb.google.com/desmondcsmith/Vista.

Des

Beating Lowe's Motor Speedway Security

Beating Lowe's Security

Have a Taste

Sorry no posts in such a long time. Life has been very busy, with school, work, and the numerous side projects that I have going at once.

I did want to give a little update though: http://www.razealittlehell.com is now live. All you'll see is a coming soon page, but it's one step closer to reality and I'm getting some great ideas for content that will go on that thing.

Enjoy. Let me know if you like it so far - you know . . . color scheme, etc.

Grace,

Des

I Like My Coffee Crisp

New York — Candy-cravers across America are claiming victory now that the U.S. is second home to a candy bar that, until July, could be found only in Canada.

After a six-year Internet campaign started by a 31-year-old candy connoisseur, the beloved Canadian candy bar Coffee Crisp has finally made it across the border.

In 2000, John Flaig, a Milwaukee software engineer, posted an online petition on his Web site, CoffeeCrisp.org, asking Nestlé to start selling the Coffee Crisp — a chocolate wafer bar with creamy coffee filling — in the U.S. Six years and thousands of supporting signatures later, Flaig can now find it in his state, and soon (very soon, he hopes), at his gas station.

Nestlé U.S.A., the American arm of the world's largest food company, Nestlé S.A., started selling Canada's No. 3 candy bar to select convenience stores across America in July.

"It's the first time I've seen that they've gotten a company to take an international product and market it domestically," said Cybele May, a food writer who runs Candy Blog.

My Grandkids will be able to Teleport to my House

Beaming people in Star Trek fashion is still in the realms of science fiction but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter. Sounds like my fax machine with scanning fax feature...

read more | digg story

Good News and Bad News

The good news is it's just below 50 degrees outside. It's very nice. I enjoy the cold weather quite a bit. The leaves are beginning to change and it's getting EXTRA pretty in the mountains.

The bad news is that I have a pixel out. Boo. that leaves only 1,295,999 more.

Des

Hell Razing

A wise friend of mine (Johnny) first turned me on to the teachings of Rob Bell a few years ago, when he handed me a CD of a sermon and simply said, "This will change your life." The sermon was entitled, "Covered in the Dust of your Rabbi." It really was incredible and showed Jesus in a light that I had never seen before. Jesus, the Rabbi. What would the things he said mean if interpreted by the student, or wanna be student of a Rabbi in first century Bible land?

You may want to get a little more familiar with Rob Bell by reading his book, Velvet Elvis. It's also available as an audio download from iTunes.

I've been keeping up with most of his sermons and teachings. It's pretty revolutionary, in the sense that it turns the clock way back.

The most interesting as of late was his most recent sermon, part of a larger series entitled Jesus Wants to Save Christians. He talked about hell and how the words Jesus used in talking about what we translate as HELL actually referred to a place outside of Jerusalem - specifically the dump. He went on to talk about hell figuratively as "places" here on earth - e.g. Sudan, Invisible Children in Uganda, wars, loneliness, etc. All these, he says, are forms of hell on earth and we as Christians should be trying to combat these things now, rather than waiting for Jesus to defeat Satan.

So, it got me thinking. First I got thinking about defeating hell as in serving mankind . . . rather generic. To RAZE is to destroy . . . . what I want to do is to somehow start a hell razing group or team or fellowship or something. But, me, thinking in terms of a web designer, got thinking about how can I develop a site that people can use as a tool for finding ways to help out the world. It would explain, fully, of course the concept of hell on earth and list news, stats, about atrocities that are ongoing. It would also allow discussion groups, and team building so that people could get together and figure out ways they could get involved. I want it to be THE place where people who want to defeat evil NOW will gather to discuss and formulate ideas: a breeding ground for ideas for the army of God, the kingdom of God here on earth.

So, I'm planning on launching something like this soon. I'll announce more later . . . I obviously don't have a LOT of time to give to it right now . . . but it will happen. Pray for it. And listen to Rob Bell.

Grace.

Legacy

Yesterday, I went to a funeral for a woman that I had never met. It's not something that you often get to do. Kristy and I were there because we have met several of the family members over the past few months and wanted to be there and show our support for them.

But attending a funeral for a person that you didn't know can be very enlightening, in several ways. You never hear anything negative at a funeral. People focus on the positive things of the person's life. It's funny how that happens - why is it so hard to just see the positive things under normal circumstances?

The other thing I thought about yesterday was legacy . . . what's going to be left once we're gone. Will people be proud of us once we're gone? Will they look at us and see what a positive influence we have been. It was amazing yesterday to hear how many people reflected on the positive aspects of a dear woman's wife. "She was an angel."

There are so many things that we can get caught up in. Bad feelings. Grudges. Misunderstandings. Negativity. I've been caught up in those things before, but I really hope that I never let those things stick.

What will our legacies be?

Grace,

Des

Apple sells 125,000 movie downloads in first week

Walt Disney chief executive Robert Iger said on Tuesday the company sold 125,000 movie downloads worth $1 million in revenue through Apple Computer's iTunes Store during the offering's first week. The entertainment conglomerate, which placed 75 movies for download on iTunes last week, expects the movie downloads to generate $50m in year one.

read more | digg story

(Another) New Design

I was tiring of the pale blue thing. So here is my latest foray into designing my blog. I like it. Lots of gradients. Some reflection. Everything you need to be considered Web 2.0.

Let me know what you think - I'll be adding back all of the links and stuff to pages and other blogs over the next couple of days.

Grace,

Des

What Did Apple Do?

Hey - if you're interested in finding out what Apple did today, I've written about it over at my web and flow design blog.

Here's the quick run down:

• New iTunes Software + Movie Downloads
• New iPod Nano and Shufffle
• Revamped iPod
• SNEAK PEAK: iTV - set top box for streaming media to your hi-def (or standard def) television set.

Some people were upset that there wasn't a TRUE video iPod . . . but I'm sure that's something to come soon. the iTV thing looks great.

Des

Life Credit

Some of you will know that I am about to start a course in Web Design - it's a part time thing through the Art Institute Online (of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh). It's about a year-long course (a little more since I'm only a part time student) and today I got some wonderful news.

Since I've been web designing for a while now, I know a lot of stuff. I basically want to do this to help give me some more backing as I explore my web design career a little more. Anyway, in the process of applying they offer credit for life experience allowing you to be exempt from certain courses.

Last week (maybe two weeks ago now), I sent in my applications for life credit to the school (and paid $50 a pop I might add) to have my experience (aka my portfolio) audited and considered for credit.

Today . . . I got that credit!!!

Woo-Hoo. So that knocks two courses (aka $$$) and about 11 weeks off of my program time.

'Tis good news. 'Tis very good news.

Grace,

Des

Got Mac?

I've been wondering something over the past few months since I've been getting used to (and loving) my Apple iMac. Before I even turned it on, it was a beautiful machine. And now that I use it everyday, I know that I will never be a PC guy again. The whole thing just makes a lot of sense . . . and it hasn't crashed since day one . . . I haven't lost something that I was working on since day one . . . not to say that it couldn't or, even, won't eventually happen. But it's been great so far.

Anyway, I am an admitted fan boy and can't really help it. Perhaps the novelty will wear off some day.

But my questions are what do you use (i.e. Windows, Mac, Linux, etc) and why do you use it?

By the way, on blog.webandflowdesign.com, I just posted a little about what's expected in tomorrow's big Apple announcement and, of course, will definitely provide some follow up in one of these two places. Likely: New iPod, Full-Length movie downloads from iTunes. Possible: Media Hub to connect your iTunes media to your TV/hom theatre. Long Shot: Apple iPhone.

Grace,

Des

Another Blog - Now with EVEN MORE TECH

A friend of mine (let's call her Stephanie) - has accused me of having a particular type of blog posting. I admit - many of my posts are tech-related in one form or another. I can't fault her for that :)

Some of you will also know that I recently started my own web design company in Asheville called Web and Flow Design. If not, check it out. So, in my efforts to get noticed out there in the big wide world of the world wide web, I've started a blog at that site that will allow me to post tech news, news about Web and Flow happenings, and just general cool stuff.

That's not to say that I won't CONTINUE to post tech stuff here . . . . just if that's what you're into you'll want to bookmark the Web and Flow (Asheville) Blog - http://blog.webandflowdesign.com to keep reading up on some of that stuff.

Grace,

Desmond

Nike Hockey Commercial

I remember seeing this commercial MAYBE once in my life - BUT I also remember a case of rotflmao after seeing it. Harvey should remember too. Let me know when you see this!

You will likely not find it as funny - but at the time - the middle of an all-star game, I think. It was very good.

Grace,

Des

Everything is Spritual DVD

According to an email received from NOOMA.com, Rob Bell (pastor of Mars Hill Church in Michigan) will be releasing a DVD of the message from this summer's "Everything is Spiritual Tour" sometime soon. It will be available for purchase directly from Nooma and will feature Rob's message from the Glass House, in Pomona, CA.

Keep checking out Nooma.com for more info.

I didn't get to see the tour, but have heard amazing things from those that have. I'll definitely be purchasing the DVD as soon as I see it.

Grace,

Des

Skype

I've been using Skype for several months - and have been introducing it to all sorts of people. However, I've never really posted about it here. So, I've added a status button to the right that shows my status and down a little further on the right, a button where you can download skype from http://www.skype.com.

It's great. Great audio quality and for the rest of the year you can literally call any mobile phone or landline in Canada or the US for free from you computer. I use it all the time to call home - and no fee. It's crazy.

AND, if you have a webcam and mic you can do video calls between computers for free too. If you're running a Mac like me, you'll have to download a beta version to do video, but for Windows users, your video is built into the latest version.

If you get it, give me a call! Just click the button to the right!

Enjoy!

Des

Something to Watch For

There's something a-brewin' to keep your eyes peeled for. "Those People" started as an awareness/outreach campaign at the Waynesville, NC corps. You'll be able to read all about it soon - by next week at http://www.those-people.org. Keep your eyes peeled for it. There should be a lot going down there soon.

Let me know what you think if you get a chance.

Grace,

Des

Talking to Americans CBC Special - Part I

Another editon of the Talking to Americans Special fro CBC. This one is the first 10 minutes or so, and thus gives a little background to what's actually going on.

It's funny stuff.

Des

Fort Prince of Wales

Another of the National Film Board Vignettes from my childhood. This one told the story of Fort Prince of Wales.

This one isn't as memorable as the Log Driver's Waltz from a few days ago . . . but at the same time, I know that, if you've ever seen it, and can't quite recall it now, you'll remember when it starts to play!

Grace,

Des

the southern trinity

One of the things I noticed when I first moved to North Carolina was the sheer number of Christian-ese type stickers and decals that were plastered over the back of cars all around. I thought that this must be a very Christian place - which at the time I thought meant good.

It was later that I realized that the republican party has a strong foot-hold here and there are many George W. Bush supporters. This too was indicated by the number of Bush-Cheney stickers plastered on bumpers and/or tailgates, or merely the presence of a solitary "W" - also is sticker and/or decal form.

I THEN realized how much NASCAR really means. Needless to say, it is the center or attention: the highest priority.

It wasn't until yesterday as Kristy and I were driving to Waynesville that I realized how interconnected the three actually are. I also understood, for the first time, the theology of the Trinity.

On the back of a Nissan Maxima were three stickers:

1. The Christian Fish (which is EVERYWHERE in this state - you think we'd be more vocal about it. At the time it was used, weren't they secret code to avoid execution . . . we won't be executed anymore, right? Anyway, that's a different post).
2. The aforementioned Bush-Cheney 2004 sticker - obviously a you wouldn't have a Christian fish on the car of a supporter of any other party . . .
   
3. And, the proverbial godhead . . . that's right . . . #8 - Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

The three inseparable beings. They are one, yet three. Three, yet one.

So, if you every have any questions again about the theology of the trinity - if the egg analogy doesn't work - or the water coming in three forms analogy just isn't cutting it . . . try the fish-Bush-Earnhardt analogy and see if that does the trick.

Grace,

Des

Web and Flow Design

My company (I still LOVE the sound of that) is coming along nicely. At least . . . the website is (http://www.webandflowdesign.com) . I'm working on some of the promotional stuff, trying to develop an identiry (logos, stationary, things like that). But, still no clients - so if you know of anyone needing a website designed (or redesigned!) let me know, I'll be glad to help out!

I've, admittedly, been spending a lot of time tweaking and just messing around with the layout and feel of the site. Kristy is probably gone off of her rocker. I definitely need to manage my time a little better. I'm starting to dream of the day that this can be it, you know? That would be incredible.

So my next step is to get to market. Asheville is a busy place and there are a LOT of crappy web designers here! And a few good ones too. If anyone among you is a marketing genius - please give me some tips. How do I get my name around the city?

I'm not only interested in Asheville, of course - obviously there are several countries around the world now that use computers! But I figure starting here is a good first step. I'm not against the possibility of picking up clients in other parts of the state, or even the country.

I am thinking about a redesign to this blog again, too . . . I'm really starting to understand the blogger code and how it all works so we'll see if I can get to that soon. I've got a couple of days away from home next week so maybe that will be a good project - granted, I don't think I'll have internet access . . . I'll just have to download all the stuff that I need before I go.

I've taken up too much time already. When you get a chance, go to www.webandflowdesign.com and let me know what you think!

Grace,

Desmond

The Log Driver's Waltz

This is a classic. Canada is, contrary to many people's understanding, a very patriotic country . . . if you won't grant me that, it definitely values Canadiana. Perhaps nostalgic is more accurate.

Anyway, growing up, this was a staple of my Canadian TV watching. I used to love when this little Canadian Government sponsored short film would interrupt my otherwise American cartoon watching.

Sorry for all of the Canadian videos lately, by the way. But, it's definitely a part of who I am.

The government sponsored a whole series of vignettes produced by the national film board, and now that I've found them, I'll post them over the next few days!

Enjoy,

Des

will

Growing up in the church I always seemed to get into discussions about God's will. Maybe, during the hay day of my church life as a college student in Newfoundland that's what there was to talk about. Maybe as a Christian college student in general that's where my attention was. Not only did I want to be found in God's will but I wanted to see and understand the difference between God's perfect and His permissive will. I wanted to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was doing exactly what God would have me do.

Of course, I also wanted to know if it even mattered or if predestination already had my life charted for me.

I don't know if, for all the talking, I ever did figure it out. I don't know if I'm any closer to the answer. Perhaps I just haven't done well so far at seeing all the puzzle pieces fitting together. Maybe I don't understand where God's will fits in with having life more abundantly or with suffering for Jesus or if suffering is indeed having life more abundantly. Certainly I don't ever remember reading a promise that I'd be happy or safe, except to read that God cares for those who trust in him and that he would never let the righteous fall.

All that to say that I really don't want to get into a big discuss over this whole thing. I've talked enough . . . you know? But I haven't yet figured out the connection of happiness and/or contentment (since those two things aren't the same) and doing what God wants me to do. Does being happy and/or content mean that you're doing what God wants you to do? How complex is God's "plan" for us? Is it every day is planned out or "As long as you love Me and love you neighbour, you can do what you want!"?

Of course, that's purposefully a little on the sacreligious side, just to accentuate my point.

So, at 12:05am, Thursday August 24, that's where i am with I Am.

Grace,

Des

The Pirate Ship

There are some cool things going on. Lot's of them are low key and you never really notice them.

Other times . . . they're bigger.

Sometimes they involve a pirate ship being built on the platform of a church that you may be attending on Sunday morning. The pastors in Waynesville, the Sills, have birthed an idea where for six weeks they will be pirates and take back what the devil has stolen!

Needless to say it was GREAT to walk in there sunday morning and see such a crazy transformation!

For more pictures go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/desmondcsmith/WaynesvillePirateShip

Grace,

Des

Talking to Americans CBC Special (PART 2) f/ Rick Mercer

Let me make a couple of things very clear: first, this post COULD get me in trouble. Granted it wouldn't be the first time, but I've done things not nearly as bad as this and people have hated me for it . . . so that's why I figure posting this video is OK.

Secondly, I'm NOT an america basher - in fact, when my Canadian brethern and sistern come down for camp, it's makes me angry when they start complaining about not having ketchup chips or vinegar with their fries.

But, I did mention to many of my american friends about this little show that comedian Rick Mercer did entitled "Talking to Americans."

Here is a short selection - if you're interested in seeing the rest, please go to youtube.com and search for talking to americans. This one is about 9 minutes long, so be sure you have time before you start it!

Again, just the messenger . . . who thinks that this is hysterically funny . . . but don't shoot me and/or get mad at me!

Bandwidth Tester

Have you ever wondered how fast your internet connection is? I do. If I'm paying $xx.xx for internet access, I'd like to know that I'm at least getting CLOSE to what I'm expecting to get.

TODAY, I came across a GREAT bandwidth tester. Very slick. Lots of GUI goodness.

Here are my results:

Go and check it out.

Grace,

Des

Blog Templates

Blogging is by no means new and a lot of people have caught the blogging bug. One of the most popular services, and the service that you're reading right now, is called Blogger. With blogger you can choose from a limited-number of pre-designed templates to change the appearance of your blog. Granted, with millions of blogs and only a few choices in templates many of them look the same.

If you're serious about blogging you may want to consider buying a custom blogging look. Some people are adventurous and want to try making their own, but others would just rather have someone else do the work.

If you're interested in blogger templates or need any kind of web design service, you should check out WebandFlowDesign.com.

Apple World Wide Developer Conference

Today - actually in just a few minutes - the Apple WWDC is starting in San Francisco. What's really cool about is that Apple will definitely be releasing some new products today. There's a lot of rumors about what they could be, but you'll have to stayed tuned to get the real shcoop.

Yes, I said shcoop.

Couple of great sites if if you want to stay up to day.

www.macrumorslive.com

www.engadget.com/2006/08/07/live-from-wwdc-2006-steve-jobs-keynote/

Who knows? I'm pretty excited though.

Yes . . . I'm a geek.

Des

Salvation Army Timbrel Smash

I've been meaning to post this for some time now. Most of you will probably already have seen it. But, it never gets old, does it?

Sunset

These were taken in front of my parents house the night before I left to come back to Asheville. It's one of the reasons why I love Newfoundland.

Living with the Fishes

Creation astounds me. Seeing Newfoundland again was great. Seeing the west coast of Newfoundland through "tourist" eyes was enlightening too - it really is a beautiful place - untouched, majestic, all of the wonderful things that you look for.

Then to think about life. About how, in someway or other, life got started on this planet. No matter what you believe about that, it really is amazing. Evolution is an amazing concept. Creation is an amazing concept. Either way, the world is an awe-inspiring place.

Last Sunday, as I've mentioned, we went on a boat tour. We saw whales and dolphins and more sea birds that you can possibly imagine. I've seen all of those things many times before, growing up in Newfoundland by the ocean. I could look out my front window at home and see whales pretty much any time.

YOU CAN CHECK OUT NEW PICTURES HERE

But what was different about Sunday was the interaction. I can't explain it to you, but the whales and the dolphins all interacted with us. Maybe it was just animal instinct. Maybe there was something more. These big sea creatures can be curious? Some would argue they can even communicate, albeit in a rudimentary way, with us as people.

That amazes me and I'm thankful that I had the experience.

Grace,

Des

More Shots from Newfoundland

It's so weird to be in one place one day and thousands of miles away the next. But that's what we did. We're back in Asheville now, getting back into the swing of things and preparing for the fall with work.

The trip to Newfoundland was FANTASTIC. Obviously not long enough to do everything that we wanted to do, but that's to be expected, I suppose. I can't recap everything - there was too much. But I did want to post a few more pictures for y'alls review.


If you look REAL closely at this one, you'll see the tail of a humpback whale diving down for some food. We did a Whale and Bird tour in Bay Bulls, NL (O'Brien's Whale & Bird Tours).

Here's a little better one:


We were fairly far offshore for this one - further than they usually go because it was so late in the whale watching season.

There were also Dolphins:


So that was cool - the dolphins were "bow-riding" for a while - i.e. swimming along the boat and crossing/playing around in front of the boat. Kristy's sister has a great video that I'd love to get online sometime soon, I'll see if I can't upload it somewhere.


This is a landscape shot: out off of the east coast of Newfoundland. And another:


So that was it for the boat tour. I've got a few more of the sunset in front of my parents house that was pretty amazing, but I'll post those a little later on. It was a great time. I miss it already. But, now that we're Permanent Residents we can come and go as we please!

Grace,

Des

New Venture

I guess I'm officially an entrepreneur.

Today, I went down to the county courthouse and registered the name of my first business venture. Web and Flow Design is my company! I provide web design and other marketing services.

So, you may begin to see sites designed by Web and Flow all over the internet. That's what I'm hoping anyway! Granted, it's more of a part-time hobby at the moment than a full on business venture.

But I'm very excited.

So, if you know of anyone needing some Web Sites designed or some promotional materials drafted up, let me know. I'll get my people working on it!

Grace,

Desmond

A Foggy Day in St. John's

There are a few more pics online at my picasa web album. Kristy and I were in St. John's today, running around some of our old hang outs. These shots were taken from Signal Hill - it was too foggy from the very TOP of the hill . . . this is about halfway up.

It was a good day. We had dinner at Swiss Chalet with my parents and hung out with some of our family a little later who are moving to the "mainland."

It's pretty crazy how quickly this time is going by. But it's been a lot of fun and we still have a couple of days left!

Let me know what you think.

Grace,

Des 

Shots from Newfoundland

I'm VERY happy to be home in Newfoundland. I had forgotten how beautiful this place really is. I'd DEFINITELY forgotten how beautiful it is in the summer time. This is the first summer that I've been home in about 3 years. We ended up taking a trip with Kristy's family to the West Coast.

Kristy's brother Scott is involved with a dinner theatre in Corner Brook. So we piled in a couple of cars ("We" being Kristy's entire family and their respective spouses) and travelled for several hours across the province. The dinner theatre was amazing, even better than the stops at Tim Horton's every couple of hours.

I REALLY enjoyed myself. We stayed at a litte motel by the Humber River, just outside of Corner Brook. There was a lot of laughing and a lot of eating. It was the first time that we ALL had a chance to be together and it ended up being a lot of fun.

The west coast of Newfoundland really is pretty amazing. Now that I live in the mountains of North Carolina, it's neat to be able to compare them to something. The mountains here are definitely much older and much more worn than the lush Appalachians. But no less beautiful.

There are a lot more photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/desmondcsmith so feel free to go there and check those out (30+ photos for now, with more to come). It's neat being blown away at how beautiful your homeland is. Kristy has said that it's too bad it takes going away to really appreciate what we have here.

I definitely agree.

Grace,

Des

Picasa - Organize Your Photos

So, now that I have a digital camera, I take a LOT of digital photos. I'm also a recently converted Mac user who lived most of his life on a PC. Mac has iPhoto - it's a no brainer to use it. But, if you're a PC person, and you're a digital camera person, you need to download Picasa. It's by Google. It organizes your photos. And it's amazing.

What's neat about Picasa is that you can automatically import all of your photos from your camera/memory card, catalog them, edit them, crop them, add neat effects, and print them, all from within Picasa itself. On top of that you can email them using any number of services, make gift CDs with slideshows, blog photos, and even order prints from professional printing companies (Kodak, SnapFish, Walgreens, Wolf Camera, etc, etc). Plus, because it's from Google you can even search through your catalog to

If I didn't have iPhoto, I would be desparate for Picasa. Check it out. You can download it for free using the button to the right of this post - "Google's Photo Software . . . "

Official!

Well, a few days ago, Kristy had received word that we were approved for our Green Cards. We also were notified that we may need additional biometrics, but if not, the cards would be sent directly to our home address.

Today we got home from camp. AND, lo and behold, in our mailbox were two envelopes. And, in said envelopes, two "Permanent Resident Cards!" So here we are. Permanent residents of a foreign land.

But it is SUCH a weight lifted from our shoulders!

Des

Video: 'Liquid morale' flows in Kandahar

Tim's in Kandahar

*This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser.
http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/offbeat/2006/07/02/chao.can.donuts.kandahar.affl

Some time ago, a friend of mine told me that a Tim's Horton's was opening in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It's true. Granted, the only way that I can get it HERE is to bribe and/or plead with friends who will be in the vicinity of a Tim's.

This is a short video from CNN showing the soldiers lapping it up.

Grace,

Des

The Best Shot Yet

So, here's my favorite shot so far from camp. Yes . . . as part of my job, I get to play my bass for a live audience at a game show.

Granted it's in Denton, NC.

In anycase, it's a lot of fun. Camp is going well, and this is LITERALLY the first time I've gotten a chance to post anything. It's pretty incredible to have Kristy back at camp again, after two years away. That's a lot of fun.

The students are great too. I'm enjoying having those guys around. Three more weeks to go.

Grace,

Des 

Can't Post

Well,

Unfortunatley, due the Content Filterning at Camp, I won't be able to
access my blog this summer. I'm not even usure that this post will
work - trying to post from an email address . . . we'll see.

So we're at camp - working hard - getting ready for orientation tonight!

Grace,

Des

The Great Pyramids of Bristol

BREAKING NEWS!

There is a new tea bag technology coming out of England. It's set to revolutionize the hot tea drinking industry all over the globe . . . and it has finally reached American shores. Pyramids aren't just for the Egyptians anymore!

. . . .

OK, so it may not be breaking news . . . BUT our good friend Matt Sims is staying with us in Asehville for a couple of days before camp starts. And he brought teabags from his Nan. I remember when they used to be square . . . then they were circles.

Pyramids add a whole new dimension . . . literally, in fact!

Matt says the tea tastes better because now the leaves inside can float in all directions, instead of just up, down, left, and right. I would be inclined to agree.

Grace,

Des

The Evolution of Dance

This is the big new viral video that has hit the internet. It's awesome. This guy takes a bunch of dances from the past 50 years and puts them into one 6 minute piece.

Publishing Audio as Blog Background Music

NOTE: I am not condoning the misuse of copyrighted material, nor am I condoning the violation of terms of service for any service provider. This post is merely educational. Individuals are encouraged to use this information responsibly and legally!

The question was asked of me lately, "How do I post audio on my blog as background music?" It's something that I really hadn't done before - I was familiar with the method, just never the practice. So I did a little research and here are some solutions - the simplest cost money - the free ones are a little more complicated, but are not impossible.

The first thing you'll want to do is to actually upload your audio file to some location on the internet. Every file on the internet has an address and once you get your file uploaded, you'll need to know the actual address of the thing. You have several options. The first will probably end up costing you money. If you have your own website, chances are that you pay some amount for the web space that you "own" and/or "rent." I have space that I "rent" from GoDaddy.com and so I use that for a lot of my online storage needs. However, if you're not real interesting in building a online empire, you may want a free solution. There are plenty of those too.

I've used a couple in the past. http://www.putfile.com is nice because it will host images, music, and movies AND they try to monitor their content. Other services http://www.yourfilehost.com and http://www.filecabi.net may work as well, but they are much less monitored and the content is often objectionable. It's real simple - I think for each you'll need to create a free account and simply find and upload your content.

Now, the fun doesn't stop there, because these free services aren't necessarily interested in you getting unbridled access to the media you upload - they want people to view/listen from THEIR site (i.e. people going to putfile.com to listen to your song) so they don't make it easy for you to figure out what your filename is or where it's located once it's uploaded. But, it's not impossible. Login to your putfile.com account and browse to "My Media" which should be a link near the bottom of the page after you login. Select the song that you want to eventually be the background music to your blog or page. It should start to play. You may get some warning in your browser about wanting to use a plugin to play the content - that's fine, approve it and you should hear your song. Now, here's the tricky part, you have to view the source of the page, which is pretty standard in most browers and will be located, likely, in the View menu at the top of your internet explorer, firefox, or other browser window.

Viewing the source will open a new window with a lot of weird tags and text things. What you're looking for is your file name (which will have been changed from what you uploaded). It will be near something that looks like this <embed text text text data="http://upload.putfile.com/videos/xxxxxxxxx.mp3"
. . . you're needing the part inside those quotes. Write this down or copy and paste it somewhere on your computer that you can easily access later.

Now, that your file is online, you need to specify in your page or blog's code that you want THAT file to play when someone visits. I'll be using blogger because that's that I'm familiar with, but as long as you can edit your blog's HTML - you can make this happen too. In the blogger control panel, select "Change Settings" and navigate to the "Template" tab. In a box in the middle of this page, you should see your blog's code. This is what your browser sees and translates into the images and text that you read when you actual go to your blog.

You have two options here too. You can use the OBJECT method or the EMBED method. I would recommend OBJECT just because it's a little more standards compliant. Practically, they look the same except everywhere you just replace OBJECT with EMBED - but read on for a few other subtle differences

In the code, near the top you should see <Head>(a head start or opening tag). A little further down you'll find </Head>(the head ending or close tag). Anywhere between these tags, put the following code:

<object data="http://www.somename.com/xxx/yyy/zzz/filename.mp3" loop="true">
</object>

You'll want to change the address in red above to whatever the address of your audio file is. Also, if you don't want the file to loop, change true to false. The only issue with this method will be that you can't actually control the audio - once it starts playing, it'll keep playing until you navigate away from the page.

Your second option, EMBED will give your visitors control over the playback - mostly, they'll be able to stop the audio if they don't want to listen. Your site will display a little media player tool bar with play and stop controls as well as a timeline. However, in this case, you can define where this player displays. It'll take a little more work, but if you need it, it'll be worth it.

Instead of placing your code between the head tags, scroll down through the code until you find a place where you want the player to display. Two popular places would either be the top or bottom of the page. At the top, for blogger users, I would suggest putting the code immediately before the tag - don't forget to replace OBJECT with EMBED and /OBJECT with /EMBED.

Otherwise scroll down to the end and look for the footer tag - depending on the blogger template you are using this could be coded a little differently . . . but look for something like div id="#footer" or something like that. There will also be a /div tag. Put the EMBED code in here and your controls will be at the bottom of the page.

And that's it. Save your template changes, republish your blog - you'll probably want to republish your entire blog since republishing index only will only apply changes to NEW pages as you create them - you're older posts, if someone looks through your archives will not have music playing).

Hopefully this helps.

All I Could Upload

OK so I wanted to try to post the result of my AllYouCanUpload experiment from last post. Here's the thumbnail:

Click on it to see the image - it's got a lot of ads and stuff on the page - so it's not ideal, but it could be useful.

I think I'm done for the day! See you later.

Grace,

Des

All You Can Upload

If you're anything like me, you're always trying to find the best way to upload photos, store them online, and use them in blogs or webpages or whatever. Being on blogger and using a PC was pretty easy - I had a routine that I would use Picasa + Hello for publishing photos directly to blogger. It wasn't IDEAL but was the best all around solution.

Now that I've moved to the Mac, things are a little different. I really like FREE solutions, and there aren't any that I've REALLY liked. I've been using Flickr for the past several weeks, but, haven't been real happy with it.

I think that's about to change.

Webshots has just released a thing called All you can Upload (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com). I haven't really played with it yet - but you don't need an account or registration or anything - you upload, it'll give you a link to you images and you can use them in blog posts or whatever.

I'm going to start using it, I think - at least as a trial, and I'll let you know how it goes.

Grace,

Des

On the Chimney Rock

ChimneyRock-018
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

Yesterday, Kristy, Tilden, Stephanie, and I were able to hang out at Chimney Rock, NC. It's about 30-45 south of Asheville on Lake Lure (which you can see in this photo). The roads there, however, are twisty and turny enough to make some people sick :-), just so you know!

It was a pretty amazing day. Very hot. Lots of walking. Tons of pictures. We ended up at the base of Hickory Nut Falls - which you can see in some of the photos below. It was great after what seemed like hours of walking in the hot sun to get sprayed with water from the falls.

Next time . . . . who knows? Maybe we'll end up on a boat somewhere.

Grace,

Des

Chimney Rock III

ChimneyRock-066
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

ChimneyRock II

ChimneyRock-114
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

Chimney Rock IV

ChimneyRock-117
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

ChimneyRock VI

ChimneyRock-004
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

Chimney Rock V

ChimneyRock-013
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

Thinking about getting back to Thinking

Admittedly, my thought processes have been slower and/or more sparsely spaced as of late. I think too many gadgets and cool things are getting in the way of me sitting down and thinking about anything not tech related.

But, I have been finding sometime to getting back to reading one of my favorite authors: Brian McLaren. I've touted "Generous Orthodoxy" on this blog many times . . . though, that's not what I'm reading now.

I'm getting back to the "New Kind of Christian" series and am currently enamored with book 2: The Story we Find Ourselves in. The series is a fictional recounting of a series of events in Brian McLaren's life, using fictional representations of real people and events.

Anyway . . . book two has one of the characters, Neo, on the Galapogos Islands with a scientist friend. Now, I'm not much of one for getting into the creation/evolution debate . . . mind you I very much was, especially through my late high school & early college years.

This book, though not blatently so, starts out with that feel . . . but that's not what I'm talking about here . . . just wanted to give you some background.

OK, so part way through Chapter 6 Neo and his scientist friend Kerry get talking about the beginning of time and trying to describe God through language and/or science.

Kerry says, "This talking about God isn't easy, you know?"

Neo's response is incredible . . . "Right" Neo replied. "It's a lot like things in science. Language is the only tool we have, but it keeps getting in the way. So in science, we revert to mathematics. And in theology, we revert to poetry. Mathematics and imagination are two ways of talking about things beyond normal language."

That, alone, is enough to jump start my brain back into deep thought mode - which is long overdue.

Grace,

Des

What we think we know

So, here is a picture from National Geographic. They ran a story today about a new finding: the oldest astronomical observatory in the Americas. It's located in Peru and dates to 4,200 years ago - which is 800 years earlier than previously thought. 800 years probably isn't that much in the scheme of things until you start comparing.

Let's look into the future?

The future, Desmond?

Yes, Blog Reader, all the way to the year 5,000.

Computers were invented in 2,874.

Cancer was cured in 1492.

America became a country in 2587.

800 years is a long time. I just crack up that we teach in our culture with such certainty. We've got it all figured out. Until we realize that we don't and every truth that we have taught, needs to be reworked to fit reality.

Other cultures don't teach fact. They teach thought. THAT is a completely different concept. Maybe we'll figure it out in 800 years or so.

Grace,

Des

My New Glasses

My New Glasses
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

I gots new glasses! They're hip and uber-powerful.

If you need to burn some ants on an anthill . . . I'm your guy.

Grace,

Des

Oh, the Chemistry . . .

So, in my day, I was a bit of a chemistry geek. I know, I know: that's hard to believe . . . now I'm just an all around geek. Anyway, this is a CRAZY video showing how Rubidium and Cesium reacting with water.

Doesn't sound like much - watch it before you judge . . . there is some British humour involved as well

I love my mac more and more . . .

GarageBandTuner
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

Every Wednesday, I teach a guitar class at Hendersonville. I have about 7 students and until today I didn't really have enough guitars to go around. Early this afternoon I was restrining some of the guitars that I recently got a hold of . . . but I needed a tuner.

Then I remembered Garageband on my Mac. It's a music program where you can compose music, do podcasts, blah, blah, blah. There was a piano keyboard on there so I knew I could at least find an E to get me started on my merry tuning way.

However, in my attempt to find the keyboard, I found something very different.

If you haven't maximized the picture yet, go have a look and come back. Check right at the bottom of the screen in the middle (if you can't see it, once you click on the preview to the right, on the next screen you should see a link to "All Sizes" - That will make it bigger).

So . . . in Garageband is a Chromatic Tuner, that uses either the audio input on the back of the mac, or the external microphone!

I was impressed.

I love my mac more and more each day!

Des

My Clean Remote

Apple Remote
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

This is a pretty neat device. It's the remote that came with my new Intel iMac (which, if you haven't heard already, I LOVE).

The remote is great. It allows me to access my video clips, iTunes music, DVDs, etc, etc, from across the room - usually it involves me and or my wife getting ready in the morning. Sometimes, we'll use it if we're doing house work. I'll often just stick it in my pocket and do some chores - pulling it out whenever I need it.

It's precisely this combination of apple functionality and house chores that caused this little thing to end up in the bottom of my washing machine. OK . . . and a lack of responsibility on my part.

Yes, I washed out my Mac Remote.

I was devastated.

Interestingly enough - it still works! That's right - I let the thing dry out and it is working FINE.

At least now I know that if it gets dirty - I can just throw it in the wash.

Grace,

Des

Pool Cue 1

Pool Cue 1
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

So, I've already mentioned that Chuck had given me a reel.

Last night, he came in - very quickly dropped this off and said he had to run back to his place before coming back. That's exactly what he did.

So I take the cue out of the case and tried a few shots with it . . . it works, good feel, good weight.

When Chuck finally gets back I say, "That's a real nice cue you've got there, Chuck."

"That's yours." He responded in his low, gruff voice.

So I thanked him and then he let me listen to a tape of the Kingdom Heirs.

Chuck is an interesting man.

Grace,

Des

Pool Cue 2

Pool Cue 2
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

And here's the stick.

Reel Cool

Chuck.jpg
Originally uploaded by Random Des.

Last week, Chuck gave me a reel. Chuck, of course, is my friend from Waynesville who has been hanging out with me at the Coffee House at The Salvation Army corps. In this shot, he's going over the features of the reel.

I'm wondering when I can get a chance to go fishing with him. I have to do that at some point.

He is definitely a giver.

He gave me something else tonight, which I'll post about later. I wanted to get this out there first!

He also came to church on Sunday. First time in a LONG time.

Something is happening.

Grace,

Des