Blind Beggars

Found this image today when going through some pics . . .

It's the Blind Beggars from about 8 years ago.

Wow . . . 8 years ago.

Fun.

celebrate abundance

kristy and i were at pier 1 just a few days ago - we're still in the "putting the finishing touches on our new place" mode - because we wanted to buy a mirror or something for the large wall in our dining room. pier 1 really is a lovely place - though the random scents often throw my nose into a downward spiral - literally (at least the downward part). while browsing all of the knicks and knacks available for purchase, i noticed a sign that said "celebrate abundance" which i guess is part of their holiday sales campaign.

of course, it got me thinking.

firstly, i'm realizing more and more that kristy and i just tend to think differently from the masses - "we are all individuals" from life of brian - and i'm guessing that's a good thing. secondly, we live an abundant life - we're not swimming in wealth, but we're also not swimming in debt (providing that student loan debt is good debt!). we have more than enough. certainly, we have everything that we need.

how, then, should we best "celebrate abundance" while maintaining an awareness that this abundance isn't universal? having this "abundant life" is the exception rather than the rule when thinking globally - it's probably true even when thinking domestically.

one of the things that we really dig is world vision's catalog for giving "life-changing" gifts in honor of someone. for us, this started last year when we gave tilden and stephanie a "gift" by giving a goat to a family through world vision. this year, we noticed that there is an entire catalog of these gifts available - from the very inexpensive to the "well-beyond-our-reach" expensive. for example:

• tangible gifts like:
• educational support for one child ($32)
• malaria prevention for one family ($20)
• warm blanket ($30)
• safe water for a school ($50)
• or, more intangible stuff like:
• help prevent aids ($35)
• hope for sexually exploited girls ($35)
• share of art and music ($40)

it really is an incredible service. and i really don't need an ipod touch . . .

now, we're not giving up on christmas. we're just looking at abundance through a different lens. we've still got a tree (in fact, my wife tells me it's going up today) and we'll still decorate and eat food.

but this year, celebrating abundance (which, at first, really turned me off), will transform our lives.

abundant grace,

des

Please won't you be my neighbour?

I'm looking forward to meeting my neighbour.

You may know that Kristy and I have had some interesting neighbours in our relatively short marriage. There were the two guys that lived downstairs at our first place in Charlotte . . . their big thing was their temper . . . lots of yelling. In the mountains, we lived across from a Russian family that had 17 people living in the apartment . . . maybe not EXACTLY 17 . . . but lots.

Now, we live by a rapper.

Yes . . . a bona fide rapper.

Now, he's not very good. I mean I'd love to tell you that he's been improving since we moved in here about a month ago. He's certainly had plenty of practice. At least he's persistent, and, the Good Lord willing, one of these days he's going to tearin' it up, fo' real.

But for now, I have "the pleasure" of hearing his little casio keyboard, complete with booming bass, pounding through my walls, and his creative lyrics - the latest was a great, albeit repetitive crafting of "Whacchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

All that to say I'm sure he's an incredibly interesting individual that has a fantastically interesting story and I'm really hoping to get to know him (or perhaps them) soon.

Des

Playing with Photoshop

This summer, my wife and I were fortunate to be able to accompany a team of musicians to conduct a music camp in Spain with The Salvation Army. We were also fortunate to take a lot of photos - but with a point and shoot camera, you never know exactly what you're going to get - some photos are great . . . some are over-exposed, or blurry, or just not nice enough to display.

Kristy has been wanting to print off a few of the more scenic photos to display around our new place. There's one that she really liked from a city called Toledo but the church in the distance was over exposed and the beautiful old buildings in the foreground were very much underexposed.

Of course . . . I break out the ol' Photoshop.

I played with it for about 15 minutes and here's what I cam up with . . . . still not GREAT but not bad - I figured I'd take out the powerlines too.

Let me know what you think.

Des

Apple Wireless Keyboard, $59.99

I've been wanting a new Apple Bluetooth Keyboard for a long time - but other things have come up that have caused me to avoid the $79.99 pricetag. So imagine my surprise when I showed up at my local Best Buy store tonight and saw the new "mini" Apple store section - and tucked away on one of the shelves were several of the new Bluetooth KBs selling for a cool $59.99!!!

I thought - this HAS to be a mistake . . . but I picked it up and rushed to the checkout anyway. Sure enough, they checked it in as $79.99.

"Are you sure?" I asked, "They're definitely labeled as $59.99."

Long story short - after some checking they confirmed that they had the price set at $59.99! I walked out the door with my shiny new keyboard for $20 cheaper than anywhere else I've seen it.

Rush out to see if your best buy made the same mistake.

Des

GMail IMAP

Hey.

If you're an email geek you will appreciate this.

GMail is now supporting IMAP. This is very good news for many reasons.

Peace.

Des

The Diamond in the Rough (day of packing)

For the record, while I'm VERY excited to be moving back to Charlotte, I am NOT overly excited about the week of packing that I'm (thankfully) just about done with. However, one of the great joys of packing is finding old stuff that got stuffed away in random places and forgotten about.

Enter the Diamond Rio 500.


This, my friends, was my first MP3 player. It was the first portable media player that Diamond Multimedia sold, according to my quick research. It had a whopping 64 MB of internal storage and room for an expansion card.

How many hours walking to University was I thankful for this little device? It really was incredible and probably did a lot to solidify my fascination with electronic media.

So, I find it and take the perfect opportunity to take a quick break from packing my life into boxes. I thought, "I wonder what would happen if I plugged this into my iMac?"

Wouldn't you know it, iTunes picked it up right away without me having to do ANYTHING other than plug it in. It knew exactly what it was and added it under the "Devices" heading in my iTunes sidebar.



Not too shabby - I can transfer MP3s onto it just like the good old days. Granted . . . I can only hold about 13 songs . . .

Grace,

Des

What is Your Offering?

This is a video that I did a few years ago for the Music and Gospel Arts Festival. I had to pull it out to share with a friend of mine, and since the new iMovie allows you to post directly to YouTube I just couldn't resist.

Let me know what you think.

Des

Conan and Jim Carrey - Quantum Physics

One of the many reasons I love Conan O'Brian.

Des

Goofy Snoopy

Before I begin - yes, I recognize that this post may be dangerous.

So does anyone besides me feel that hip hop is finally getting goofy? Now, I'm not anti-hip-hop by any means. Yes, there are horrible messages in some hip hop, perhaps the majority of hip hop, but I also try to recognize the good in everything as much as I can. It's had a long run too - It started when I was kid - I'm 27 now. That's a long time!!!

But tonight, the reigning godfather of Hip Hop, Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr. (aka Snoop Dog) was on Conan O'Brian. In fact, he JUST finished his schtick as I write this. Perhaps it was the context. Conan isn't necessarily the best complement to the hip hip scene.

I felt kind of sad. Here was this 37 year old man talking about "burnin' a blunt" and selling merchandise named Snoop This and Snoop that. It just felt wrong. So I'm trying to fgure out if this is indicative of Snoop and/or Hip Hop becoming goofy or me getting old.

Both?

Sometimes I forget that Snoop and people like him are entertainers and for whatever reason we find the gang-bangin', blunt burnin' rapper worthy to throw millions of dollars at. Sometimes I forget that it's all an act (or at least, I hope it is) and that he's a father that wants to raise his kid well. Is it like the circus? Circus families pass the family act along to the kids. Does Snoop invite the kid into the dog house?

What's more interesting is that this was during Conan - perhaps the goofiest man on TV right now. And Snoop seemed goofy even compared to the C-izzle. It really seemed like Conan was trying to find something worthwhile to chat about.

I don't want to be 37 and feel like I haven't accomplished anything. I have no desire to sell a Snoop de Grille (Snoopy-themed BBQ) or a Snoop de Ville (Snoopy themed Cadillac). If, Lord willing, I ever find myself sitting across from Conan I want to be able to talk about something of value.

And I don't want it to be goofy.

Grace,

Des

Cost of Sending 11 Missions to Mars = 1 Mission in Iraq

This seems pretty incredible. It's amazing how much of life is about priorities and choices, even in the highest levels of our leadership.

read more | digg story

A Bit of Fry and Laurie -

So . . . I'm a big fan of House. Jason Riggs turned me on to it a few years back during season one. I now have a couple of seasons on DVD.

Now, it's pretty amazing to me that his British accent isn't at all aparent on the show and it throws me off when I hear him speak out of character.

It has also thrown me off to realized that he and Stephen Fry used to have a comedy show on BBC.

I will likely be posting more soon.

It's just funny stuff.

Des

Edmonton Oilers Fans sing O Canada

Sometimes, I miss Canada.

Carl Sagan

I love Carl Sagan. This is a very humbling passage no matter what your beliefs may be.

Des

Apple Event: September 5th, 2007 CONFIRMED

The long awaited new iPods are on their way. An invitation was sent out today from Apple to members of the media depicting "Cover Flow" with the tagline, "The beat goes on." Can only mean one thing . . . new touch screen iPhone-esque iPods based on OS X. THAT would be incredible. I can't imagine that they would incorporate cover flow into anything with a click wheel. If they do, I'll be pretty disappointed.But there's no need to even worry about that, right? Awww, and I seem to have misplaced my nano . . . . I guess I'll just have to wait and see what comes next.Des

read more | digg story

Using OS X built-in Stationary Pad Feature

We often have occasions where we need a template - maybe stationary for a letter in Word, maybe an XHTML or CSS file that you use a default for many projects, maybe a spreadsheet, anything at all. Well in OS X there is a little-known feature built in for just this situation.

read more | digg story

Newfoundland is Great

Newfoundland is a pretty amazing place.

I love it here.

Des

Long Vacation

So . . . it's been a long time. I haven't blogged since before camp. Honestly, it's just been crazy, with Conservatory, traveling to Spain, doing school work, and wanting some time to myself, there really hasn't been much time for anything else.

But, here I am.

And, to make up for lost time, I have pics!

White and Nerdy?

I've recently begun to enjoy the lyrical styling of one Weird Al Yankovic. I have also begun to realize how much I can relate to some of his songs.

So, here I break down "White and Nerdy" and argue that it indeed could have been written about me. Please see my comments in red.
-----------------------------

They see me mowin' my front lawn (Don't have a lawn, N/A)
I know they're all thinkin' I'm so white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Can't ya see I'm white and nerdy
Look at me, I'm white and nerdy (Yes, Probably)

I wanna roll with the gangstas (Yes, I would like to roll with the gangstas)
But so far they all think I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy
Really really white and nerdy (As above)

First in my class here at M.I.T. (Not at M.I.T. but otherwise true)
Got skills, I'm a champion at D&D (Never played D & D)
M.C. Escher, that's my favorite M.C. (I have a special place for M.C. Escher . . . he's good)
Keep your forty I'll just have an Earl Gray Tea (Never had a "40" but plenty of tea)

My rims never spin to the contrary
You'll find that they're quite stationary (My rims are definitely stationary)
All my action figures are cherry (I have a Sigmund Freud "Action Figure" unopened)
Stephen Hawking's in my library (No . . . but he is on my wish list)

My MySpace page is all totally pimped out
Got people beggin' for my top eight spaces (I hate myspace . . . )
Yo, I know pi to a thousand places (not a thousand . . . maybe 6)
Ain't got no grills but I still wear braces (No grills, never had braces)

I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise (I do)
I'm a wiz at Minesweeper, I could play for days (Minesweeper is so passe)
Once you see my sweet moves you're gonna stay amazed
My fingers movin' so fast I could set the place ablaze

There's no killer app I haven't run (run) (I have a lot of killer apps)
At Pascal, well, I'm number one (one) (No, but I know what it is)
Do vector calculus just for fun (No, but I know what it is)
I ain't got a gat, but I got a soldering gun (what) (Does a dremel count?)

Happy Days is my favorite theme song (It's a nice jingle)
I could sure kick your butt at a game of ping-pong (Everyone but Charlie Fisher so far)
I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on (I had a subscription to Mental Floss magazine . . . nothing but trivia)
I'm fluent in Javascript as well as Klingon (Not a Trekkie at all, but I know me some javascript)

Here's the part I sing on...

They see me roll on my Segway
I know in my heart they think I'm white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Can't ya see I'm white and nerdy
Look at me, I'm white and nerdy

I'd like to roll with the gangstas
Although it's apparent I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy
How'd I get so white and nerdy?

I've been browsin', inspectin'
X-Men comics you know I collect 'em
The pens in my pockets I must protect 'em
My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored (Nothing in this section is true thankfully)

Shoppin' online for deals on some writable media (Yes)
I edit Wikipedia (Yes)
I memorized Holy Grail really well (Yes)
I can recite it right now and have you ROTFLOL (Yes)
I got a business doin' websites (Yes)
When my friends need some code, who do they call? (Yes)
I do HTML for 'em all (Yes)
Even made a home page for my dog (Not yet)

Yo, I got myself a fanny pack (NO)
They were havin' a sale at The Gap
Spend my nights with a roll of bubble wrap
Pop, pop, hope no one sees me gettin' freaky (NO)

I'm nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour cream (Yes)
I was in AV Club and Glee Club and even the Chess Team (Would if I could)

The only question I ever thought was hard
Was do I like Kirk or do I like Picard? (Again, not a Trekkie)
Spend every weekend at the Renaissance Fair (No)
Got my name on my underwear (No)

They see me strollin', they laughin'
And rollin' their eyes cause I'm so white and nerdy
Just because I'm white and nerdy
Just because I'm white and nerdy
All because I'm white and nerdy
Holy cow, I'm white and nerdy

I wanna bowl with the gangstas
But, oh well, it's obvious I'm white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy
Look at me, I'm white and nerdy

That's me. I'm white and nerdy. Yo! Me! Nerdy!

Paris, France

Pics from my evening in Paris.

Des

Orleans, France

Normandy

Today we played at the Omaha Beach memorial in France. It was pretty moving. Here are some pics.

Des

Switzerland, Part 3

More photos from my current trip to Switzerland and France. Most of these were from our second day in Zurich, and include some wonderful shots from supper that evening as well as the venue for that night's concert.

There are also a couple of shots from our day in Basel. If you look real close, you may even see an alpine horn of "Ricola" commerical fame.

Grace,

Des

Brody's Birthday

Today is Brody's birthday and I'm not there to share with him. Thank the Lord for Skype.

Happy birthday!!!

Des

Bern, Suisse

Shots from Zurich

Joost Invites a Plenty

Joost has gone unlimited. You still need an invite, but now there is no limit to the number of invites you can send, so if you still need in, drop me a line. Find my contact info on my website: http://www.webandflowdesign.com.

Grace,

Des

Crazy Week

It's been a crazy week. I've been in Orlando for a few days now - since Saturday, actually - attending a youth workers conference. It's been good to connect with people that I haven't seen in a long time.

Here are just a few reasons why craziness has ensued:

• We had to come all the way to Orlando, just to see family from Newfoundland,
• Including this trip, I've now gotten into Disney four times for free,
• New clientèle,
• Designing websites may actually have been a good choice,
  
• I brought my iMac to the hotel,
• No one should be able to eat this much food and live,
• Brody enjoys Orlando,
• iPodcast,
  
• My name isn't Derek, but I forgive you,
  
• Photoshop finally photoshipped.

I've also been able to do a litte work on a prototype of the splicr site. It's not live yet, but if you want to check out a preview, you can do so at http://dcs533.aisites.com/splicr. It's coming along. I've been using it as an assignment for school which is forcing me to get a lot more done on it than I normally would.

Tomorrow, the craziness continues.

Grace,

Des

What's the Flip?

Kristy and I (more her, than me, really) had the chance this weekend to conduct a Regional Junior Youth Councils for several kids in the immediate area (and some that came from much further away). The material we used was from Willow Creek and was called "Flipt" - the idea being that Jesus flips your life around.

It was a really cool experience and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Here are a few pics of the set and the mini-worshippers!

Grace,

Des

Flock's Diner

There's a new site coming soon: http://www.flocksdiner.com. You know it now as http://peoplesheep.blogspot.com. But Johnny has asked me to work on a new site for his blog and recently added podcast (click here if you have iTunes - click here if you do not - click here if it's still not working and ask me about how to listen to his podcast). So there's a hint about some of the color schemes et al over there at FlocksDiner.com and you'll also soon notice some new artwork on the podcast if you're already familiar with it.

It's good stuff. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks to get this thing up and running for real.

Also, check out my other blog at http://www.webandflowdesign.com for some of the other stuff I've been doing - including my first print advertisement in a newspaper.

Grace,

Des

ubuntu studio

I'm excited about this: http://ubuntustudio.org/

i.e. free media editing for the masses

Des

active vs. passive

Recently, I've been seeing a counselor. You may, or may not, have known that - I think it's the first time that I've mentioned it here. It's been incredible to have someone to talk to that can both remain objective and provide great insights into life, the universe, and everything.

Yes, that is a Douglas Adams reference.

One of the very cool things that I've been able to realize deals with the difference that the results of activity vs the results of passivity. She gave me a great example. She said that she recently had a client, a male, that would frequent bars and would "go home" with whatever woman would give him any attention. What he realized is that he would never be happy as long as he was passive - waiting for someone else to act - because they were making the "selection" - not him. He wasn't having the opportunity to find the woman that he wanted . . . he was waiting for the right one to find him. He was always the one being picked - never getting to the the picking.

In my life, the things that I am happiest with are the things that I have selected - that is, the things that I know are right and good and so I've taken action to bring them into my life. For example, my marriage. I am very happy in my marriage, because I was active in building the relationship. Another example: school. I am very happy with what I am studying in school because I selected it, it's EXACTLY what I want to do.

When you're passive about moving towards things, you're essentially letting someone else pick the details of your life. For me, much of my life has been lived passively . . . those things that I didn't actively choose, but rather just let happen, are the things that are most frustrating.

So, I'm done with just letting things happen. I will be actively choosing the next years of my life, in concert, of course, with my wife and my God. But it was an incredible lesson that I am happy to have learned!!!

Grace,

Des

Question of the Day

I've been meaning to post this for days now.

But the other day, Kristy and I saw a site that made us stop and ponder this question:

What is the Statue of Liberty doing with the chicken?

Grace,

Des

splicr getting closer

Hey.

There's a little more info at http://www.opensourcearmy.org regarding splicr. So check that out. We're getting closer . . . I'm waiting on the final bits of a web server and then it should be ready to go.

Check it out and let me know what you think

Grace,

Des

More Joost Tokens

I've got more Joost Tokens!!!

So, if you're wanting in a very cool new ipTV program that's currently in beta . . . go to http://www.webandflowdesign.com to contact me for a token. It's good for windows and Intel Macs.

Grace,

Des

New Podcast (more to come!)

Greetings,

There's a new podcast that will have media from around the Carolinas division! The Divisional Media Podcast is available from iTunes or other readers at the following link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=250030236

If you use something other than iTunes to get your feeds (like the great democracy player, for example), you can point that at this address:

http://www.salarmy.org/podcasts/nscPodcast.xml

Enjoy. I'll be posting all sorts of different content here. We've got our Music Festival/Main Streen Ministries Conference in about a week, so there will definitely be some stuff from there going up.

For now, I've been posting the sermons from Youth Councils to get us started as well as a highlight video.

Blessings,

Des

Kristy's Make Up Artist Debut

This weekend at Youth Councils, Kristy was asked to turn one of the officers into a caveman for a Geico.com spoof (hopefully you've seen the commercials). She did an AMAZING job. Check out her blog for her story.

Here's a couple of shots!

Boy Scout Found Alive after 3 Days Lost in the Wilderness

A boy scout with ADHD. who went missing 3 days ago has been found alive and well. From the story: "There are many things about Michael's personality that may be connected with the ADHD that are really wonderful, that are really positive: his imagination, his creativity," Auberry said.



read more | digg story

A Friend Reminder

There have been a lot of happenings lately reminding me of the importance and the impact of my friends.

One of those things has been FaceBook. Yes, I'm well aware that there is a much cooler social networking service now called VIRB (http://www.virb.com) but I'm a recent facebook convert and I'm not quite ready to move!

(EDIT: I've got plenty of invites to virb - but I think it's open now, so you can sign up without an invite . . .if you need one or want one, just post a comment.)

In any case, it's been neat and encouraging for me (who has never thought of himself as having an abundance of friends . . . notice I'm not quite saying "loser" here, more that I have few, but very significant friends . . . . you may say loser if you wish) to see the connections that have been made over the years, even just in terms of acquaintances.

The other is that I just had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with some of those very significant friends that Kristy and I love dearly and simply have not gotten to see much of in the past 14 months or so. In spite of the distance, the significance has not faded; it's grown stronger. That's amazing to me.

I've never thought of myself as needing my friends to be present. If you know me, you probably know that I have an awful tendency to want to do things myself my way and to transform into a hermit in the face of stress - retreating to various locations of solitude.

This weekend I realized that for one of the only times in recent memory that I had a joy that has been missing for a long time . . . I wonder how long this fix will sustain me.

Don't know if it's the lack of sleep or the (2 month old) lack of caffeine talking, but . . . I think there's something in my eye.

Grace,

Des

Growing Up

I never thought I would grow up. I've been a big kid at heart for a long time - ever since I was a little kid, I guess. But I thin, at 27, that I've finally gone and done it. I think I am officially an adult.

My thoughts are much more adult now. The way that I deal with the world is much more adult now. I know now, though I often do not want to admit it, that I am in fact not invincible. That's a weird thought to finally have to accept.

You see, I've never had to deal with mortality. I've been blessed in that my family, all the way up to all four of my grandparents have all had long lives are still with me. So the number of times that I have had people that were at all close to me that I've lost I can count on one hand without using all of the fingers on it.

I don't mean this to bring any one down of course. I know that I'm blessed to be in this situation.

Recently, I've been thinking about death and what it means for me as a Christian. There have been some people loosely connected with me that have been called home earlier than expected and through those experiences God has been dealing with me in some interesting ways. Primarily, in addition to realizing that I've only got a set number of years (maybe 60, maybe 70, maybe 80, who knows?), God has been teaching me to use the time that I have because we never know how much time that is. He's been helping me see that even though I've wasted great deals of time that I could have used to help people, to meet their needs, to serve with the love of Christ on pointless pursuits, I've still got plenty of time to do whatever I can to serve in his name.

I can't say that I'm afraid of my own death . . . I'm just so unfamiliar with it that I don't know what's involved. Kristy and I were talking and many people have this questions dealt with as teenagers - she's in a very different situation than I in that she has had to deal with these questions already a number of times.

I also don't want to eventually come to the end of my life and fear that I have wasted my time. Everything I do should have purpose. Everything I do should be about bringing heaven to earth, defeating hell, building relationships that honor God. Is my day to day life going to be one of those things that I regret someday? Am I doing what I love?

As you can see, I've been dealing with some heavy thoughts lately that have REALLY made me thing and physically (literally) forced me to process them. I continue to deal with them.

Thanks for listening.

Grace,

Des

splicr: the open source video project

I've been working a little more on a concept for a project that is coming along nicely. I'm hoping to really be able to knock some stuff out soon and hopefully promo it at one of the big events coming up soon that I'm involved with.

More (obviously) to come. Enjoy the artwork.

Grace,

Des

Brody's New Shirt

Brody loves his new shirt.

Amazing French Beat Boxer

This is incredible. Found this today when just browsing around. I'm not sure that he actually breathes . . .

(disclaimer: I'm sure he breathes)

But, even with the breathing, it's pretty incredible to hear - he's got so much going on.

Oh . . . it's also in french.

Sorry 'bout that.

Des

SASF Flashback -Word Association

I was browsing around YouTube.com tonight and came across this video. Those of you that were in the SASF during the years 1997-2001 may indeed remember a series of sketches that myself and my good friend Trevor Rodgers would "perform" (read: slaughter) at various events.

Her name is Antonia.

Grace,

Des

Sally Ann and her Strange Friends

I need some help.

I'm trying to get a list of old (or new) Salvation Army terminology (we don't make much terminiology up any more . . . .do we?). No, I'm not trying to compile it into a book or develop a sermon series or make money at the army's expense (yet . . . . no, no, I kid, I kid). Rather, I'm simply looking for some inspiration.

I've also been playing with some Photoshop toys that I found a few days ago.

As you can see.

In any case, I'm in need of lots of good ol' army terminology. It doesn't matter how obscure . . . in fact, the more obscure, the better.

Thanks.

Grace,

Des

Got Joost?

Follow this link and you may be able to get a shiny Joost invite . . .

http://www.webandflowdesign.com

Grace,

Des

the open source video project - coming soon

There is a new project coming. The open source video project is a collaborative effort to build a worship experience. You'll be hearing more about how you can participate in it soon.

Get thinking about how you can portray worship through a multimedia presentation.

Grace,

Des

the CORE

So, I've started in on a new project:

http://www.thecorevideos.com.

It's army specific - but I think it's going to be hot.

Des

Bandwidth Test II

You may remember that I posted about a new bandwidth testing service some time ago. They're redesigned now but still very cool.

Calling all Salvationists to an Open-Source Army

Attention Salvationists:

Your help is desperately needed.

For a couple of years now, some of us (in the USA South at least) have been crying out the mantra, "I am the Salvation Army," or "WE ARE the Salvation Army" in response to the thought that us soldiers are members of an organization that has become short-sighted at its upper levels. Whatever you believe about that statement, it is true that the Salvation Army will ultimately live or die by its soldiers, it's ground troops that either are or are not doing the leg work. We all have a role.

Those roles have the potential to cause reverberations that could shake the foundation of the army. Our actions, our thoughts, our passions have the potential to set of a nervous system response that will flow all the way the head of our army.

Your input is important - even when it seems as though it has not.

The concept of "Open-Source" has been around in software development for years. Essentially, it represents a community of people with different backgrounds contributing to a joint project resulting in a product that benefits the entirety of the community and the world at large. I know you want input into our army. We have griped and complained long enough. But that's the wrong approach.

You, no matter who you are, represent some of the most valuable assets the Army has. You are on the ground. You have a feel for the lay of the land. You know what some of the real needs are. If you're like me, you don't need the army or anyone to tell you what needs to be done because you can see it first hand. That requires you to act.

But you want to bring the Army to these new places too. You don't want to see the army die from stagnation.

There are lots of ways to contribute. Find a need and meet it - it may be simple or it may be crazy - ask God and your friends for help and then do it. Talk. Don't just argue or gripe or complain. Talk to inspire others (corps officers, soldiers, atheists, goths, skaters, etc). Defeat hell on earth by spreading the riches of heaven.

There's another project that involves thinking (a secret op that I'm letting you in on): for now, I'm calling it The Salvation Army Core. Read this and tell me what it means:

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.

Dont' just tell me what it literally means . . . but what does it mean in terms of action? What do we do with this? Because we believe that to be true, how does it manifest itself in our lives from day to day? We have known (or should have an idea) what this literally means for a long time. Have you thought about how it translates into action? What's faith without action?

Claim it. Foot soldiers, you have the power to win or lose the battle. Leadership can do some things to reposition the troops, but who is fighting the battles?

Grace,

Desmond

Harper, Gates announce AIDS vaccine initiative

Even to a hard-core Mac fan-boy Canadian living in America, this is very cool:

Canada will be the site of a new facility to manufacture and test vaccines to fight HIV/AIDS, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates announced Tuesday in Ottawa.

Ottawa will contribute $111 million toward the new Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, while the Microsoft founder, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will donate $28 million.

Harper and Gates signed the multimillion-dollar agreement during a news conference on Parliament Hill.

The new initiative will accelerate the pace of finding a vaccine to fight the virus that causes AIDS, and move possible vaccines to the clinical trial stage more quickly, said Harper.

"HIV/AIDS is one of the most heartwrenching health crises the world has ever seen," said Harper. "It is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time."

Gates said: "AIDS is a very tough problem. The long-term solution is a vaccine."

Gates sidestepped a question on whether he believed Harper, who didn't attend the 2006 Internatlonal AIDS Conference in Toronto, was making the announcement in a bid for support ahead of an expected spring election.

"I'm glad to hear that putting research money into AIDS makes people politically more popular," said Gates, drawing laughter from those at the news conference.

Efforts aim to prevent AIDS

Worth about $50 billion US, Gates is the world's richest man. He has endowed the foundation, named after himself and his wife, with $24 billion US to support global health, library and education initiatives around the world.

Through their foundation, Gates and his wife Melinda have donated more than $500 million US to AIDS, as well as tuberculosis and malaria.

Speaking to the CBC's Peter Mansbridge last week, Gates said he expects a vaccine will be developed in his lifetime.

Gates will address the Canadian Chamber of Commerce later Tuesday.

Roughly 65 million people around the world have been diagnosed with AIDS since it was first identified in 1981. The United Nations estimates close to three million people died from the disease in 2006.

Original Story at: CBC.ca.

Grace,

Des

Spirit of the Revolution

New thoughts: Here -> http://spiritoftherevolution.blogspot.com

Grace,

des

Brody

Another shot of Brody and Des.

Brody being sweet

This is a great shot of Brody. Excuse his cleaning practices - but he is pretty funny. He made me laugh.

Des

Overview of Google Browser Sync, a Firefox Add-on

Linux Tech Daily provides an overview (with screenshots) of Google Browser Sync for Firefox. It synchronizes not only your bookmarks, but also your settings. A perfect fit for people who run Firefox from multiple computers. This overview covers installation, use and privacy.If you use Google and you use Firefox (like all of us really should) and you use it on multiple computers, then you really need to have a look at this tool.Des



read more | digg story

razealittlehell.com

Hey.

One of the things I've been working on lately is a site developed completely using Flash for the course that I am currently completing. I had an idea some time ago to develop a site called razealittlehell.com - inspired by a sermon from Mars Hill. Since I had to develop a site for the course anyway, why not choose this one.

So, if you want to see what I've been working on . . . just go to http://www.razealittlehell.com/testing/RazeHell.swf. There is a lot left to be done, but I keep changing/tweaking/editing this every day. I've got about a week left on it . . . any feedback would be appreciated.

Grace,

Des

Got some time to Kill?

If you've got some time to kill, there are 4 videos here that you may want to watch. These are two projects of the Carolinas' Music and Arts Conservatory video class from the summer of 2006. Basically, these students had to write and direct these scripts and I pieced the footage together at the end of the summer. Since YouTube limits me to 10 mins of video, I had to break both into two pieces.

So, enjoy

JohnBoree Part 1:


JohnBoree Part 2:


James Q. Liger Part 1:


James Q Liger Part 2:

What I Do Not Miss about Canadian Politics

I've been living in the US now since 2002 and, that that time, haven't really keep up to speed on the nitty gritty of politics in Canada. I know the basics - like, that we still have a prime minister. But several people have been speaking to me lately about Reasonable Accommodation which is an issue of debate, particularly in Ontario and Quebec.

This article showed up today on a site that check frequently (aka daily), Digg.com. It's a socially driving news site -that generally features tech news, but has a lot of other categories as well. The article represents a very extreme case, but does illustrate some of the issues that governments across Canada are dealing with: How far should a country bend to accommodate customs of other countries that may not be acceptable here?

January 31, 2007 10:02am
By David Ljunggren in Ottawa

IMMIGRANTS who want to live in the small Canadian town of Herouxville, Quebec, must not stone women to death in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them, according to an extraordinary set of rules released by the local council.

The declaration, published on the town's website, has deepened tensions in the predominantly French-speaking province over how tolerant Quebecers should be toward the customs and traditions of immigrants.

"We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," said the declaration, which makes clear women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write cheques, dress how they want, work and own property.

"Therefore we consider it completely outside these norms to ... kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc."

Herouxville, which has 1300 inhabitants, is about 160km northeast of Montreal.

Andre Drouin, the councilor who devised the declaration, told the National Post newspaper the town was not racist.

"We invite people from all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations, whatever, to come live with us, but we want them to know ahead of time how we live," he said.

The declaration is part of a wider debate over "reasonable accommodation", or how far Quebecers should be prepared to change their customs so as not to offend immigrants.

The Herouxville regulations say girls and boys can exercise together and people should only be allowed to cover their faces at Halloween.

Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, said the declaration had "set the clock back for decades" as far as race relations were concerned.

"I was shocked and insulted to see these kinds of false stereotypes and ignorance about Islam and our religion ... in a public document written by people in authority who discriminate openly," he said.

Get Joost

I've been lucky enough to be invited to a new beta test of a great new program. It's from the makers of the Kazaa and Skype - both of which were fairly revolutionary. Joost (formerly "The Venice Project") will likely be similarly revolutionary.

It's a program designed to share high quality video feeds among peers. But it's not crappy user-generated video (a la people sitting in front of a webcam lip syncing to some pop tune). Instead it's got some neat way of distributing video from sources like TV channels, bands, etc and delivering really good video.

It's really pretty amazing. I've been impressed so far.

You can sign up for a beta (windows only at the moment, I'm sorry to say) at http://www.joost.com. If it takes off, it could be a really sweet platform.

Grace,

Des

Death to CDs

In one of the podcasts that I've been listening too lately I heard the following prediction: That 2007 will be the year that the CD (Compact Disc) dies (The podcast was This Week in Media - and the prediction came from this article: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2007/01/18/the-end/, if you're interested). It's really interesting to think about. I remember moving from cassettes to CDs and how much cooler I felt.

Then along came my first MP3 player - a Rio 500. It was amazing - I had 64 MB of memory and could stick a couple hours of tunes in my pocket. And then, several years later, I got an iPod. Apple has sold just about 90 million iPods now. This past quarter, according to wikipedia.org, Apple sold 21,066,000 iPods. And, yes, there are still some other companies out there too that are selling MP3 players.

So, is this the year the CD dies?


HERE'S A FUN GAME:

Do you remember what you're first CD was?
Mine was Gordon by the Barenaked Ladies. I remember sitting in my room playing bass for hours along with that thing.

Brody Shows Off

The New Addition

Yesterday was a very long day, but a very fun day. We were driving for SEVERAL hours to the little town of Ocilla, GA.

But look what we brought back.



THIS guy is a cutie. Man. And, so far, he has been as good as gold. I'm sure it's different. He's basically leaving a pack of dogs for a pack of humans. But he has been AMAZING.

I'm SURE there are more pics to come.

Grace,

Des

Now on my Wishlist

This is the newest product from Apple, Inc. It's coming in June. Incredible. It's definitely on the list. Check it out at http://www.apple.com.

Des

Another Shot of Home

Sorry for all of the shots from home, but they're pretty neat shots. This is a photo that my father had taken this summer showing the little community that I grew up in from a different angle than what I have posted here before. And the picture is pretty much it. There isn't a whole lot more to my little town than this - maybe a half-mile or so on either direction.

I miss it. It's quite peaceful and I think I always took that for granted. Of course, after just being home I'm much more homesick than normal. But, it's something that I didn't appreciate while I was there. And, I DO appreciate my life here in Asheville as well. There are lots of things that I would like to change, and loads of things that I could complain about, but be those things as they may, there is purpose in my being here, and my wife's being here. There are a lot of great people here.

But . . . I mean, just look at this. It's so small and peaceful and secluded. It's great.

Grace,

Des

Shots from Home

It seems as though this is becoming somewhat of a tradition. These are shots from home, from the water down in front of my parents house in Newfoundland. You may remember a great sunset here from earlier this summer. Now, as you can see, it's snowing.

It's still great to be home.

Grace,

Des 

I Wonder What THIS Means?

I'm excited about Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 - and all of the projected Apple announcements for MacWorld 2007.

This is on Apple.com today. I wonder what it means?

Des