roots

Here's something I've been working on lately. I like it a lot.

It's still being tweaked . . . but I do have it set as my wallpaper right now.

Des

Why am I so into wallpapery goodness lately???

I've been enjoying my newfound love of photoshop . . . ah, digital composting . . . I mean compositing.

Des

Eureka

About 7 months ago I was in Atlanta for some meetings.  Of course, being a technophile . . . I travel packing a considerable amount of gadgets: my weapons of choice, if you will.  Of course, I also love when I come across amazing deals on technology too . . . like the time that I found a Linksys Travel router online for $12.

Here's what it looks like.

Naturally, my need to be connected drove me to bring this router of mine to Atlanta with me just in case I couldn't hit a wireless internet access point.  If there was a port in the wall, I can make my own wireless.

It worked flawlessly as usual.

Unfortunately, it was a few days later when I gave in to the harsh realization that I had left this prized piece of networking technology in the big crapple (sorry, I know it's not that bad - I'm just not a fan).

Reality is a cruel, cruel mistress.

Especially when she's wrong.

Tonight, while looking for something else incidentally (I lose stuff) . . . buried in a box in our closet I came across the long lost router - sitting there so lonely and ready to "packet" all in (networking joke). It's like being reunited with a long lost friend . . . that's about 5 inches tall and has the ability to transmit and receive radio frequencies.

Oh happy day.

Des

tree of life

As often is found true, Kristy and I were watching National Geographic tonight and they had a great special on about the amazing-ness of Yosemite and the wonders therein. One of the things that struck us both was about the giant sequoias that grow there.

Firstly, they can be 3000 years old and 300 feet high. That in itself is incredible.

But then they were discussing the way that water travels up inside the tree for nourishment. Three hundred feet is a long way for water to travel . . . especially considering things like gravity and pressure and logic. However, what mr. narrator said was the the sequoia has the most efficient hydraulic system on earth . . . more efficient than anything man has been able to recreate.

So that's amazing.

But there's more.

Every day the average sequoia moves 1 ton of water through it's system . . . 1 ton. That's about 907 litres ( which is 907 liters spelled in American English . . . or 240 gallons).

One tree, one day, one ton.

There was also a piece of granite that fell from one of the mountain faces that was bigger than two football fields (approximately 1.89 Canadian Football League fields - they're 110 yards each) that caused a shockwave when it landed that snapped trees for about a half-a-mile. The air that rushed out from underneath on the leading edge of this shockwave was travelling at 300 mph.

There are a lot more stats in this post than I thought there would be . . . but it's all good.

Grace,

Des

remember me?

Sometimes I forget how altogether life-changing this experience was for me and maybe some of these people too:

Helen
Reality
Micky
John
Vince
Pat
Michael
Christian
Sherry
Alicia
Vincent
Mark
Julienne
Carl
Pat and his wife
Joe
Kendrick
Peggy Hayward
Sgt. Bennett
Belinda & Jamayah
Ronnie & Fontella
Perry
Tony
Moe
EJ Webber
Eric
Willis
03.20.2005
Claude (and Tyrel)
Hatchet (AKA Josh)
Dan (Accepted Christ?)
Kenneth
LaMays (from India - didn't want prayer, but we're covert!!!)
Buck
Tito
Carlos
Justin (Unborn Baby)
William Alvarez (CATS Bus Driver)
David (the encourager)
03.24.2004: Urban Ministries
Susan Bame
Gregory
Warren Wright
Jedelle
Tony Fister
Tyrone
03.27.2005
David (from last week)
Doug (needs place to stay)
Phillip
Rosalyn
Curtis, the guardian Angel
Carlos (pray for our troops)
Seleek
Brandon, Janine, Darren
Don (in communications)
Bel Air (needs to get to New Orleans)
04.03.2005
Archie (Homeless believer with Arthritis)
Eric
Sherriff Steve "Biggie" Small
Derrick
Altrice
Richard
Kevin
Daniel (Kids Christopher, Tiffany, Jessica)
Dorothy (Concern that young daughter is sexually active)
Donelle Moses Brown ("Keepin' it Real")
Jeff (Needed a blanket, sleeping outside)
Rusty
Cora
Butch
04.10.2005
Dionne
Rodney & Banayah
Sgt. "Crazy" Carl - back from Iraq
Sgt. Mike - Carl's friend, having PTSD problems
Haywood
Moriah
La Mays
04.17.2005
Ken
Isaiah & Robert
Katherine
Michael
Olly
Jody
Tony
Nnaji
Glen (SA Shelter Resident)
04.24.2005
Colby & Rachel
Steve
Niema, Marlon, D'Angelo, Merlanda, Kenyelle, Beyoncé
Jack Stratton & Elijah
Archie
Rusty & Rob
Chanté
André
Chester
Samuel
Sgt. Bennet & Willis
3rd Shift
05.01.2005
Rob, the bassist
Mosha & Deborah
Eric & Joyce
Marquis
Anthony McClure
Kenneth
Steve
05.08.2005
Dirk Thune, seeking
Barry & Virginia
Henry, 9/11 cameras
Jamie (Military)
Archie
Brandon, expired transfer?
Tracy & Charles
Brenda
Jeremy
05.30.2005
Archie
Robert
Gabriel
Yusef
Michael
Nicole & Arthur
Basha (their mom)

These are all people that we met at the bus station - it's cool that their names and stories are still out there on the internet - at http://charminultra.blogspot.com. Maybe we'll do something like this again soon.

Good times. Really good times.

Des

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.

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

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!

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

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