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