humblethorn

Ready to be a Prophet

2009-02-27T12:38:00.003+07:00

Ok, maybe not. But Abi seems to like it.

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just~for~fun

The Kid Among Men

2008-06-11T13:34:00.005+07:00

There is another George Junior in one of the most exclusive clubs in sports.

George Kenneth Griffey Junior joined George Herman (Babe) Ruth Junior as well as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa in the 600 Home Run club.

Throughout his career he has been known as "The Kid" or "The Natural" or just "Junior", but if it had not been for a number of severe injuries (many of which were caused by his amazing catches at center field walls), he would likely be remembered as the greatest of all time.

Still, having seen some great players in my days, Griffey has been by far the most exciting and entertaining player I have ever seen... and has never been involved in any whisper of steroid use.

Thanks for all the memories, kid. You've been great!

Throw My Hat in the Ring

2008-02-04T02:46:00.000+07:00

There are many things that would be better to write about.

The great time in America with family and friends.
Fellowshipping in churches - in English.
The contacts we've made and the vision for our future.

However, it is t-minus-3 hours to kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday. So, instead of writing about something serious I'm going to make my prediction for the Patriots - Giants game.

Admittedly, this prediction will be a reflection of my intense dislike for all Boston sports (nothing personal, Beantown, but when you grow up a New York Yankees fan, you have no choice but to dislike Red Sox nation and anything remotely connected to it - and now that they slaughtered my hometown Colorado rockies in the World Series they are even darker on my blacklist).

I have to admit that this Patriots team is the best team I have ever seen, but the Giants are a legitimate squad who are playing very well. And, since I can't root for the Patriots, I can't pick them to win either, so here it is:

...

Giants 31
Patriots 27

...

Enjoy the game everyone.

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Rocktober

2007-10-16T11:09:00.000+07:00

Unbelievable. Six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning in game 4 have all but guaranteed that the Colorado Rockies have swept the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League Pennant, and will play in the 2007 World Series for the right to be called World Champions.

October belongs to the Colorado Rockies.

I have to say, I am really sad not to be in Colorado. To have a chance to watch our home team play in the World Series from a seat at Coors field - that's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity.

Coors Field : I would love to be back there this October.

Then I remember: every day I spend in Thailand, among my Akha friends, in my bamboo hut. These are rare opportunities as well, and I am incredibly blessed to live a life full of these moments.

Doi Mae Salong : Actually, I guess I would rather be here.

So I guess I'll just enjoy the World Series whenever I can catch bits of it in the city. Go Rockies!

Tags:

baseball

Sweet Sounds of September

2007-10-01T08:02:00.000+07:00

It's been a long time since Lori or I have updated our personal blogs as we have been happily engrossed in life with Abi. However, I have found myself in a strange moment of calm as Abi is sleeping with mom and I have received an unexpected day off from working with Aje. In the spirit of enjoyment I have to write about one of my favorite subjects : Baseball.

Just before opening day I placed my annual predictions for the 2007 MLB season. I generally try to update those forecasts during the AllStar break, but as we were apparently doing something else at the time, that date slipped by. So lets take a look at the ~~end~~ - day before the 163rd game of the year - at how I did:

First, the ~~easy predictions~~:

The Rockies will still be a bad baseball team. I could not be happier to have been so wrong. Josh Fogg and the Rockies bullpen found enough gas in the tank to carry the team until the offense exploded late in the year - winning 13 out of 14 games to force the first Game 163 in nearly a decade.

I'll be on the road to Chiang Mai during the game, taking Manoon's family out to get another of their children into a home that can care for his polio, so I'll miss it - but I'm sure glad for the Rockies, and would like to predict that they will lose big to the Padres (after all, I predicted that the they would be a bad baseball team and they were a good team, so if I predict that they will lose big... )

"I'm not superstitious... I'm just a little stitious." .: listen :.
-Michael Scott, The Office

Albert Pujols will still be the best player in baseball. No MVP season for Pujols, but another incredible year, batting over .320 with 30+ hr and 100+ RBI. The only thing is, after a "disappointing" season last year, Alex Rodriguez has again established himself as the best regular-season player in baseball. If he wants to overtake Pujols as the "best player in baseball" he will have to show that flash in October.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are the greatest rivalry in sports. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Now, for the hard calls, my 2007 MLB predictions:

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks ... Looks like I knew what I was talking about.
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals ... Oops, maybe I didn't. It really hurts to lose your Ace in the first month. Make that the Chicago Cubs.
NL East: New York Mets ... Fell apart late. Opened the Door for the Phillies.
NL WildCard: Philadelphia Phillies ... Actually won the NL East, leaving San Diego and Colorado to battle it out for the NL Wild Card role.

AL West: Oakland A's ... Oops. 10 games under .500 Make that the Angels
AL Central: Minnesota Twins ... 17 games behind Cleveland
AL East: Boston Red Sox ... Just barely - pitching is looking older.
AL WildCard: New York Yankees* ... Overcame a horrendous start to almost catch Boston, but will settle for the WildCard - Young pitching looks good.

*it is very possible that the WildCard will go to a very good Cleveland Indians team who will not have to endure the difficult schedule of the AL East teams who will all beat up on each other. See? I did know that Cleveland was good.

NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Mets ... hmmm. Let's change that to Chicago against NOT Phillidelphia (Seriously, I love the Rockies chances against Philly, if they can beat Peavy tomorrow.)
ALCS: Oakland A's vs. Minnesota Twins ... Once again - Nope. Make it: New York vs. Boston. I have to say this is what I wanted to write in April, but I couldn't believe it might happen again

World Series: Oakland A's over New York Mets in 6 ... Lets make the world right again. After beating the Red Sox, the Yankees keep the Cubs winless in the last 99 years, back to 1908. However, next year will be interesting again as ARod might be off to friendlier fields in 2008, but we'll save that discussion for my predictions next spring.

2007 Awards

AL MVP - Alex Rodriguez, NYY
AL ROY - Dustin Pedroia, BOS
AL CY - C.C. Sabathia, CLE

NL MVP - Matt Holliday, COL (actually, it might be Rollins, PHI - but it SHOULD be Holliday)
NL ROY - Troy Tulowitzky, COL (that's right, the playoffs, MVP and ROY all in one year for COL)
NL CY - Jake Peavy, SD. Jake Peavy, SD. Jake Peavy, SD. And guess who's pitching game 163 tomorrow?

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baseball

HELLO OFFICER

2007-08-07T09:40:00.000+07:00

Still waiting the arrival of our baby girl - have you made your prediction yet? - I have been spending the morning hours (before Lori is up and able to face another day of lugging around a basketball-belly) by reading my news feeds and checking my new favorite social network - facebook.

This morning, while reading through my 120+ subscriptions, I came across a great article that I felt was worth sharing. It seems that the Thai police, in an effort to curb more serious offenses such as abuse of power, illegal bribes and mistreatment of the public have decided to crack down on the policemen who commit minor offenses such as littering, parking in illegal zones and tardiness.

The punishment? The offending officer will be required to wear an armband depicting the schoolgirl icon "HELLO KITTY" for an entire day.

"Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor," said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

"(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It's not something macho police officers want covering their biceps," Pongpat said.
Full Story (Yahoo)

The punishment is "in-house" only, as officers will not be required to wear the armbands in public, but as we all learned as children peer pressure can be a powerful motivator... I think the measure will be effective.

HT: Boing Boing

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The Gamer and the Guerrillas

2007-07-24T10:31:00.000+07:00

I grew up in the generation that saw parents flying into fisticuffs at little league baseball, peewee football, and junior hockey games. And, although I never witnessed anything so brutal, I do clearly remember the mob mentality of high school sporting events as hundreds of fans berated referees, umpires and officials - insulting and threatening them from the stands.

This trend followed the natural escalations within American culture, and soon parents of these young athletes began to sue the coaches and the referees for costing their children opportunities of a lifetime. The absurdity of these events aside, I cannot help but recall very clearly the words of wisdom given to me by my parents while I was very young:

"Remember, it's just a game"

Time has passed, and my generation is now having children of our own, but our kids are growing up in a truly digital age. Online communities, online income, online communication, and online competitions.

In their moderation I don't have any problem with the methods of this age, and in fact I utilize them to connect and continue our relationships around the world. The online gaming and competition also has its place, and it is undeniable that it also has both entertainment and economic value. In fact, I hope our dear friend and podcaster over at Women of Warcraft can combine those economic and entertainment aspects by getting picked up by some gaming sponsor so she can make a pile of money and come out here to visit us (with Andy of course)!

But, now it seems that the violence that was once reserved for little league ballparks on Saturday mornings has overflowed into the world of online gaming: and with a digital-age-guerrilla-warfare twist:

An armed gang of four kidnapped one of the world's top RPG gamers after one criminal's girlfriend lured him into a fake date using Orkut, Google's social network. After sequestering him in Sao Paulo, they held a gun against the victim's head for five hours to get his password, which they wanted to sell for $8,000.
hattip: Gizmodo

What gets even more disturbing, is that the guy decided that it would be better to DIE than to lose his precious online persona. Or perhaps all that strategy gaming had taught him to read that the gunmen were bluffing, because after five hours they let him go.

I think all of these young men, the gamer and the guerrillas alike, would surely have benefited from my parents sage advice: IT REALLY IS JUST A GAME!

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Onion News Network : All online Data Lost after Internet Crash

2007-07-19T10:18:00.000+07:00

This really made us laugh. Especially the MySpace poke...

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

hat tip: ChuckzBlog II

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What the World Eats

2007-07-04T09:16:00.000+07:00

I have come across this article a number of times as I have been browsing through various Missionary Blogs on my Google Reader, and wanted to pass it along to any of you who might be interested.

Time has put together a photo journal from a book by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio entitled Hungry Planet. The book itself is a photographic journal and cookbook looking into the family table around the world. Time has taken a glimpse into this book with a photo slideshow entitled "What the World Eats", and I encourage you to take a look at it.

One word of caution: the most relevant information given is that of "Favorite Foods". Although the "Food expenditure per week" is interesting and can show what economic slice the pictures are taken from, without a basic cost-of-living from the region it's difficult to tell whether you are looking at poverty-level or luxery-level spending. For example, a single adult who makes $500/month in Thailand is very wealthy in Northern Thailand, where a meal at a Thai "restaurant" costs less than $1 and a nice home can be rented for $100 a month.

It was also interesting to me how much more money families with teenage boys have to spend on food. Yikes!

So go take a look and see where you think you might be able to live (those meat and cheese countries look really good to me)...

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How to Read the Web

2007-06-23T10:02:00.000+07:00

I love Google Reader. It is the best way to get the newest news and information from all the sites you like without having to travel from site to site. The great thing about Google Reader is that it allows access from any computer in the world. Google really is keeping the world's attention, but it's hard to complain when their products are so good.

Here's the simple version of how to use Google Reader:

1. Set up a Google mail account by going here.
2. Go to your favorite website and look for a (usually orange) box that says RSS or or search the site for "RSS feed"
3. Once you click on a feed you will stumble upon a variety of pages which will either look like code or a website depending on your browser and the feed provider. Nothing here matters except for the Web Address in the Address Bar (http://somthinghere...). Highlight the address and copy it. Or you can just copy this link : http://feeds.feedburner.com/tvj-allfeeds : to subscribe to all the news from The Vernon Journal.
4. Now go to your Google Reader page here.
5. In the left-hand side of the page there is a light-green box that says Add Subscription - Click it!
6. Paste the link you copied into the Add Subscription box and then click Add!
7. You did it! You have now subscribed to a website and whenever new articles, news, or even comics are available you can read them all on one page!

This allows you access to an incredible amount of information to be read at your leisure, allowing you to read only the articles that are interesting to you in a way that is much faster than wading through the web. Here's my recent reading activity:

From your 88 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 3,393 items, starred 23 items, and shared 43 items.

There are, of course, even more neat tips and tricks for you to enjoy within Google Reader, especially as your collection of websites (feeds) grows, but I will save those for another time. For now, enjoy reading the web!

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web2.0

What is Easter?

2007-04-08T11:23:00.000+07:00

My wife got me thinking this morning. She does that a lot. This morning it was about Easter.

There are a lot of things that came to mind as we thought about Easter in the past week - some precious and some mundane. White hats, chocolate, quality time with family, honey-baked hams, colored eggs, liturgy, Passion plays, the Resurrection sermon and the choir lifting up the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah.

For us, Easter has consisted of a hotel breakfast buffet, a little fellowship with some fellow servants in Thailand, the viewing of the children's version of "The Jesus Film" in Akha, and the exortion of the online community of missionaries and bloggers as we remember the resurrection of Christ from around the world.

As I had the question "What is Easter?" in the back of my mind, I came across a blog I often read but rarely comprehend. Here, Brian Russell makes a profound observation of what Resurrection Sunday is:

Resurrection creates the Church as a missional movement. The women in this story shift from mourners taking spices to the tomb to proclaimers of the Resurrection Story. This group of women (only the two Mary’s and Joanna are named) become the initial witnesses and servants of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Easter is the remembrance of the fulfillment of the promise which brought forth the fullness of the Gospel - but the response the Easter is missional. The response is the proclamation. Christ is Alive, and He has sent those who have tasted and seen to proclaim His life.

As the liturgy proclaims in beautiful simplicity:
"He is risen"
"He is risen indeed"

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Play Ball

2007-04-02T09:59:00.000+07:00

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

-From Casey at the Bat by Ernest L. Thayer.

I have been pondering sitting down to expound upon a number of posts inspired by conversations I have recently had and articles I have recently read covering topics from human trafficking to disenfranchised peoples, from Lent and the Easter season to the Emergent church. However, April 2nd, the sweetest of all spring days has arrived again. So today I talk about baseball.

The hot stove league has cooled as Spring Training has come to an end. Tremendous stories abound as Baseball becomes a more international pastime. As I mentioned last year, this is a time of excitement and new beginnings for ball clubs around the league. In that spirit of optimism, I am going to forget the fact that my predictions last year were awful and forge ahead, trusting that one day I will get something right.

First, the easy predictions:

The Rockies will still be a bad baseball team. That pitching staff is awful. Terrible. If they do not find a diamond in the rough, or, preferably, acquire a pitcher who can actually keep baseballs inside the diamond, they might finish as the worst team in the National League.

Albert Pujols will still be the best player in baseball. I was born 7 months before Reggie Jackson led the Yankees to his final World Series victory. Growing up watching baseball in the 80's and 90's there was no one else who consistently raised their team to a level of greatness like those old baseball greats. Barry Bonds comes the closest to instilling the fear that the greats instilled, but he has never been able to translate that into team success and a World Series victory. With his herculean statistics and last years World Series victory, Albert Pujols emerged as perhaps the best player that baseball has seen since the all-time greats of Aaron, Mays, Musial, Mantle and Williams.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are the greatest rivalry in sports. Although Toronto and Baltimore have both made strides in the standings in the AL East, the fire that New York and Boston play with is unmatched in baseball. In fact, a Yankees-Red Sox game is probably the premiere entertainment event in professional sports today; from a competition standpoint it is even better than the Super Bowl.

Now, for the hard calls, my 2007 MLB predictions:

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals
NL East: New York Mets
NL WildCard: Philadelphia Phillies

AL West: Oakland A's
AL Central: Minnesota Twins
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL WildCard: New York Yankees*

*it is very possible that the WildCard will go to a very good Cleveland Indians team who will not have to endure the difficult schedule of the AL East teams who will all beat up on each other.

NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Mets
ALCS: Oakland A's vs. Minnesota Twins

World Series: Oakland A's over New York Mets in 6

That's what I have got for this year, as usual I reserve the right to apologize and do this again at the All-Star break. Remember that you can listen to some of your favorite team's broadcasts live - look here for your teams radio stations.

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baseball

Need a Printer?

2007-03-16T12:53:00.000+07:00

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch, but it seems there is such thing as a free printer, and a pretty good one at that. I don't usually put these kind of things on our site, but as I was reading through my SlickDeals feed today I came across a pretty good offer. Unfortunately, you have to redeem the offer in-store, so it is no good to us - hopefully it will be good for some of you!

As of now (1:00 AM Eastern Time) you can get an All-In-One (Printer / Scanner / Copier) Lexmark X2480 printer for free after $90 mail-in rebate. If you are interested you need to hurry, because $50 of that rebate expires on my birthday! You can find the deal at many Circuit City stores, but you should check Circuit City Online for availability!

Hope this helps someone.

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Here comes Hollywood

2007-02-25T12:42:00.000+07:00

I'm guilty. I am the root of the problem.

I love movies, and I love good television. I really enjoy watching someone's imagination come to life on the screen, and am intrigued by the glimpses and portrayals of culture and values that movies provide.

However, when a society begins to idolize and respect men and women who, by the very nature of their job descriptions, are paid to make the fictional seem factual it is setting itself up for tremendous failures.

One example of a catastrophic misplacement of faith will be seen on Monday from New York City. Although I can happily say that I have never seen either of James Cameron's theatrical blockbusters Titanic nor Terminator 2; and, because I live in Thailand, I will not see his DaVinci code-like "press conference" on Monday, I will, however, probably have to deal with the after-effects of his actions in my conversations and relationships for years to come.

Jesus: Tales from the Crypt will open new challenges for Christians, pushing us to be the believers Peter challenged us to be when he wrote:

...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

I Peter 3:15

This new "evidence" presented by Mr. Cameron will give fuel to the fire of skeptics who desire to disrespect the name of Jesus Christ. But, to the man who is seeking spiritual truth in his journey, this press conference will bring questions, and these questions will lead to conversations about Christ.

The challenge to the Church is this: Will we be ready for these conversations?

If we are ready to have open, honest conversations, than these seekers will find life. And if we are discouraged about the weight of media and press conferences coming as witnesses against us, we must take comfort in the great Witnesses around us, for which "there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard."

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Currently Reading...

2007-02-15T09:16:00.000+07:00

Most of my recent reading attention has been focused on the dissertation: Leadership Development Within the Akha Cultural Context with Application to Akha Bible Institute as I have been helping our director finalize the editing for his doctorate program. At six hours a day for the past (and next) month, there has been little room or interest to add more reading into my daily schedule. However, when I get the chance there are dozens of missionary, news and special interest blogs and podcasts that I enjoy following. Some of these missionaries are listed in the links columns at the bottom left of this page and I want to encourage you to browse through those links when you have the opportunity. But, I have added a new way for Lori and I to share articles that we feel might be of interest to our readers.

Rather than introduce you to every blog we read at once, overwhelming all of you with the amount of information we are overwhelmed with, we are now able to share specific articles that interest, entertain or inspire us. You can find a new box (or widget) on the left column of this page, just below the Archived Notes box, entitled Shared Articles.

Currently, this Shared Articles widget is only on my blog (humblethorn), but it will soon be on Lori's blog as well. As of today, I am sharing two sports articles (of course) which discuss the firing of Marty Schottenheimer from the San Diego Chargers and the contract talks between Mariano Rivera and the New York Yankees. I am also sharing a link from the Daveys in France, a blog we read often, which discusses countries where Christianity is most persecuted, as well as two articles from bloggers who are new to us with great cross-cultural confessions and insights from America and Japan.

We hope you enjoy this new feature to the Vernon Journal. Please let me know (with a comment or by contacting me) if you have any suggestions on how this system might be improved.

No more time for blogs today... I'm off to read a dissertation.

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a Super Bowl on a Hot Stove

2007-02-01T14:53:00.000+07:00

If you are looking for a serious post, you'll have to come back another day...

I've always enjoyed Jim Armstrong's notes columns in the Denver Post and have felt that his approach to newspaper articles would be a better fit as a notes blog - that way the author can assume people know what he is talking about while providing a link to give more information to people who are confused. In honor of all newspapers in English, here's my notes blog for the day...

I like Indianapolis over Chicago for Super Bowl XLI. But I'm almost always wrong...

That said, I have to listen to the home team broadcast of one of the two teams (I don't get the national broadcast on NFL Fieldpass) so I will be listening to the crew from Chicago because they broadcast more like a national crew (and then I will probably be re-listening to the winning call from Indy).

Can I be the first person to say that although Super Bowl XL was the coolest Super Bowl year ever, something has to be done before we get to Super Bowl L. Please, please NFL, go away from the traditional Roman numerals for that one - even Super Bowl 50 would be better than Super Bowl L.

From super bowls to hot stoves...

Once the final gun sounds on XLI we begin the driest season of the year: 58 sport-less days until Opening Day. I guess there's always hockey, golf and the NBA.

The biggest news out of the hot stove league is not whether Andy Pettitte will effectively replace the Big Unit, or what team the Rocket will be pitching for come October. No, the biggest news in baseball is who is on the iSquad.

iPods are certainly everywhere these days. Talk about a monopoly... when will Steve Jobs start getting the bad press Bill Gates gets?

My question for Major League Baseball is this: When Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens (finally) do retire, will they be the last of the great nicknames in baseball?

Another interesting conversation in the hot stove league has to do with the possibility of a Major League Baseball team in Portland. I'd love to see it happen, but in the meantime the Salem-Keiser Volcanoes put a pretty good product on the field.

To finish this notes blog, I might as well plagiarize the conclusion of one of Armstrong's recent articles (is it plagerism if you cite the source? I think I've been working with the AOF director on his dissertation too long)...

...finally, today's golden-oldie quote, courtesy of Hank Aaron: 'It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.'

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Who Dat?

2007-01-21T23:51:00.000+07:00

I can vividly remember the only Saints game I have ever been to. I was 12 years old and went to a Denver-New Orleans game in the Superdome in New Orleans. It was the first dome stadium I had ever been inside, and I remember being shocked that a football game could be air conditioned in the winter. Come on, I was used to the old Mile High stadium and barefooted kickers in the snow. On the Sunday I spent in the Superdome Denver got killed, and I remember the fans yelling out the New Orleans fight song as we slipped out of the stadium in our Broncos orange and blue.

Who dat? Who dat? Who dat sayin gonna beat dem Saints?

Back then it was an embarrassment to lose to the Nawlins Aints, as they were often called.
What a difference today makes.

With one game to go to Super Bowl XLI, the New Orleans Saints - the dogs of the league for every "last year" they've been around - are favored by every ESPN expert to beat Chicago at Soldier Field to advance to the Super Bowl.

Saints fans, passionate as they might be, always have a backup plan to the hopes for their football team, often involving a night on bourbon street to wash the memories away, and to hear people picking the Saints to go to the Super Bowl is beyond most of their expectations - but there does seem to be something special about this team.

Denver fans used to love and fear the Super Bowl. Four Super Bowls. Four losses. Until that fateful year when Terrell Davis and John Elway went to San Diego and beat the Packers.

This feels like that kind of year for the Saints, at least for this game.

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The End of An Era

2006-11-29T15:17:00.000+07:00

I've been writing very serious posts lately, with the only brevity being a funny title or two thrown in, so I wanted to write something light today. For me that means one of two subjects... humor or sports? Look no further than the image below, sports fans, it's Broncos season and we have really big news.

Jay Cutler named starting quarterback for the Broncos

This could be the end of an era.
No, not the Jake Plummer era, you can't actually call one playoff victory an era.
Certainly not the Mike Shanahan era, he will be around a long time to come.
No, this could finally be the end of the John Elway Era.

In Denver there has only, ever, been one quarterback and he retired in 1999. The immediate heir apparent to John (as everyone in Denver refers to him) was Brian Greise who tripped over his dog, threw the most costly interception in Broncos history and was eventually cut from the team. Someone had to be that first guy.

John's shadow was too big, Elway's name was revered in Broncoland.
Thus, there was never a Brian Griese era,
no Bubby Brister era,
no Steve Beuerlein era,
no Jake Plummer era
and no Bradlee Van Pelt era (sorry CSU fans).

Jay Cutler, however, might be different. No one will forget John Elway (especially not until the next Bronco Super Bowl victory), but there just might be enough bodies piled up in the past for Jay (as everyone in Denver will refer to him) to climb and see beyond that shadow. After all, when was the last time you heard this kind of buzz about a rookie quarterback? If you are around my age, the answer is never.
Jay Cutler is making Bronco fans talk about the future instead of reminiscing about the past.
Jay has the fans on his side.

Oh, the boo-birds will still fly, they'll just come later in the games and a little softer. A rookie quarterback is not likely to kick start an offense that is obviously hurting, and you can't just blame Plummer for the pain.

During the preseason I thought the biggest Denver Broncos loss was going to be Trevor Pryce or even Mike Anderson, but it turns out the big loss was Gary Kubiak.

Last year under offensive coordinator Kubiak, Plummer had his best season ever with a quarterback rating at an impressive 90.2, while David Carr struggled in Houston with a rating of 77.2. After Kubiak took the head coach position in Houston, Carr's numbers improved significantly with his passer rating currently at 88.8, 9th in the NFL. Plummer's numbers, however, have plummeted to 27th in the NFL, with a passer rating at a miserable 70.5.

It's strange to say this about a 7-4 team who is currently holding a playoff spot, but the problems with the offense are likely to mean an early exit from the super bowl race this season. Couple that with the exciting young talent in the AFC West with Larry Johnson in Kansas City and Phillip Rivers, LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates in San Diego, and it might be time to start looking to the future. In that light, the decision to bring Jay in as the quarterback is a good one.

Let's just hope it serves as a wake up call to the rest of the Bronco offense as well.

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My Little Dreams

2006-11-21T10:15:00.000+07:00

Exhortation, building one another up. Gathering as a community to care for one another. This is the key to the church, for they will know us by our love for one another.

We experienced firsthand this ministry of the church in our time at the ECFC conference in Bangkok as we were personally encouraged by conversations with leaders from Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka who went out of their way to minister to Lori and I. It was a refreshing time, and a time of vision.

Repeatedly throughout the conference a message was spoken to us. An encouragement of "Don't let go of the vision. Hold on to your dreams. God is going to do everything that He has planted in you."

Wow.

There are some visions in our heart for ministry and for our future that are much larger than Lori or I. These hopes for the Akha and for the world are more than we could ever do and require gifts we do not have. We have smaller dreams as well, things we want to experience and to see, and the encouragement we received this past week was to hold tightly to all of these hopes, big and small, and watch to see what the Lord does.

One of my little dreams has been to write a series of books. Nothing preachy or even teachy. Just stories. Adventures. Inspired by relationships and friendships I have had over the years.

Of course, writing stories isn't going to be my job, just a hobby. I'm quite occupied with working with the Akha hill tribe and expect to be doing this work long into the future. I don't know when, or where, for that matter, I will be able to start. It might take 10 years, it might take fifty years. I don't know. What I know is that the hope of writing is something that is deep in my heart, something that excites me, something that I dream about. And do you know what amazes me? I personally know a God who cares about my little dreams.

Tags:

In Memory : Louise Young

2006-10-12T10:18:00.000+07:00

My great-grandmother, Louise Young, passed away on Wednesday morning. She was 97. Surviving her are five children, 19 grandchildren and even more great-grandchildren. She survived at least four major hurricanes, most recently returning to her little New Orleans cottage after the devastation of hurricane Katrina.

Grandmother Young loved to be surrounded by her family. For her 85th birthday she asked for a dinner (7 courses in traditional French presentation) with all of her family there. Whenever we came to visit from Colorado, she would cook miniature pecan pies for each of her great-grandchildren.

Perhaps her most influential impact on me was her love of art. She was a member of the New Orleans Museum of Art and always took her great-grandchildren when they visited. I saw original works of Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet and grew to appreciate the impact of creativity and the historical and cultural relevance of art.

It's difficult to be on the other side of the world when family events happen. I have gotten used to missing holidays, but this year I have missed my Grandparents (Duward and Vivian Vernon) 60th wedding anniversary and the passing of Grandmother Young.
I would not trade my life or go back, but every good thing has its cost.

So, to all my family at home and abroad, my heart is with you and I love you all.

Tags:

family

YaWho?

2006-10-11T11:00:00.000+07:00

O.K. so the title is nondescript and overly cutesy, but I'm afraid this is the question our children (or if not, our grandchildren) will be asking us when we begin to reminisce about the Web2.0 days.

Yahoo has done some good things lately. Flickr! is, still, a spectacular and innovative site. The new Yahoo! Mail (beta) is the best application for internet mail available. But these good things aren't enough.

There are 1.65 billion reasons that Yahoo is finished: DealBook - Google to Buy YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock - New York Times

The Internet search giant Google said Monday that it would buy YouTube, a video-sharing Web site that officially began operating less than a year ago, for $1.65 billion in stock. Both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, Google said.

Google already had a video service which was in some ways superior to YouTube (higher video quality, better parental controls) but it has failed to gain a significant market presence. In the wings Yahoo has been developing a "Flickr! of Video" to try to compete with the popularity of YouTube. Google saw this and they moved in purchasing YouTube.

This is a new strategy for Google, who to this point has only made small acquisitions which complement its products. The strategy of: "if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em" is not unfamiliar in the cutthroat computer industry, but it is the first time Google has played this little game. Goodbye Microsoft, there's a new bully in town.

As for Yahoo? Well unless something drastic happens..
Think Excite.
Think Infoseek.
Think Lycos.
Yahoo will join the ranks of these once famous names. It might take 10 more years, but Google has just put the writing is on the wall.

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Voices of the church :: Rick Warren

2006-10-04T11:13:00.000+07:00

Certainly you have all heard of Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren. Whatever your take on the book, it's hard to deny that the phenomenon that swept through American churches a couple of years ago was a blessing to the body of Christ.
It brought people into the church.
It built community within the church.
It was a specific challenge to many individual lives by addressing the question "What are you living for?"

When our life purpose is in perspective, our global perspective is also aligned. Rick and his wife Kay wrote an article about the five giant problems facing the world today addressing this global worldview. A few years ago I would have written half of these off with glib remarks or even misused spiritual cliches because I would have been made uncomfortable and overwhelmed by the problems in the world. But good pastors (and good missionaries) challenge us in our comfort zones... so here is his list of giant problems that the church cannot ignore:

The Global Giants facing our World

The first global giant is spiritual darkness.
The second giant is the lack of servant leaders around the world.
The third giant is poverty.
The fourth giant is disease.
The fifth giant is ignorance.

A spectacular picture of the pressing needs in this world. The article goes on to speak more in depth on the practical role the church needs to play in these needs. Take a moment to read Rick and Kay's full article Facing the World's Five Giants from pastors.com.

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Breakfast Burritos and Ice Cream

2006-09-22T16:13:00.000+07:00

Lori is at a women's retreat in Chiang Mai for the weekend. While I am enjoying this time to myself, my major concern with her absence revolves around food. I've been married six years to a great cook who is much more health conscious than I am. This has resulted in a helpless husband when it comes to feeding myself.

So, what do I do? I begin dreaming of all the food I can't get in Thailand, and stumble across some interesting news...

McDonald's might start offering breakfast all day. Oh... I love the McDonald's breakfast burrito. If they had made this switch when I was living in America I might have skipped my Chipotle burrito every once in a while to replace it with four or five of the tasty little McDonalds burritos. On that note, I also found a recipe for the McDonald's breakfast burrito online, to bad we can't get good tortillas here.

Ben & Jerry's is adding a new ice cream flavor. From Ritz crackers to rum there are five finalists for the Do us a Flavor contest being run by the Ice Cream tycoons. None of the new flavors really appeal to me, but I'm a creature of habit. I would stick with my Ben & Jerry's hippie favorites: Phish Food and Cherry Garcia.

All this talk of food is making me hungry. I'm off to eat some of Lori's famous Texas Rice and Bean Skillet. She was worried about me last night so she cooked it for me to eat this weekend (seriously, is she the greatest wife in the world or what? I don't deserve her).

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Do Apostles exist today?

2006-09-17T12:49:00.000+07:00

I was reading some of the great Christian blogs today (my English church online) and found this article from Adrian's Blog about Apostles in the modern church.

Now, I'm a Foursquare Missionary with a Reformed (Calvinist) leaning - so I can be all over the map with this kind of stuff, but I really enjoyed what Adrian wrote here and agree with most of what he says (I also agree with some of the comments added at the end).

All in all, it's a good read. Check it out if you have the time:

Adrian's Blog: Apostles are meant for today- Challies wheels out the big guns in the charismatic debate

Tags:

church

Everything that can endure fire

2006-09-16T11:39:00.000+07:00

Historically, when I say I am in a season of battle it means I'm getting beat up, bloody and dirty as I struggle to hold the ground on my salvation path. My battles have always been seasons of weakness and dependence, but this season is different. There are victories and though the field is bloody it feels like I'm moving on to new battles, having seen victories in those previous combat zones.

It is a new season, like the Christmas that came to Narnia. A welcome relief after agonizing ages of winter and darkness.

God has taught me so much through this time about His love.
His love does note spoil the child.
His love is not always gentle.
But, His love is always good, and never feels like hate.

God has taken me to an amazing verse that shows His love towards His children. Children who must battle, who must endure warfare. The Israelites were wading through the battles that claimed the holy land. They were tired and stained. Later, in Joshua, it says that the earth itself was weary from the wars, and the land received its rest. Yet even through battle our God shows his mercy to his children:

Numbers 31:23 (NKJV)
²³everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water.

This is how God cares for his children. This is how He causes us to grow. We are made whole, and yet somehow incomplete. When we begin our journey, our armor is cloth and wood. We get beat up and can't endure the fire that cleanses to completion, so we are cleansed with water.
Over time, however, that changes. We grow, we mature, we are strengthened, we are delivered and then one day we enter a battle that is like nothing we have ever seen.

We feel safer.
We feel stronger.
Our armor is Steel and Gold, and it can endure the fire.

The battles are harder, but the victories gain ground.
The cleansing is hotter, but there are no stains that last.

That is what I feel like today, I'm fighting battles to gain ground. These are battles by fire, they are hard, and they stretch my faith. But here's the promise: He has given me the faith, He has equipped me to go through this cleansing by fire.

Victory in the spiritual journey is not peace, it is reaching the battles "that can endure fire".

Tags:

devotional

lijit :: who can i trust in cyberspace?

2006-09-15T18:13:00.000+07:00

Despite the fact that we share a last name, Todd Vernon is not related to me, but I do trust him. Actually, to be more accurate, Andy Stanberry trusted me, I trusted Stan James and Stan trusts Todd.

Todd and Stan, respectively CEO and CTO of Lijit Networks, Inc., are hoping that more people will trust them too. Not their opinion of what websites are good, but their idea that it is easier to navigate the web when we know what sites are recommended by our friends. Lijit is hoping that trust will change the way the world searches the web, and the tagline from the lijit.com splashscreen tells it all (including the generation these guys are from):

There are over eight billion web pages.
Most of them suck.
Lijit helps you find relevant information on the Internet by leveraging connections with your friends and trusted sources to separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff, the gold from the ore...well, you get it.

Currently, most of us trust one of two major authorities for our web searches: Google or Yahoo. Occasionally, however, some slimy website will sneak up the rankings of these search giants and we end up wasting a day fighting viruses, spyware, malware or paying for something we shouldn't. It's times like those we need a friend. We need people we trust to help us along as we walk down the information superhighway.

Well, it's coming. Our friends, our community, people we really know, who can search with us without having to be in the same room as us.

Lijit adds ratings to pages within our search results which show us what sites our friends like, thus allowing us to navigate the millions of results every web search returns by highlighting the results that our friends recommend.

A recent article on lijit from the Daily Camera reported:

The company hopes to reorganize Internet search results so users are not at the mercy of page rank, said Todd Vernon, chief executive officer of Lijit. The software is able to accomplish this by sending the reports, or "trust assessments," generated by users' friends and sources through RSS feeds and other means. By doing this, the company hopes to stop people from stumbling onto spyware sites and get people to the Web sites they want to see in a more productive manner.

The idea is analogous to walking around town with friends and receiving feedback from them about the shops and restaurants passed by, Vernon said.

If you had a chance to go with what your best friends think or what the world thinks, you're going to go with your friends," he said.

The project is still in Beta, so it's not ready for general public consumption, but this small, community-driven extention seems to be exactly what we have been looking for as we search the web and even stay up-to-date with our friends. Already, I've found a great real-estate pricing site, a friend's wandering website and a rss feed of the best prices on the internet (even better than woot or pricegrabber). Isn't community fun?

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web2.0
tech

Email Psychology

2006-09-12T00:22:00.000+07:00

Sometimes do you wonder what goes on at the other side of the e-mail communication lines? You know what I mean, the moment we send off an e-mail we begin to wonder: "When will I get a response? Why haven't I received a response yet? Have they even read my e-mail yet? Don't they want to talk to me any more? Why do they hate me?"

Personally, I am usually the one who makes people wonder these things. Lori, on the other hand, tends to respond immediately (or as quickly as she can) to emails. Well it was only a matter of time before some psychological study was performed to observe this digital/emotional phenomenon, and here it is.

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web2.0

Voices of My Generation :: Joshua Harris

2006-08-29T22:40:00.000+07:00

Every generation asks questions about what the generation before it says about life, the universe and everything. This is true in every culture and subculture. My generation, and specifically the sub-culture of my generation that was raised in the church, is no exception.
We asked questions about worship.
We asked questions about ritual.
We asked questions about hypocrisy in the church.
We asked questions about relationships.
Specifically, we asked questions about the quality of the culture and environment that was created by dating.

During that time a young man voiced what many of us were developing in our own understanding of relationships in his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. While we had arguments and disagreements about the firmness of the stances he took on the issue, in that book Joshua Harris emerged as one of the voices of my generation.
One of the voices that is listened to.
One of the voices that can reach into our generation and culture and put into words the events and philosophies on our hearts.

We grew, we married, we experienced life, and Josh Harris continued to write books on these experiences. Now we're the adults in the world. We're the ones having kids, running companies and shaping ministries. As we enter this new phase of life, Josh has once again written a book that looks with insight into the ideas that our communities are talking about in his newest title: Stop Dating the Church

...this book is marking a very important transition in my life. The church isn't some other generation's responsibility—it isn't somebody else's business. I have to take responsibility. I have to be passionate and committed to it. Through the pages of this book I'm calling my generation to do the same. -Joshua Harris

Once again, he says it all in the title. With the exception of my friend Andy, who has been part of the same church for years, most of us wandered from church to church in our younger years. We actually embraced the fact that they were the wandering years of our lives. I havent read Joshua's newest book, and being on the other side of the globe I might never get to read it, but it's not hard to see this is my generation's new challenge: Dig In.

If there is hypocrosy, weakness, dullness, whatever-ness in the church we have a choice. We can continue to "break up" with our churches when things aren't what we want and move on to something easier, something new and sexy, but that road leads to dirty old men, set in their hypocrisies. Isn't that what we had problems with in the first place? Or we can dig in, we can follow God and impact our brothers and sisters around us to do the same.

Many of us are still young, still prone to run, but it is time to dig those heals in and make the church our family, not a one-night stand.

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church

Albert Pujols with Dr. James Dobson :: Podcast

2006-08-21T16:55:00.000+07:00

Barry Bonds. Terrell Owens. Kobe Bryant. As spectacular as it may be to watch them hit baseballs, catch footballs or play basketball, these names don't immediately bring to mind ideas of high character. In fact, there are personalities in all sports whose names leave a sour taste in our mouths. But here's one to encourage us:

Albert Pujols.

The Dominican kid who became the Major League MVP and who, despite fame and fortune, values his family, marriage and faith in Christ. If you have an MP3 player, or if you just want to listen on your computer, take the time to listen to Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson and his conversations with Albert and Dee Dee Pujols:

Podcast Part 1 :: Podcast Part 2

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Now that's Amazing

2006-08-15T13:18:00.000+07:00

It's a quiet morning in the village (except for little Mi-Yo making her presence known to the world by using our bamboo platform as a trampoline). We are waiting for an Akha Foursquare friend of ours to come visit. In the relatively peaceful morning I caught up on some tech news and found an amazing article. It seems that the sharpest object in the world has been made - and at the tip of the 'needle' it is one atom wide.

Tags:

science

Accountability from the People

2006-08-12T13:12:00.000+07:00

I have been frustrated by News coverage from the United States. CNN has become absurdly liberal while FoxNEWS has responded with equally unbalanced conservative bias. I have found that local news is often the best source for actual news, but it's hard to get local coverage from everywhere in the world. That's why organizations such as the Associated Press and Reuters exist.

If I thought we had problems in the U.S. - I'm shocked by news sources around the world. Currently I get my news through an RSS feed which combines dozens of world news sources. I am often sickened by the direction that the world is going... so quick to shout out injustices but unwilling to get their hands dirty actually helping people.

The point of this post, however, is that the people of the world are gaining the voice to combat the propaganda that news sources, governments and, yes, even Google (so much for 'don't be evil') throw our way. This voice is rising from the world of blogs, or blogosphere. No longer just for radicals, tech people and anti-whatever sites (though many of these do still exist), legitimate news and accountability sources are growing throughout the Blogosphere.

The most notable recent case, which has been dubbed Reutersgate, is regarding the current war between Israel and the Hezbolah. The good folk at Little Green Footballs have uncovered doctored photographs by a "news photographer" which were falsified to invoke sympathy for the Labanese in this war.

Now, we have all seen various photographs by email accompanied with the thrilling tale of "how lucky I was that my kids were distracted by the friendly neighborhood polar bear rather than playing in the park behind my home when terrorists blew up the gas line... send this to 10 friends and you will have good luck too"
These images are generally harmless, even entertaining, but when photographs doctored by a Reuters journalist are being sold as real world news a dangerous line has been crossed, and there must be a standard of accountability.

This is where the Blogosphere has responded, and since the Little Green Footballs discovery there has been a real fallout throughout the press regarding this war. According to Sherra Claire Frenkel of the Jerusalem Post:

Photographs whose veracity has been questioned by blogs in the past few weeks since Reutersgate began include:

Two pictures used by The Associated Press and Reuters, in which the same woman appeared to be crying over the destruction of her Beirut home. Distinguished by a red-checkered scarf and scar on her right cheek, the woman was pictured crying in front of two different locations two weeks apart.

Several photographs of a bombed bridge in Beirut which appear on Reuters and AFP with the different captions stating that the bridge had been bombed on July 18, July 24 and August 5. Bloggers claim that the striking image was photographed to look like several different bombings in order to make destruction in Beirut appear more severe.

In The New York Times photo essay "Attack on Tyre," a photograph of a man who appears dead is accompanied with the caption reading "bodies were still buried under the rubble." However, in a later photograph in the same series, the same man appears to be walking in the foreground of a photo. The Times issued a correction for the first photograph, stating that the man was injured.

We can only hope that scrutiny like this will push press coverage further into journalistic integrity, reporting the news and not creating it.

Tags:

worldview

Some Humble Corrections

2006-08-01T16:00:00.000+07:00

It's been a while since my voice broke through the noise that is the World Wide Web (2.0) and out of the silence comes a whimper of little-valued observations.

No not on life, or grief. Those were dealt with in our newsletter. Not about spiritual observations or even technology and computing (although maybe I should - the most popular page on our site is a computing article I wrote). No, this is a look back at a look forward.

I'm writing about Baseball. During spring training I wrote a short article prognosticating (yes, I believe that is a word) the 2006 MLB season. Well I made a mistake or two. So, in light of the American League clinching the home field advantage (once again) by winning the 2006 All-Star game in the 9th inning, here are some humble corrections to my original thoughts:

(Original) Best Gimmick: This one is easy. The Gateway Grizzleys (minor league) of Illinois have released what they claim is the Baseball's Best Burger. It is a combination of two things we just can't get in Thailand - a good old American Hamburger and Krispy Kreme doughnuts (Burger King has nothing to do with this promotion, I just thought the image would look good - plus McDonalds has had some rough publicity lately). Although I can't say I particularly find this combination very appealing, it is uniquely American.

(Revised) Best Gimmick: Come on, can you really beat the Gateway Grizzlies' (yes, I had misspelled it before) Doughnut-Burger?!? I don't think so. However, I am willing to give a well-you-tried-award to the Golden Baseball League who have embraced the juiced up king of the B-rated superstars Jose Canseco, asking him to pitch in their All-Star game. I'm sure there wasn't a young deserving player who could have been there.

(Original) Biggest Newcomers: I have to name two here. The most exciting up-and-coming teams in baseball are the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Milwaukee Brewers. I don't think either make the playoffs this year, but they will be fun to watch.

(Revised) Biggest Newcomer: Boy did I hit this one on the head. Neither of those teams will make the playoffs. Although Milwaukee has been a mildly entertaining product this year the Pittsburgh Pirates are challenging the perennial celler-dweller Kansas City Royals as the worst spectator product in Major League Baseball. But it is the Detroit Tigers who have taken the baseball world by storm. Coasting through the AL this could be a 100-game team. Who'd have thought? I can hear children in the streets of Michigan singing: "We're all behind our baseball team, Go get'm Tigers!" Prediction: this team loses (despite home field advantage) to the AL wild-card team. Prove me wrong Detroit, I still don't believe.

(Original) Best of the AL: Again two must be named, the teams to beat will be the Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels.

(Revised) Best of the AL: I hate to say it, but the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will play for the pennant again. Sorry Detroit, no love here. I am holding out hope that Abreu can pull the Yankees through until they get their 5 injured starters healthy, because if he cannot the pennant is Boston's to lose.

(Original) Best of the NL: Hands-down the St. Louis Cardinals. No one else is in their league.

(Revised) Best of the NL: Hands-down the New York Mets. St. Louis will have to prove it in the postseason.

If you made it down to here, you really love me (or you are also a Yankees fan). Here's hoping for another subway series and the first Asian World Series MVP, get well soon Godzilla!

Tags:

baseball

End of the Spear on DVD

2006-06-12T21:37:00.000+07:00

If you did not get a chance to see End of the Spear in the theatres last winter you have another chance to experience this fantastic picture. Every Tribe Entertainment's powerful film is set to release from Fox Home Entertainment tomorrow, June 13th. If you are unfamiliar with the story, here's the release:

Worlds collide and tragedy strikes as a missionary group journeys to the heart of the Amazon jungle in search of the Waodani, a tribe of fierce warriors on the brink of extinction due to revenge killings. When five of the missionary men are speared to death by tribesmen, their families are left husbandless and fatherless. Undeterred by their tremendous loss and spurred on by hope, the families decide to remain in Ecuador, and risk living among the Waodani. But the effects of that first encounter have yet to subside: A young boy, struggling to unlock the secret of his father’s death, must learn to accept a tragedy he cannot change in this powerful true story of sacrifice, courage, and reconciliation.
Available on DVD from Fox Home Entertainment starting tomorrow (June 13), End Of The Spear takes viewers deep into the heart of darkness to discover that faith and forgiveness can transcend the senseless acts of violence that stand in the way of cultural understanding.

I loved this film and was deeply moved by the story, the actors and the cinematography. This is the level of entertainment we desire for our families and I encourage you to show your support for this and other projects like it.

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movies

Hey I Knew Those Guys

2006-06-04T16:27:00.000+07:00

I'm out of it for a little while and everyone starts getting delusions of grandeur. -Han Solo (Listen)

Times change, people change, the world is moving quickly, but this is just strange... (whispering) I know famous people.

I guess it's the way things are, eventually you know enough people that someone becomes famous, but it seems that overnight a number of people from my school days have gone off and become famous musicians.

The most notable (because of the label, Epic Records) is The Fray, who are apparently taking the U.S. by storm with their album How to Save a Life, but also quickly climbing the list are The Films who are climbing charts with their hit Black Shoes.

I can't say much about these releases of either of these bands since I live half a world away, but the last I had heard from these guys they were playing for different bands and, for that matter, had different names (Google can be unkind if you have a very common name). However, their previous bands, Fancy's Showbox and Tinker's Punishment were both amazing, so I am certain that their new projects must be quite impressive as well.

But who am I to say? My favorite bands were the Smiley Kids and Trump Mother Jones, and they didn't get very far. I guess timing and luck play a part in the whole famous thing too.

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music

Currently Reading

2006-05-24T10:22:00.000+07:00

I started an amazing book this morning. Talking Animals. Magic. Giants. Nomads. Wars. Murder. Adventure. Emerging Culture. Emerging Language. And all of that is just the introduction. The stage. The first 15 chapters of the Greatest Story Ever Told.

Many of you heard me share about my struggles with literacy in culture and how it's affected my approach to the Bible in my walk. As modern-day (postmodern?) believers we put so much pressure into the term "quiet time". Even the term "quiet", designed to emphasize a quieting of the soul to hear from the Lord, can place a tremendous burden on the time we set aside to spend with the Lord. Devotionals? Prayer Time? All these terms place an emphasis on a discipline. Worship, prayer, the Word and the disciplines are all critical in the life of the believer. It's how we plug in, but the routine can become routine.

I was too overwhelmed to study, too tired to seek truth or to examine the depths of my soul. This morning I picked up a book. A great story that I want to share with my friends. I had forgotten that.

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Not a Proud Day

2006-05-19T19:27:00.000+07:00

Most of you know my degree is in Civil Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. I loved my collegues and fellow engineering students. I was proud of my work and am glad for the training and preperation that it has given me for my work in Thailand with the Akha - but I must admit that to be a civil engineer is not to be in the most prestigious of company.

Don't misunderstand me, I am not at all ashamed of being an Engineer. My Grandpa Du and my dad both worked as civil engineers and I was proud to follow their work. But any group that lifts Thomas Crapper (I'm not joking here) to the height of immortality has it's issues.

But, perhaps, a new low is upon us. A new posterboy has arisen. Joey Chestnut, a civil engineering student at San Jose State yesterday ate 50 hotdogs in the qualifying round of Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest setting an American record. And that's not all, "sportsfans", apparently this guy is a competitive pork rib, waffle, jalepeno pepper and hot wing eater as well. Hey, at least he has his health.

Tags:

humor

A Thorn in the Flesh

2006-05-19T00:13:00.000+07:00

Maybe it's the spicy Akha food. Maybe it's the changing of diets between Akha food, Thai food and American food. Lori thinks that it is stress - and according to FamilyDoctor.org she might be on to something. Whatever the cause, I have been struggling with a serious pain in the mouth - Canker Sores.

Not just any Canker Sores. HUGE canker sores. Although not quite as large as the picture might imply, these suckers are really big. I have to load up on the Oragel before I eat any meals and the darn things keep me up all night. I probably get one every six weeks or so, and I've got a king sized one right now (although before you feel too sorry for me you should know, I still eat very spicy food).

In the end, it doesn't matter all that much. I love what I am doing and would not trade it for the world but I wanted to share one of the daily bothers of my life.

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I Have Seen the Future... I think.

2006-05-06T10:50:00.000+07:00

Every once in a while, I like to share about digital, software or hardware developments that catch my interest. Today, while browsing my NewsFox headlines I stumbled across a very interesting invention on Engadget that I would have bought if I was still working on computers full-time (especially doing CAD design / drafting work) and would consider buying now - but it doesn't exist yet.

While we enjoy the benefits of Skype and Gaim and Blogs for cheaply communicating around the world, we also recognize the problems of poor eyesight and carpal tunnel syndrome (as an important aside, my grandma needs carpal tunnel surgery - please pray for no complications and quick healing). While people have attempted to develop screen glare reducers, voice recognition programs, touch screens and even thought reading devices to change the way we interact with our computers, Ari Zagnoev from Perth, Australia might have designed a much better option to stop that painful popping in my wrist.

The Combimouse is an intuitive design which combines the mouse with the right-hand keys of the keyboard. This minimizes movement from keyboard to mouse, but perhaps the most intriguing thing about this design is that the mouse-half of the Combimouse can be combined with your laptop keyboard. The idea of not having to use my uncomfortable laptop keyboard while not having to lug around a full size ergonomic keyboard AND mouse is very appealing.

Unfortunately, this mouse/keyboard cannot be purchased yet. It is still in the start-up (development?) stage. But the idea is very intriguing and with the advent of wireless availability and Bluetooth devices, this Combimouse could very quickly become the next evolution in computer interface controls.

Tags:

hardware

Solace in a Bottle

2006-05-02T11:03:00.000+07:00

I had a much better title for this post but Lori used her marital veto on it, once again saving the world from my little mind. So despite the onset of your imminent overwhelming curiosity, the bell in Charn will never be rung and the original title will forever sleep.

I briefly referred to a stomach bug that was going around our village in The Akha Clinic (see the paragraph on dirt floor appreciation) and it seems I am not immune to this little bug. So, I'm down in Chiang Rai fighting off a little fever with some air conditioning and fighting off this stomach bug with my friend the bottle of Pepto Bismol.

The silver lining (pink lining?) in this situation is it gives me the opportunity to work on the WishList page so many of you have been asking for. Near the top of the list... Pepto Bismol, along with a list of other medical supplies for the village, suggested gift items for anyone visiting an Akha village and personal items that are difficult or impossible to get in Thailand that we would love from home.

Keep checking our front page under On This Site (in the left sidebar) for the new link or just click here to see if it is up and running.

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There's always a deal at WalMart

2006-04-10T16:56:00.000+07:00

Have you ever heard of Horatio Alger? If you are from America, you should know this name. While England had Charles Dickens' wonderful work Great Expectations, America had the dime store novels of Horatio Alger. Known as "rags-to-riches" stories, these dime novels told the stories of boys who succeeded despite the incredible odds stacked against them. Alger is famous because of the way he captured the American spirit to thrive despite adversity.

This would be a great place to write something deep and meaningful, instead we're going to go light and ridiculous. As we left Denver there were many serious changes going on. On top of the list was the concern of how the Broncos could get past the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts without Trevor Pryce? Well, they might just have their very own rags-to-riches story in the making. Although I am quite certain they didn't get this guy for a dime, there always are great deals to be found at Wal-Mart.

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My (Inter)National Pastime

2006-04-02T18:20:00.000+07:00

Nope, this is not an April Fools joke. Actually, I have been wanting to write about this for some time and it's not April 1st that inspires this post, it's April 2nd. Opening day of Major League Baseball. When I lived in the states, Opening Day was a holiday. A time to renew hopes that the Rockies would not be a horrible team this year. A time to celebrate the off-season acquisitions of the New York Yankees, and to renew my dislike of the Red Sox.

For those of you who do not love baseball, allow me to explain. Think of tomorrow as New Year's day for baseball. In the long run, January 1st really has very little impact on the remaining 364 days in the year - yet we celebrate it. This is Opening Day in baseball. Win or lose, our teams have 161 more games to prove themselves, but this is the holiday to celebrate the new season.

As with every year, the 2006 Baseball season brings promise and excitement - and gimmicks. So here are my observations / predictions on America's favorite pastime:

Best Gimmick: This one is easy. The Gateway Grizzleys (minor league) of Illinois have released what they claim is the Baseball's Best Burger. It is a combination of two things we just can't get in Thailand - a good old American Hamburger and Krispy Kreme doughnuts (Burger King has nothing to do with this promotion, I just thought the image would look good - plus McDonalds has had some rough publicity lately). Although I can't say I particularly find this combination very appealing, it is uniquely American.

Biggest Newcomers: I have to name two here. The most exciting up-and-coming teams in baseball are the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Milwaukee Brewers. I don't think either make the playoffs this year, but they will be fun to watch.

Best of the AL: Again two must be named, the teams to beat will be the Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels.

Best of the NL: Hands down the St. Louis Cardinals. No one else is in their league.

Play Ball!

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Googleyahoo!

2006-03-22T18:12:00.000+07:00

For some time there has been a battle of sorts between Yahoo! and Google for search engine supremecy. MSN has become the distant third runner in the race between these two search giants, but even recently Yahoo! has admitted that Google is likely to win out overall in this race. This does not come as a major suprise as it is still possible to purchase high rankings in Yahoo! whereas Google will not sell rankings to anyone (instead they sell AdSense spots which displays ads with relevant searches).

Most of you could care less about this webwar, but it has produced some very interesting results. Because the web is basically run by searching, these giants have been releasing dozens of free "gimmick" programs to continue to improve their corporate image. As a result, there are some great peripherial applications which can significantly improve your computer quality of life. I want to share a few of them with you today:

Photography / Picture Management

Both of the search engine giants have great offerings in this field because image management and image search is becoming the emerging language of the web. Though still heavily reliant upon written text, the popularity of "photo journaling" has exploded in the past year. Everyone has a digital camera, and everyone is seeking to have their pictures heard.

Picasa (from Google): This incredibly handy little tool allows you to find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Automatic location of pictures, folder management, albums and groups all are incorporated into this less encompassing use of the Google Desktop search engine. All of this is done on your local computer with no internet connection needed (the sharing is done across your home Wireless or Local Area Network).

Flickr (from Yahoo!): If you haven't heard of Flickr by now, you aren't paying attention. The self-proclaimed (and likely true) "best online photo management and sharing application in the world", Flickr allows you to free your computer of the burden of those 600 pictures of your weekend trip to Oklahoma City by uploading them to your own online photo album. The only downside to this is that if you are not online, you will not have access to those pictures, so I recommend you burn all your images to CD before completely deleting them from your system.

The whole World in your Computer

We have all been using Mapquest or Google Maps or Yahoo Maps or any number of the other map services for years now. In fact, we often find ourselves asking "how did we ever get anywhere before we had the internet?". (come live in Thailand and you will remember quickly that we used to just memorize where everything is) Well, where before we accessed our whole backyard online, now we get the whole world. In a surreal out-of-the-movies type of computer experience you can download Google Earth and literally spin the globe to wherever you want to be. Combining satelite images, road maps and terrain this is an experience worth the download. The drawbacks? This program can push the limits of many laptop video cards, requires a internet connection to run and is only as recent as the last satelite image (most of the images from Chiang Rai are over 5 years old).

Not far behind in this race comes MSN, whose founder and CEO Bill Gates says there will be a release of MSN Virtual Earth providing many similar features (enhancements?) to battle back from the ground lost to Google in this arena.

Widgets, Widgets, Widgets

Do you know any Mac people? They are pretty easy to spot... there are only two types: the ones who know more about video and photo editing than most professional photographers / videographers; and the conspiracy theorists who can burn thousands of dollars for a white word processor because they think Bill Gates is evil. All kidding aside, the Mac users are a very finicky bunch who know what they like, and when something clicks with them (see iPods) it is not long before it becomes a worldwide phenomenon.

Well, Yahoo! gazed into the crystal ball of what Mac users are using and saw the phenomenon that is Widgets.

Do you remember all those "free plugins" that turned out to be spyware or adware that would give you the current weather, the scores from your favorite sports teams or the exact correct time set to the Atomic Clock in Boulder, Colorado? Or how about the atrocity that was the Internet Explorer Active Desktop? These monsters that we loved, loathed and lost operating systems over were, at their core, good ideas. We became naturally fearful of them because of the lessons we learned, finally throwing up our hands and saying "I guess there is no such thing as a free lunch". Well, the ears of the good folks at Apple perked right up at this, for they are professionals at providing very expensive lunches. They created an engine which would allow people to write their own weather programs, clocks and sports feeds. Now, Apple users love to pay a lot of money to write their own software, so away they went. Fortunately, they also know how to take any graphics and make them look amazing, so soon thousands of these beautiful little Widgets were floating around on the thousands of Apple computers.

Yahoo! saw this and thought, "Hey, we are in the business of providing free lunches as long as you use our products and promise to be more loyal to us than to Google. We are going to design software so that the millions of Microsoft users can make, use and enjoy Widgets too". Thus, the Yahoo! Widget Engine was born. I confess, I was hesitant at first. I remember the years of digging through registry entries to clean out those great little extras that had eaten my operating systems. But I am back, and my desktop is proof that I have recovered from my fears.

So...

If you are looking for picture management, the terrain of the Himalayas, great extras for your desktop, or any of the many other services available (email, blog pages, etc.) be thankful for the webwar-time economy of free software and server space that is available for your use. Have fun!

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Pablos (not so) poor picks

2006-03-22T11:53:00.000+07:00

When I lived in America, one of my favorite diversions was Fantasy Sports. Football, baseball, hockey and the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament became even more interesting when another level of competition was added. I had leagues with old buddies from college, and leagues with co-workers and friends. Of course, nowadays I'm just not around an internet connection enough to maintain the weekly lineups and trades necessary to enjoy such a diversion, but I was able to pick my 2006 Bracket for this years NCAA Tournament.

Now, of all my diversions, the NCAA Bracket is historically my worst. Although I enjoy college basketball, it is not a sport I follow much outside of the tournament itself. Still, every year I would scour pages from ESPN.com and Sportsline.com to see who the Cinderella team of the Tournament would be. I would then combine all the information I had gleaned from these experts and make my educated picks.

This year, I didn't have the time to see who the "favorite" picks were, so I threw my bracket together with what little knowledge I had... and now I am in the 97th percentile of most successful brackets. Though it will likely not last too long, I am ranked 33,000 out of hundreds of thousands of brackets. Makes me realize all the time I wasted "researching" the big winners.

Of course, my picks aren't completely without insight. As a test, we had an Akha friend of ours pick their own bracket, and she chose Duke to be upset in the first round and Utah State to win it all.

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sports

March 3rd 2006, A Day to Live in Infamy

2006-03-06T01:59:00.000+07:00

Marco Polo met with the Great Khan. Kennedy flew in a the first Air Force One. Neil Armstrong was the first to man to step onto the moon. But today is a day for history...

I have been feeling a bit under the weather (which is an idiom by the way); so, while everyone else is out and about, I'm *sniffling* and *coughing* away the morning at our friend's home in Palmdale, CA. As I like to do when I have the time (or when I'm just bored) I was perusing my Newsfox feeds and an Engadget article caught my attention. I was shocked to see this was not top news on every newswire. The link was to the Catholic News Service:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A group of Vatican Radio employees gave Pope Benedict XVI a brand new iPod nano loaded with special Vatican Radio programming and classical music.

To honor the pope's first visit to the radio's broadcasting headquarters, the radio's technical staff decided the pencil-thin, state-of-the-art audio player would make the perfect gift.

Read full article.

How cool is that? Pope Benedict XVI is the first Pope ever to be presented with an iPod. I'm certain Bono is very pleased. The only question that remains is when will Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II be presented with her very own XBox 360?

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Definitions by Paul: "E-Guilt"

2006-03-03T06:13:00.000+07:00

I often make words up. I think this is largely because of my poor memory - I forget the word I want to use so I just make one up in the moment. Unfortunately, the only person who can ever understand these words is my wife, who (because she is a saint) has spent so much time with me that she just miraculously knows what I'm talking about. Through my hundreds, even thousands of bumbling words, I will occasionally stumble across an idiom which should be a part of daily speech. One of these words was used in the recent post My Secret, and needs clarification:

e-guilt: (e gilt) (also: electronic guilt) the nagging shame of leaving emails, instant messages (IMs), Voice over IP (VOIP) calls, text messages, blogs or podcasts unanswered or unupdated.

Now, if you need definitions for any of the words within this definition, you probably do not suffer from the full effects of e-guilt; but to those who are afflicted, this is the diagnosis for that which ails us. Now, it's out there. Go ahead world, use it.

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Goodbye Denver, from Trevor and I

2006-03-03T05:28:00.000+07:00

Sitting in a Sacremento I have just been floored by a news article from the Rocky Mountain news article:

Cap hits Broncos hard

The cap sacked veteran Broncos defensive line stalwart Trevor Pryce on Wednesday, along with Mike Anderson

I know what's important in Denver, and that a sad as you all are about my leaving, you are devastated to hear this news. Such is the salary-cap age of the modern NFL.

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A House Divided

2006-02-23T03:24:00.000+07:00

Dr. James Dobson has a recent podcast discussing attacks against his character and his ministry over recent bills in the Colorado legislature. While I am no expert on these political issues, and encourage you (especially those of you who live and vote in Colorado) to look more carefully into these bills on your own, I wanted to note that these attacks are coming from other Christians. This was Dr. Dobson's response to these articles and web sites:

I'm used to getting beat up from the radicals from the {political} left. I deal with that because that goes with the territory. I really find it very difficult to be attacked in such an unfair way from conservatives who claim to follow the cause of Christ. That is very hurtful.

As believers we will always be attacked by the world. To take on the name of Christ is to "pick up our cross daily". This is not easy! Why then, do we as a church body so often slander and defame and beguile one another in this way?

I am not saying that we should let one another get away with anything for the sake of unity. We are responsible for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. But whether it is a pastor in a church, a young Christian believer or a leader and representative of the church such as Dr. Dobson, our response to a perceived wrong must still follow the Biblical model, not by writing slanderous and pretentious websites. This is the way of the world. Let us be in the world and not of it.

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church

My Secret

2006-02-19T03:26:00.001+07:00

With the pressure of 100+ unanswered messages in my inbox weighing down on me, I have decided to instead write a light-hearted update to relieve my e-guilt. Though most of you know of my major time-wasting TV addictions (those being baseball, football, volleyball, hockey and anything else with appropriate levels of competition), I have a subtler, more controversial love:

Scrubs. And now, thanks to my great friend Andy Engdahl, I now have hours of this hillarious comedy, along with commentaries and extras to enjoy. Lori and I love this show so much that it constitutes a large part of our daily interactions, quoting obscure references to each other. We know, this is not one of the most wholesome of shows, and we certainly would not recommend it for children, but something about its comedy, its script and its characters really rings true with us. I would go into more philosophical details here, but I am bound by my previous rule of "light-hearted update".

Recently Scrubs aired it's 100th episode. Thanks to Lori's parent's Tivo we were able to watch this episode (many times) and it is (in my opinion) one of the best three Scrubs episodes ever. This Wizard of Oz spoof is deserving of an Emmy award (of course, this opinion is coming from someone who recently confused the Grammy's with the Golden Globes - pop culture is admittedly not my stongest suit). Beautifully tied in to the flow and storyline of the sitcom were illusions and homages, both subtle and absurd, to the Victor Fleming classic.

So, there it is. My light-hearted update to all of you who are waiting with baited breath for responses to your emails. Thanks for your grace and patience!

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A Passage I Love

2006-02-14T15:30:00.000+07:00

Jim, from missionary-blogs.com gave our little missionary "e-community" an assignment to write a short post on a scripture we love by Valentine's day. True to form (and to the chagrin of every teacher I ever had, and often my wife) I have put this off until the last possible day. But now, a passage I love:

Habakkuk 1:5 (New King James Version)

The LORD's Reply
5 " Look among the nations and watch -
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe, though it were told you.

New King James Version (NKJV)

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

I was originally going to write about one of my old favorites, but this verse (which I stumbled upon while browsing the FMI website) is such a powerful Word from God - and it is incredibly true today! As we have shared about the faith of the Akha people, those who have received it can hardly believe - as American Christians we are being challenged by the faith of the Akha! As I read stories of missionaries gone before, and as I see in film depictions of incredible devotion I think of how astounded those missionaries would be if they saw what missions looks like today.

A great work is being done. Look at the nations - the world has been made smaller! Though many would credit humanism, modernism, and the revolutions of man for this change, it is so apparent to me that God has worked a work in our days. And though the "days grow evil" and terror and hatred send fear throughout the earth, the good news of Christ - of His life, His Passion and His redemption - is able to spread far faster and wider than we have ever known.

Pray that the Lord of the harvest send out laborers into this great work.

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I Still Need This

2006-02-14T15:09:00.000+07:00

Relationships in Thailand have been developing, but there is nothing like the old friendships here in Denver which have strengthened me and sharpened me in my walk over the years. Spending time with my brothers has awoken me again to remember

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17
NIV

So, to my brothers, thank you for always challenging me.

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Love is in the Air

2006-02-14T12:16:00.000+07:00

As a particularly appropriate post for Valentines Day, I wanted to congratulate our friend Steven for his recent engagement to Erika. Way to go you guys, we are thrilled to see where God takes you two in ministry and in life.

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friends

Oh, the Places You will Go!

2006-02-08T06:38:00.000+07:00

Inspired by the harrison ford super bowl commercial and the innumberable similar blogs throughout the world which posted these lists I have compiled my very own

places i slept in 2005

salem, or
portland, or
bend, or
napa, ca
los angeles, ca
palmdale, ca
arvada, co
seattle, wa
taipei, tw (not overnight, but i was asleep)
krunthep (bangkok), th
chiang rai, th
doi mae salong, th
doi chang, th
chiang mai, th
fang, th
somewhere down south in thailand

Amazing. The people and places we saw over this last year were incredible. Of course I must recommend Thailand to anyone looking for a place to visit (or for a place to have a "vacation with a purpose"), but the time in each of these cities was wonderful.

Now, I'm off to add to my 2006 list...

History Repeats itself... sort of

2006-01-31T12:09:00.000+07:00

The museums in England are amazing. The British Museum is one of the greatest places I have ever been. I saw the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, incredible works of art and artifacts from all over the world - and all free to the public. Despite my appreciation for the museums, I was still very entertained by this story...

Have you ever heard of the Portland Vase? According to the British Museum, where the vase - such as it is - resides today:

"The Portland Vase is arguably the most famous and certainly the most influential piece of ancient glass in the world."
- The British Museum

Very nice. Lovely, famous, influential, old glass. However, the following information was much more entertaining to me: In 1845, while in the British Museum (where it is now), the vase was smashed by a drunken museum goer, necessitating skillful and painstaking restoration. How embarrassing for them.

Fortunately, in our modern world of plexiglass covers and laser alarms this sort of thing would never happen again in a major museum. Or would it? This story would suggest that there is still a long way to go when it comes to protecting ancient vases in British Museums. Well, I guess despite all the museums in the world, it's still true that "all come from dust, and to dust all {eventually} return".

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art
humor

Currently Listening to ...

2006-01-29T23:47:00.000+07:00

Nothing like the snow in the mountains and long drives to pull out the headphones and have some "peaceful" time inside my head... here's what is currently streaming through my mind

Sermons on my iPaq (no iPod for me)

Curt Chanda - Why Missions (audio no longer available)
Pastors George and Gary - Value Driven Life (it's great when churches make their sermons available online)

Music on my iPaq

Eclectic mix of artists, heavy on
Louis Armstrong
The Violet Burning
Pedro the Lion

On CD

Our most recent additions (although we haven't cracked the cellephane yet) are a trifecta from David Crowder Band
A Collision
Sunsets and Sushi and
Illuminate

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Currently Reading...

2006-01-25T08:16:00.000+07:00

It is so easy to find "great quotes" all over the web, but rarely do we see great writing.

It was a blazing hot day in August. Baker Street was like an oven, and the glare of the sunlight upon the yellow brickwork of the house across the road was painful to the eye."
The Adventure of the Cardboard Box by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Inspired by Lori's post, I've been reading some classics lately. It's lines like this that make me want to erase everything I've ever written. Great writers take you into their world in such a way that you squint at such descriptions. Well, if I have not been called to be a great writer, at least I can read the works of those who are.

Right now on the nightstand? A Study in Scarlett by Doyle and, for laughs, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (admittedly not a 'classic' - yet).

For those of you who would love to read some classics but just can't find the time, Project Gutenberg has released many wonderful books (by Doyle, Shakespeare, Twain, Wells et al) in audio format. Download and enjoy!

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books

Ouch

2006-01-23T13:10:00.000+07:00

Well, those NFL conference championship games were nothing to write home about - but perhaps an even greater loss is coming for the Denver Broncos. Credit to the Steelers (or "Stillers" as the locals call them) who were very impressive. Seattle looked like a pretty good team against Carolina, but after seeing Pittsburgh pick apart both the offense and the defense of the Denver Broncos I think I'm going to have to throw my hat into the ring for them to finish it all at Super Bowl XL (it hurts even more that Broncos won't get to play in the coolest Super Bowl number ever - XL). How can you pick against them now that they have overcome incredible odds to become the first "6-seed" to go to the Super Bowl? Anyway, such is the up-and-down life of a sports fan - now it's on to the Avalanche, March Madness and Spring Training gloating now that Johnny Damon is a clean-shaven, above-the-collar New York Yankee.

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broncos

Denver Broncos... Super Bowl favorites?

2006-01-17T15:44:00.000+07:00

"Nothing against the Colts, but I just want to play at home" - Rod Smith
Read the full Denver Post article here

I can't believe it, it's incredible. I just don't know what happened.
For my (early) Christmas present to myself this year I bought the NFL field pass, which allowed me to live in an Akha village and still come down to listen to the Broncos games when time allowed. After that first game in Miami, however, I thought I wouldn't have to listen to many games this year. But I did continue to listen and though there was always a lingering doubt from that first game, I found myself asking "Are they really this good?" - fearful to get my hopes up too much (two consecutive years of a combined score of 90-34 against the Indianapolis Colts had certainly quieted we Broncos fans).
Not anymore. Now it's for real. A 100-yard interception return from Champ Bailey and the magic gone from Adam Vinatieri's right foot (I can still hear the Pittsburgh announcer "IT'S NO GOOD! HE MISSED IT! MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS FOR DENVER!") and all of a sudden the Broncos are sitting pretty.
Nothing against Pittsburgh, but Denver hasn't lost a game at home all year. And personally, I am just happy that the Denver Broncos have stretched out their season long enough for me to actually watch a game LIVE. It's the little things, you know?

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broncos

Texas? I HAVE been gone a while

2006-01-06T14:36:00.000+07:00

I was able to watch (LIVE!) the first three quarters of the Rose Bowl game when I was in Chiang Mai. Dan and I headed off to the airport at 8:30 in the morning to go to the only sports bar we know of in Northern Thailand (I'm certain there are others, we just don't know where they might be) where we enjoyed French Toast and honey while watching Texas take on USC. Unfortunately, we had to move on before the fourth quarter but it was great to see a little bit of American football - I just haven't caught on to the whole soccer thing yet.

There are probably thousands of people writing the same thing all over (America) right now, but I will join the masses and throw in my two cents - Vince Young is an amazing football player. With all this build up about Reggie Bush being the best running back ever, his landslide heisman victory and his heisman twin handing him the ball no one looked twice at the player that made an average team amazing. I couldn't follow college football much this year, but I saw the Big 12 championship game score as (an admittedly hurting) Colorado saw Texas put 70 points on the board. Even after that Young did not turn many heads.

Well, congratulations Mr. Young. A National Championship against a great team, no one can question your ability now (except maybe the NFL)

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football

A golfing resolution

2006-01-01T14:44:00.000+07:00

After 10 months of (almost) 100% of the time with Lori, I didn't realize how much I missed hanging out with "the guys". Not saying this last year hasn't been wonderful, but you can only tell each other the same stories over and over so many times. Other than Lori, most of my friends here speak Akha, and although time with them is wonderful, the stress of language takes away from the low-impact time that can describe most of my friendships.
The other day I got to go out with three (english-speaking) friends for a round of golf ($5 for 18 holes). It was great. Nevermind that I shot a thousand and twelve, it was just great to have a day of foolish jokes and kindly insults lightly sprinkled with good conversation.
It's something I'll have to do more than once a year in the future, in fact, maybe that's my New Year's Resolution: "Golf More"
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Happy New Year everyone

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golf

Rants on the RSS Panel

2005-12-28T02:02:00.000+07:00

I tend to think that I have a pretty good pulse on the web and the direction things are heading. I'm certainly no web designer, nor am I anything of a professional in this field, but I know a thing or two about the web and good coding manners.

I have definate opinions about how things should be done (for instance, everything should conform to standards and there should not be ANY pages on the web that do not resize to fit the browser) and tend to find that the web community in general agrees with me (OK, perhaps that's a little narcisistic, I agree with them).

I love the direction that the web is going, especially with live content, open source designs xhtml table standards (on their way) and rss feeds. There is however one thing I just can't stand - that little floating RSS panel. Can I just say that I hate the RSS panel? I do. I know how popular it is, and how it is appearing on sites all over the world (WordPress, an otherwise perfect system, tends to include it automatically in its templates) but I simply don't like it for three key reasons.

It cannot be customized - I know that rss is supposed to be orange and there is a big solidarity movement and all, but ANYTHING that cannot be customized (color, who it links to, etc.) is just a little too communist for me.
It is a pop up - Again, I know it's not REALLY a pop-up, but come on - it might as well be. It's a little menu that appears, can be moved around and gets in the way of what you are looking for. It's basically a pop up add within a site.
Here's the key reason - It is a crutch. This option is simply keeping people from stepping out and subscribing to feeds and choosing Newsreaders. They are too happy to click away on these little floating buggers. If you want to link to previous articles on your webpage, the code is available to do it, lets get people educated on feed use rather than handicapping them in the direction the web is going (of course, in the end, the major browsers will simply take over and there will be IE newsreaders built in to a "mandatory" "security update" for IE x.x)

Now, all this being said, I have used these menus often to add RSS feeds to my Newsfox reader, so I am only encouraging the horror that is these little orange monstrosities, but I must ask, please, can't we all just go with the simple feed icon? It's beautiful, customizable, inspired by Firefox and (if reluctantly) backed by Microsoft.

Note for future rant: Does anyone actually use the internet explorer active desktop? That thing is hideous

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Web2.0

Currently listening to...

2005-12-21T19:47:00.000+07:00

Occasionally I will throw on various posts about current books, music, movies or other activities I have been enjoying, currently on the audio playlist...

Christmas Gold (Sinatra, Crosby, Autry & others) - appropriate for the season

Stuart McAllister - The Postmodern Condition

Denver Broncos 2005 - 2006 NFL season (when in town)

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music

Well, Google seems to know us

2005-12-18T23:56:00.000+07:00

Just when you think you're insignificant in the universe, you search for your website during halftime of the Broncos game (21-10 Denver is driving - what a great year 2005 has been) which happens to be two VERY common words (Vernon Journal) and hey, there we are! I can't pretend to understand how Google works, but obviously you guys are all keeping up with us online - we feel the love!

So, here's a screenshot of what I found when I searched for "Vernon Journal" on Google. I'm not sure if it has any significance, and who knows what changes will occur over time, but for one brief moment, there we were. It's always nice to be number one - especially if your last name starts with a "V" which always put you on the bottom of the list.

All this to say, we just want to thank you all for all your support. Your prayers mean the world to us, your emails are great - but this shows us that you are really interested in our work here and our struggles and stories as we try to learn Akha and discover where our future ministries will be.

Enjoy the holidays (despite all my education, I have had to correct my misspelling of "holliday" five times today) and drop us a line if you get the chance - we love to hear from you. (Anderson's second touchdown of the game 28-10, Buffalo is done!) Goodnight everyone.

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Biggest mailing day of the year...

2005-12-18T23:02:00.000+07:00

I'm back in town (24 hours+) waiting for some friends who are coming up to our village for a night and listening to the Denver - Buffalo game (thanks to my Christmas present to myself - NFL field pass radio broadcasts) when I hear that Monday is the biggest mailing day of the year.
It hasn't been that long really, but America seems so far away. I remember waiting in lines, going to city and county buildings and all the other red tape and politic that it is to be in the U.S. There are many things I miss about America, but waiting in lines at post offices is certainly not one of them. Hope you all have a wonderful holidays - and that you've already mailed out all your Christmas greetings

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Still a fan

2005-12-16T18:30:00.000+07:00

How amazing is the world we live in today? Not three years ago and missionaries had to give up their Denver Broncos to go to the field. Here I am, sitting on the "other side of the world" with the NFL available on demand through the internet. Admittedly, there are problems with all this information and communication - anyone with the time and effort can put any amount of ridiculous stuff on the web, but used wisely it can be a real blessing.
I hope you all have a very merry Christmas - I might begin mine with a 4:30 am gift of a live Broncos game :)

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Thoughts from a humble thorn

2005-11-17T16:05:00.000+07:00

These are the thoughts of humblethorn. Little more than a prick on your minds, a bother on your side. However, if the pain leads towards life, it is well worth the effort.

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personal