Still cold

The cold wave continues - it was 26 this morning and I had to spend a bit of time thawing out Frosty the Snow Car before I hit the road.  I was glad I left early before the majority of the traffic as there was ice on the overpasses this morning.  I heard later that the commute got VERY ugly this morning.  Drivers in the valley really don't know how to drive on ice & snow (lots of which was landing on the roads as it fell off cars coming down from the foothills).

Do you know who is stalking you?

A recent study highlights the fact that far too many people are careless and/or naive when it comes to online safety and privacy.  The researchers sent 200 "friend" request from a phony FaceBook account.  87 people blindly accepted the request and many of those had critical personal data fully exposed.  Displaying education, professional and personal data in it's entirety is far too common on FaceBook.  People freely publish their birthdates (including the year), their primary email address and all the details about their families and pets.  Ironically, older users seem to be less aware (or more trusting) than younger ones.

I kept my FB account for almost a year before deleting it.  During that time my experiences closely mirrored the results of the study.  Very few people made any real attempt to protect their identities.  The world is NOT a safe place - be careful out there.  The full article can be found HERE.

Snow

It snowed a bit in Carmichael last night.  It was a very wet snow and most likely mixed with rain.  Nevertheless, there was a significant amount on my car and still some on the lawn this morning.  Probably too wet and slushy to entertain the kidlets though  :(

Good Morning

We had a nice weekend.  Saturday, after running some errands (had to get the boy a passport), we went over to the Carnrike's to bake cookies and hang out.  We made peanut butter, chocolate crinkle and sugar cookies.   K-Man took a math test online and the boys played with Brogan.   I spent a good part of Sunday afternoon putting chairs together.  We got a pub table with 8 chairs at Sam's Club and of course everything needs to be assembled.  The chairs look really good.  This week sometime we will get the table put up as well.

The Ridge had their Christmas party for the little ones Sunday after church.  The president of William Jessup Univ. was the guest speaker at church.  Sunday night I tried out a new recipe which turned out pretty well (may even get asked to make it again sometime).

blessings on your day

Doctrinal Affirmation

I recognize that there is only one true and living God (Exodus 20:2-3) who exists as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that He is worthy of all honor, praise and worship as the Creator, Sustainer, Beginning and End of all things (Revelation 4:11, 5:9-10, Isaiah 43:1, 7, 21).

I recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1-14).  I believe that He came to destroy the works of Satan (1 John 3:8), that He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them, having triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15).

I believe that God proves His love for me, because while I was still a sinner Christ died for me (Romans 5:8).   I believe that He delivered me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to His kingdom and that in Him I have redemption and the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).

I believe that I am now a child of God (1 John 3:1-3) and that I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6).  I believe that I was saved by the grace of God through faith, that it is a gift and not the result of any works on my part (Ephesians 2:8).

I choose to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might (Ephesians 6:10).  I put no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3) for the weapons of my warfare are not of the flesh (2 Corinthians 10:4).  I put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) and I resolve to stand firm in my faith and resist the evil one.

I believe that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18) and that He is the head over all rule and authority (Colossians 2:10).  I believe that Satan and his demons are subject to me in Christ because I am a member of Christ’s body (Ephesians 1:19-23).  I therefore obey the command to resist the devil (James 4:7) and I command him in the name of Christ to leave my presence.

I believe that apart from Jesus Christ I can do nothing (John 15:5), so I declare my dependence on Him.  I choose to abide in Christ in order to bear much fruit and glorify the Lord (John 15:8).  I announce to Satan that Jesus is my Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3) and I reject any counterfeit gifts or works of Satan in my life.

I believe that the truth will set me free (John 8:32) and that walking in the light is the only path of fellowship (1 John 1:7).  Therefore, I stand against Satan’s deception by taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).  I declare that the Bible is the only authoritative standard (2 Timothy 3:15-17).  I choose to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

I choose to present my body as an instrument of righteousness, a living and holy sacrifice, and I renew my mind by the living Word of God in order that I may prove that the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect (Romans 6:13, 12:1-2).

I ask my heavenly Father to fill me with His Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), to lead me in all truth (John 16:13) and to empower my life so that I may live above sin and not carry out the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).  I crucify the flesh (Galatians 5:24) and choose to walk by the Spirit.

I renounce all selfish goals and choose the ultimate goals of love (1Timothy 1:5).  I choose to obey the greatest commandment, to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind, and to love my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:37-39).

The Blogosphere

Periodically, I hit the "Next Blog" button and wander through the blogosphere to see what other peeps write about (and have snagged a few goodies in the process).   Lately, 4 out of 5 blogs have something to do with food and about half of those are having give-away contests.  I feel like I have stumbled onto the set of an infomercial.  Seriously, how many glutton-free muffin recipes do we really need?  There is a dearth of interesting content out there.  No wonder no one reads blogs any more, most of them make high school reading lists look interesting.

I feel like I  need to go out and rob a quicky-mart or something so at least MY blog will be interesting.   Maybe it is time to recycle some of my older (more interesting) posts.

Just my $0.02

Well that was interesting...

I submitted this blog to Typealyzer to discover the blog's "personality."   I got back:

ISFP - The Artists

The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.

They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living.

Doctrine

What place does doctrine and tradition take in today's church?   There is an interesting post on one of the blogs I follow (to the left) HERE.   In it, the author suggests that it is a mistake to get too generic.  My views are certainly colored by the time I spent in the LCMS church (conservative Lutheran).  I have strong opinions regarding Sola Scriptura, the meaning behind The Lord's Supper and the importance of the creeds.  At the same time, my views in other areas has shifted (baptism, church high-days and worship style to name a couple).

For the past 12 years, I have attended churches that downplay their denominational affiliations so I honestly don't know much about their doctrine.  I have found myself evaluating them solely on their theology, reliance on scripture and the centrality of Jesus.

At any rate, regardless of where you might fall in the spectrum, the article was good food for thought.

blessings on your day

Brrrrrr

It was 32 degrees out this morning and my car was covered with ice.   As I left Carmichael, it actually warmed up a few degrees - which wasn't a good thing.  As soon as the temperature rose, the fog settled it.  By the time I got to work, it was VERY thick.   It is definitely winter here - the days are shorter, the trees are barren and the fog is settling into the valley.

It can be a dreary and depressing time of the year for many.  It is easy to let the gloom, damp and chill seep into your soul.   As I listen to the Psalms of David this morning, I am struck by how often he started out gloomy and depressed but ended on a high note.  The is power in our memories and it is important to choose which ones to dwell upon.   David always chose to dwell on memories of blessings and victory.  By doing that, he avoided the trap of depression and despair.

What memories are you choosing to dwell on today?

Lighten Up

Somebody else posted this, but I could relate to almost all of these...thought you all might get a kick out of it too, enjoy!

1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3.I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

4. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

5. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

6. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

7. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

8. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

9. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

10. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

11. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

12. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

13. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

14. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

15. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

16. Was learning cursive really necessary?

17. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

20. My friend's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

21. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

22. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

23. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

24. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

25. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

26. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

27. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

28. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

29. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

30. Bad decisions make good stories

31. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

32. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

33. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

34. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

35. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

36. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

37. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

38. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

39. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

40. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

41. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

42. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

43. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

44. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

45. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

46. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

47. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

48. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

49. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

50. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

51. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

52. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my last dollar everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

53. It really ticks me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

54. I wonder if cops ever get ticked off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

55. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay

What?!? Oh...wait....

The data is in and we have confirmed it.   It is people who are responsible for the melting of Antarctica.  The really annoying part is that it is "good" (read: green) people that did it.  It seems that the hole in the ozone layer was actually cooling the ice.  By banning CFC's and fixing the hole, we warmed up the ice.   Go figure  :o)

The full article HERE

It Isn't That Simple

A recent article that appeared in Wired magazine (link HERE) talking about the complexity of "life."   To the apparent surprise of the author (and the academic community), it turns out that even the simplest organism is fiendishly complex and STILL beyond our comprehension.  There are complexities piled on top of other complexities creating a process (read: life) that is only dimly grasped and poorly understood.  And this is after years of studying what is characterized as one of the "simplest" of bacterium.

Yeah and all of that was created by random chance without any intelligent design - riiiiiiiiigggghhhhhhtttt

Focus

I am working on various areas in my life all the time.  My attention today is on "focus."  I am finding that my focus has a huge impact on my day.  If my focus is constant and "healthy" my day goes well and I end feeling that I have accomplished something.  If my focus is hazy, aimless and random, I end the day feeling disorganized and anxious.  I am developing a number of methods to help with this issue including changing what is in my iTunes library, setting up specific times to pray and appending to my reading list.  I am learning that maintaining a specific focus takes a lot more work than I had anticipated.

Focusing on the things that are "fun" has always been easy.  Letting my focus drift aimlessly has always been easy.  Life isn't about "easy" and drifting is dangerous.  Moving with purpose - having direction and a plan are crucial to success.  If you don't know where you are going how can you know if you have arrived?   I have spent a great deal of my life doing just that.  It really is no surprise that I ended up on the shoals.

blessings on your day

Diet Time

After 4 days of binge eating, it is time to fast, exercise and ... well DIET!   I don't know how much I gained this past week, but I do know I ate a lot of food.   Thursday we all went over to the Carnrike's for the official Thanksgiving.  Jocelyn did an awesome job with dinner.  We had ham and turkey and all the fixings.  Friday, of course, was at mom & dad's place for leftovers and cookies.  We baked 2 batches of peppernuts (700 to a batch) and left a 3rd batch in the fridge for dad to cook up.  

Hannah, Noah and I got all the decorations down from the attic Saturday and set up the tree and decorated the inside.  When Emma got home from work we all trimmed the tree.   Last night I made a full pan (7+ lbs of potatoes, 4 lbs of cheese) of scalloped potatoes with the leftover ham.   Mom and dad brought over yet another pie for dessert. 

blessings on your digestion  ;)

New Servicemen

Two of our family members have enlisted in the military in the last month.  My nephew Jonathon is joining the Navy and planning to get into the nuclear technician program.    Andrew has enlisted in the USAF and is still waiting to figure out which field he will be in (with a 95% he can choose any job he wants!!!)

I am very proud of both of them and wish them the very best.