Monthly Archives: October 2008

It’s a trap!

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First, let me lull you in by talking about Star Wars: Force Unleashed or the Apprentice or Darth Vader or any number of search keywords.
Hey, I could even put up a Star Wars parody for Mike:

But here’s the deal:
You may have noticed a certain site, lorrd.com (please don’t visit there), takes my articles and posts them on their own site. It seems to be any time that I mention Star Wars, like from this screenshot:
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Now, I understand the occasional picture rip. Yes, it does slow down a person’s server, but with Google it makes it really easy for people to just snag a URL.

But to copy an entire article? Not cool.

So, here’s the experiment. I looked up lorrd.com to see who owns it:

Ehsan Ahmad Rehan
G8 Model Town
Lahore
Punjab
042
PK

I removed his e-mail and phone number to give him another chance to correct the situation. I have e-mailed him.

I also commented on one of the sites:

Now comes the experiment: will lorrd.com automatically rip this article and put it on theirs? I’m curious.

A theme that makes me cry

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Scroll until you find your appropriate portion.
The Star Wars Portion
First, every single time I watch A New Hope, I tear up at The Force theme, the song that plays right when Luke screams, “No!” and starts firing randomly after the Kenobi/Vader duel. Every time.

I finished Force Unleashed today. There are some moments with the Apprentice theme that the same feelings occur. It does capture the Star Wars mood. And a battle damaged Vader versus the Apprentice, with Apprentice screaming, “You should have killed me when you had the chance!” as you are locking Wii Remotes quickly and savagely to push Vader back – yeah, fanboy moments galore (ever want to throw a squad of stormtroopers into a test-firing Death Star chamber?). Nice job on fanboy moments, LucasArts…now to make a classic game. We’ll see about replay value. It’s pretty much paced like a movie.

Today was the funeral for an old student from our junior high and on Sunday I have the funeral for my friend Chuck. If you see me in person and wonder if my heart is worn out, it is. Today was a good day for Star Wars. (On that topic – when are we meeting, paper and pencil friends? (Non-gamers have now assumed that I make origami companions.))

The “Happy Tech Could Help” Portion
Hey, the message from Renaissance Bible Church is up. We put it up earlier this week, but I got distracted by a Legend of Zelda theme that burned my brain. Check out their podcast for the message. Some context: the local church body that isn’t connected to Wachovia is connected to Lehman Brothers, so Matthew 6 is kinda gutsy and needed. He’ll mention how a “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” mentality is like telling someone to not think of something: they automatically think of that unwanted thing. To demonstrate, he mentions some “meal” involving bacon, syrup, and I’m assuming a defibrillator. For my non-Southern readers, substitute a steak (or, in my case, a toss up between sashimi and a Hot Pocket (although the Pillsbury Toaster Strudels bring back good memories)(Did I mention that I lost 10 pounds unintentionally using Wii Fit?)).

The Baked Goods Portion
Really, you should check out that Toaster Strudel website. Flaky crust Flash player hotspots. Peter laughs then cries.

The Proud Father Portion
My oldest got complimented in pre-school today. The teacher sat my wife down to tell her that my oldest is very artistically advanced. Woo! My daughter also has made up a word. To remember which feet her shoes go on, she calls them a backwards butterfly. Her word for that?

doval (n) – DOH-val a backwards butterfly; usage – “To remember which shoes go on which feet, ask yourself: Does this look like a doval?”

The first time she said it I thought she said dovin basal. (Refer back to The Star Wars Portion.)

The “Okay, So I’m Not Quite So Jaded, Just Cautious” Section
I went back to read my reviews of Obama’s Audacity of Hope (Review 1, 2, and 3) Even then I was jaded about this election, it was just in haiku form.

I remember enjoying the book, for the most part, but finding some key parts that bugged me. Check out the 1, 2, and 3 links for more detail. His peer evaluations for teachers has some flaws and he does clump in National Right to Life with the NRA, which makes me kinda cringe. I do (non-sarcastically) like Obama’s megalomania quote.

Innocent blood and a distaste for extremes: I wish we could take an average of the two parties. My big issue is abortion, plain and simple. It’s like a William Wilberforce abolitionist issue with me. Where were the slaveholder’s rights? Sometimes we have to infringe when it’s life-death issues. This is not a Republican/Democrat thing, because you can bet if Giuliani (or, my goodness, Bob Packwood) was the Republican option, I would not stick with party ties. Being a father of a daughter born a month early and the brother-in-law to a guy born two months early, we must be very cautious as to when we determine a person is a person. Yes, I agree with Obama that we need to increase the Family and Medical Leave Act to help with the financial burden of having a child. (Although I have more than one co-worker who is spending way too much money to adopt a child…there’s a disconnect.) Something that I think is forgotten is that rich women have abortions, too.

Check out my good friend from college (Mike, you’ll want to click) who just got accepted to be an adoptive parent.

I’m also a big proponent of feeding the poor (taking care of widows and orphans and all that). The government and big business do not have a good track record with this, both Democrat and Republican. This is why two of my mentors, Randy Alcorn and Don Miller, are sometimes at odds. (Although now seeing Donald Miller’s “Mentoring For President ’08″, I dig Don even more.)(To add info that Don Miller doesn’t have is that McCain goes to North Phoenix Baptist. I can’t see into either candidate’s heart, though.)

Check the voting records for Obama and McCain for more details.

Check out Alcorn’s and Miller’s blogs for great insights from great writers.

And continue to be annoyed by Internet rumors that smear and/or relate to how Bill Gates will pay me a million dollars for forwarding that e-mail.

Editor’s note: Can anyone do a word count? I may have rambled more than Slade rambling about Shaq. (Messing with you, fool. CAN YOU DIG IT?!)

Cleaning out my electronics? eBay

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For a good cause (repairing my garage door) I am putting up some books, games, and DVDs on eBay. in no way do I solicit you for anything more than just a click to boost that little counter thing.

Here are the items:

  1. Sonic Heroes
  2. Parasite Eve
  3. Myst III
  4. Star Trek: Invasion
  5. Legends of Wrestling II
  6. Finding Flow
  7. Cabin Boy – “Wanna buy a monkey?”
  8. Secret of NIMH

I’ll put a link in the store and sidebar to my eBay account.

Wii Music: Wii Fit and Wii Sports worked, so I should like this, right?

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I keep trying to convince Slade that the Wii can be a game system for my demographic and that it has some games made for gamers on it.

Then Nintendo had to go and do this:

I remember when I subscribed to Nintendo Power and they had the notation for putting Metroid, Mario, and Zelda themes into Mario Paint (although I know Mario Paint never had flats and sharps). That rocked. I was also in junior high in a different era. If this is your competition with Rock Band and Guitar Hero, well… Miyamoto-san, I’m assuming that you have another target audience. (This video is targeted specifically at Slade.)

I’m actually a little afraid of what that target audience is.

So, I’m on Fall Break and I was going to get a WiiWare co-op game to surprise my wife with. World of Goo looks awesome. I love the art style to it. But at $15? This is more like a really addicting Flash game, not Mario Galaxy used at GameStop.

I so want to play this game, but I am also so cheap. I wish WiiWare games went down in price over time.

Shaq challenges Spurs’ manhood

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The Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O’Neal(The Big Aristotle, The Big Cactus, The Big Asthmatic) has undergone a total personality change. From the troubles of his time in Miami where the team was on a 17 game losing streak, to the Kobe drama in which he performed a rap about how Kobe can’t win without him, to losing in the first round of last years playoffs to the San Antonio Spurs. He’s now noticeably much happier in his tone, and appears to be on the offensive against Spurs coach Greg Popovich.

Here’s an interesting article…..

“Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:00 am EDT
Shaq calls Spurs cowards, rips Nash and Suns’ defense

By J.E. Skeets

As anyone who has ever been around a New York nightclub can attest, Suns center — legend, sheriff, rapper, etc. — Shaquille O’Neal tends to shoot from the hip/lip when he gets in front of a microphone. He’s like Charles Barkley, but with a deeper voice and rhythm.

Well, Sports 620 KTAR had a mic at Suns practice Tuesday, so, naturally, The Big Outspoken did what he does best: talk. The money quote came when he was asked about the Suns’ first-round loss to the Spurs in last year’s playoffs. O’Neal said he didn’t mind that “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy wasn’t changed in the rules during the offseason, but that there is no need to do it when a team is up 10 points. Shaq, via FanHouse:

“When you’re down, I can see using that as a strategy. But when you’re up 10, 15 points, there’s really no need for that. That’s a coward move. And he knows that. I’ll make ‘em pay for that.”

You hear that, Gregg Popovich? You’re a coward! A coward hiding behind a beard!

And the fun/embarrassment didn’t stop there. Later in the media scrum — earmuffs, Nash and Raja! — Shaq asks how he’s supposed to stay in front Tony Parker and company if the Phoenix guards can’t, and then notes a blown defensive rotation on Tim Duncan’s [fudge'n] three in Game 1. He also takes credit for James Posey and Jason Kapono’s fat free agent contracts. <a “

I’m a fan of Shaq. I think the guy is one big goofy guy who doesn’t take too much seriously unless you tell him he can’t. This will be an interesting year as the Suns vs. Spurs heat seems to be turning up once again.

BTW, Shaq is responsible for leading the efforts to world peace if anyone hasn’t noticed.

Home

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We’re home from North Carolina. Much thank yous to Jeremy for picking us up and getting us home. It was very appreciated after the Charlotte to St. Louis to Home stand-by flight.

St. Louis, you’re on notice.

While waiting for one of the flights, I got a call from a co-worker that my friend Chuck had passed away while I was gone. We shared a wall when I was a Language Arts teacher. I’m very glad that I went out to visit him in the hospital. It’s very strange when work world meets with real life and I cry for a co-worker. I’m learning.

Thank you to the fun family in North Carolina for a great retreat. We will have to implement more coffee/impromptu songs/Catanian Rebellions/Mickey D’s Sweet Tea on this coast.

And for Mike:

Your true theme song.
And to test a theory:

For those back home

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You are the reason we are coming home, because frankly we like it here.
It is especially easier to live here now that the ruling Lord of Catan’s citadel crumbled during our third try this trip.
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My settlers leave a message in the sand
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His leave theirs

If you play against me, know that I play very single-mindedly. This go around it was to build until I hit the wheat port since I was working on a Wheat Empire.
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The Strong Arm of the Wheat Empire, the Crimson Pants (Jeremy, there’s that ‘Pants/Star Wars joke’)
I continued to send the thief into the other wheat regions to find Crutchy selling papes and wheat on a corner and to beat him. Mercilessly. “Open the gates a seize my foot on your throat.”

Lots of fun with the cousins:
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We took the Charlotte light rail to Imaginon, the combination of a community theater and a library. Since both were struggling, they fed each other and now it’s amazing.
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Woo, Mega Libraries! The only downfall? Even though they did have a Smash Bros. tournament going on, they didn’t have Ally Carter for the family to check out. Same with the first couple books of every series (Among the Hidden, Princess Diaries) Still a tres cool library, though.

This last part is for Gavin: Things associated with rails from today
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The Conduit Voice Actors Announced

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Conduit - Agent Ford
Badger from Firefly will play Agent Ford in The Conduit.
Conduit Klingon
William Morgan Sheppard (Captan Witwicky from Transformers and the Science Minister from the new Star Trek film) will play John Adams. Lest we forget, he has also voiced in another of my favorites: he played Agent Lawrence Limburger in Biker Mice from Mars (this show is why I used BadMamaJama as my screen name for the longest time before Booyor)(woot, StarCraft – “BadMamaJama has defeated the Protoss!”).

And the biggest of news?
Kevin “Every Middle-Aged Woman’s Hero” Freaking Sorbo
Conduit Kevin Sorbo
as
Prometheus, Alien Terrorist

I’m loving it. Ford and John Adams taking on the Greek Giver of Fire. All in all, I think it’s quite appropriate.

MacBook Pro Monitor Fix

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How fitting that on a day with huge Apple announcements, my uncle has a great MacBook monitor fix:

Update: So, Apple uses lasers now to cut MacBooks out of solid titanium. The new MacBooks will also have nVidia 3D cards in them (Slade, you buyin’?) and the trackpad will now be like an amped iPhone. Glass monitors, though? I like my plastic. Perhaps I should hang out with more iPhones.

Yeah, that’s their backyard

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Go find the dog in the backyard. Ever see Chevy Chase’s Funny Farm?
Yep. And there’s also a distinct lack of stucco/adobe/mud houses.
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We’re staying in a basement that is larger than our original apartment my wife and I had when we first got married. It’s been a great retreat for me. Lots of journaling/Vanguarding going on.
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And the notorious uncle is still Lord of Catan. His citadel (blue) was mighty. My sheep empire (yellow) was just in its infancy when the Ore Baron crushed my wife’s Road to Nowhere (red).
I’m starting to develop a twang. My oldest is developing other rogue-ish abilities:
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Lots of fun in the outdoors:
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My youngest has a fun cousin to play with, too:
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Being entertained by my oldest
Although we should cut back before the flight on her General MacArthur corncob pipe:
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Just so you know, North Carolina has Princess Parking:
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Her cousin and her are having fun dressing up in frilly dresses and driving monster trucks. Did I mention that we’re in the South?

Other nerd news:
I will be watching Heroes hours before you mere West Coasters even dream of the show. I should make some “predictions”. And then next Monday I, too, shall have my powers stripped. But I will say this: our basement apartment has an HD big screen TV.

And the iQ, the 56 mpg Toyota? Yeah, it’ll be a Scion.

Lord British launched into space

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Do you remember Richard Garriott? All of those Ultima games? He just launched into space on a Soyuz rocket.

I also just watched the DOW end at +962-ish. Craziness. Like Ringo Starr not wanting to sign autographs anymore.

Also, can you imagine free wi-fi across 95% of the United States? Could we see voting switch to all of the registration and voting done online? Is Amazon more secure than what ACORN could mess with?

And the Cardinals blocking that punt was pretty fun to watch Down South.

Waking the Souls of Suburbia

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I went to Renaissance Bible Church today in Charlotte, NC.

Uncle Bobby lead worship. He sang a song that he wrote. By the end of my stay here, my goal is to have it recorded and put online.

Pastor Brian preached on Matthew 5 and 6 and connected it very appropriately to a community where the majority of the congregation works for Wachovia or has dealings with Lehman Brothers.

Worry has taken on a new face.

What’s funny is that the majority of the time our worries are not the same that we had last year (or even a month ago). He started out the sermon running on a treadmill. Worry is like a treadmill where you expend energy but don’t go anywhere. He also hooked us with photos of people who work stressful jobs:
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Stressful lifestyles and anxiety break us down.

When you take into consideration the people that Jesus was talking to (if you couldn’t afford to pay taxes there was no bailout, there was jail) it’s great that he reminds them of who made them.

The creation story in Genesis 1 is a poem that crescendoes with God’s treasured creation: us. If we read it as simply a scientific proof we lose the love.

I’m going to help Bobby figure out the new audio recorder that he bought and hopefully we can get the new sermon audio online. Also, remind me to show you his MacBook screen fix.

Kickin’ my shoes off and sittin’ a spell

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In a surprising turn of events, I’m enjoying the South.

To my family: Yeah, I know.

But it’s tough to not enjoy North Carolina. The weather is amazing here. (Little bit of rain, 75 degrees)
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This is one of the houses we visited today.
This is not officially a road trip, but I figure I’m not going to have enough plane trips to warrant a new tag.

The plane trip with two little ones was a little bit more stressful than just flying with my wife, but my wife did an amazing job of packing (using a straw and Ziploc bags for that vacuum-seal) and we were able to take everything carry-on (so we didn’t get fined for having to check luggage).

The TSA search is more intense than the last time I flew. Maybe it’s because I now had a laptop bag and diaper bag.

Or maybe it’s because I’m huge and everything I own takes up its own bucket.
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I’m disturbed that I have to consider which is more of a hassle: stripping off a belt in a crowd or trying to hold my pants up in the airport.

I was pretty impressed with the security (including the Star Trek computer telling me to not leave baggage unattended or how carrying the bags of a stranger is punishable by bat’lething)(sword of honor…how quaint).
I was impressed until I saw how easy it was to just ride your bike up to a plane.
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“Gotta get to Hometown Buffet.”

It was the first plane ride for both daughters.
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“We’re going to fly ABOVE clouds?!”
My oldest did very well. She waited to vomit until we got into my uncle’s SUV.
My youngest slept for a little bit until the captain came on the loudspeaker to tell us about the Phillies game. (She slept one out of the three hours of the flight. I did get to watch most of The Incredible Hulk during that.)

We flew stand-by. We got bumped from the first flight, so we waited for a second one and got one. Our seats were in three different rows (18B, 19B, 20B…woo, middle seats! People want those, right?) The flight attendant said for my oldest to sit with me and they’d re-assign the passenger to another seat. A woman came up, demanded her seat, and cried because she needed a window seat. My oldest watched and I had my daughter move up on her own. A guy who came later said that he’d trade with my daughter. Thank Jesus for nice people. My wife, daughters, and I all got a row together. (The other person who was supposed to be next to me didn’t show. Provision.) This worked out really well so that when my wife and oldest went to the bathroom, my youngest had two seats to climb around and jump on, laughing at the window.

We’re here, we’re loving it. I guess there’s a big race down the street from where we’re staying. Last night you could hear the engines all start up at the same time. It’s good to see they reserve a place for campers.

Keep checking back for more updates and photos of southern hospitality. (Did you know people actually SIT on their porches here? Crazy East-coasters.)

I almost forgot. The North Carolina airport has a huge BBQ restaurant. I also was lectured by the woman behind me on how Arizona lacked in tea and that North Carolina had the best sweet tea.
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There’s an entire row of rocking chairs in case the moving sidewalk is too much for you.

Trouble at the Border

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A group of teens from church is held up at the border. My understanding is that because they’re bringing appliances across the border, the troopers on the Mexican side of the border want some money.

It should be noted that the appliances (washing machines, dryers), materials, and all that are for an orphanage that got worked by a hurricane.

Please pray.

Haven’t heard an update yet, but please also pray for the people of Mosul.

Update: “Starbound got through the border at about 2:30pm Saturday. Almost 20 hrs after they arrived. They were able to get the bribe down to $600 and, praise the Lord, were able to keep all of the donations they were taking to the orphanage.
God’s timing is always perfect.”

Future Peter Weeps

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Peter checks his iPhone for LOLcatz. iPhone refuses and sends him into the future to fight his scarred, Evil Peter self. Present Peter kills Future Peter. Present Peter becomes Future Peter. Future Peter holds it together until he realizes that we’re recording Kathy and Kim for later viewing.

Petrelli? Who’s that?

Did you see that Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper are voices in a game about snakes and spiders?