Blog Posts of Category Life

Getting Around and Staying Fit with Nice Ride

Somewhat-reputable sources list the Minneapolis/St. Paul area as one of the "most liveable" cities in the country. I'm not sure if I believe that; I've seen many places that seem just as nice, although this is the only city I've lived in. Other places have listed the metro as a very "bike-able" area, and I'm starting to believe that. I know I've had some minor hostility from drivers on the road and some genuine hatred towards bikers from my friends who drive, so we probably still have a bit to go as well.

Why I Don't Want An iPad 2

Yes, the iPad 2 is not for me. The iPad may be the future of mainstream computing, but at this time, it's not for me. More on that in a minute, though. First, here's the skinny on the new iPad 2, announced by Apple yesterday in San Francisco by Steve Jobs and his snappy presentation crew.

Hulu Plus: The Networks Still Don't Get It

Earlier today, Hulu.com announced Hulu Plus.  For those who don't know what Hulu is, it is a company that allows users to stream TV shows to their computer over the Internet the day after a show is broadcast.  The TV programs are only on Hulu for a couple of weeks on average.  The company was started jointly by NBC Universal and Fox TV, although ABC and other companies now have a stake in it as well.  The networks have made it clear in the past that they did not want Hulu content on your TV; it was meant only for watching at your desk on your computer.

My Ideal Weekend

Recently I've been discussing with friends what I usually do on the weekend.  My weekend isn't completely work and it isn't completely play, but I guess my favorites are the ones where I do a bit of both and just see where it goes.

My Chicago Shirt

Today's feature is a shirt that is seldom worn. It doesn't sport a cool band name or even some geeky phrase, but it does show the skyline of one of my favorite cities: Chicago.

The Chicago Shirt

The Fun Little Things at DrupalCon DC 2009

Well, it seems that, unless I'm doing a T-shirt post, I have to start these blog posts with a disclaimer.  So I'll do that.  DrupalCon DC is the first large conference I've ever really been to, so I suppose lots of things impress me.  It's been a great show to learn about Drupal so far, and I can't wait to get down 'n' dirty with Drupal coding tomorrow!

The Mall Shopping Letdown

I happen to work in an office next to one of the nation's largest malls, the Mall of America. It's nice because I can shop there if I need to pick up something, and I can do it during my lunch break. (Plus, there's a never-ending collection of restaurants and food courts to eat at.) However, this experience from last year is still why I really dislike shopping at malls.

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Spending Thanksgiving in Shreveport, Louisiana was great. Plenty of my friends from all over the country were there, and the food and drinks were amazing throughout the weekend. Now I'm heading to visit more missionaries in Indianapolis this evening.

Steve Jobs Lied to Me

Last week, at this time, I was having major problems with my laptop.  Sometime around 6pm on Sunday, my MacBook Pro suddenly decided it could not use DHCP anymore.  (DHCP, for the uninitiated, is the ability for your computer to just work when you join a network.  If you don't have DHCP, you have to know a valid IP address, the gateway IP address, and IP addresses of working DNS servers to connect to the same network.  DHCP just asks the router to give this to you automatically.) So, upon realizing it was my computer only, I tried testing it at the neighbor's house (because our Internet con

The Drupal Man

A couple days ago I posted my quick attempt at Drupal artwork. A commenter questioned my reference to most of our no-so-great skills in drawing under pressure, which all of us cover up via the computer. I responded by saying that the best sketch artist is Shawn, our manager. Shawn didn't know this, but he proved my point this morning.

The Drupal Pumpkin

This morning at work, we found small pumpkins on our desk. During our staff meeting, we were told to increase our humility by drawing on these pumpkins. After a couple minutes of thinking about it, I decided doing a pumpkin based on the Druplicon, the Drupal logo/mascot. My major disappointment was that the pumpkin did not have a small stalk at the top, but here it is:

The ILikeAndy.com T-Shirt

Today's shirt is one of my favorites - the ILikeAndy.com T-shirt.  Most say that my shirts are pretty unique, but this one is probably one of the most unique, mostly because it was a limited-run shirt from an independent artist.  It's totally rock 'n' roll.

Pixar and Nintendo Saving the World? Heck Yes!

Since I have nothing exciting to post at the moment, why not just copy stuff from someone else's blog? Here's some from a great post by my friend, Joe:
Because that’s what this movie is about: WALL-E is the protector of EVE and the life she carries inside of her. It’s one of the most beautiful — and perhaps unexpected — metaphors for life, and the role of a husband to protect his wife and family, that I’ve ever seen.

Lightning, Red Bull, and Big Red

On a more personal note, we had a really fun night last night.  After dinner, we wanted to head down to the Store Arch Bridge to see the Red Bull Illume exhibit.  We saw a large storm coming, but we decided we'd risk it.  When we got to the exhibit, we found that the photos didn't start projecting until sundown about 9:30pm, so we decided to wait it out.  But there was a huge wall cloud coming from the northeast, so we decided to take shelter in the Guthrie Theater building.  The new Guthrie is a spaced-aged design that is tons of fun to explore a

Cool Rides At The MOA? Maybe

A couple years ago, a favorite band of mine announced that the rides at the Mall Of America were lame. All of us were like, "Of course!" What was once called Knott's Camp Snoopy has always had a dozen or more rather tame rides. The best was a nice flume ride with two drops, the first one in the dark. Also, the "Mystery Mine Ride" was an IMAX screen with chairs that moved in synch with the movie. I'd been on a couple fun rides in that machine. A year or so ago, it was renamed the Park at MOA and has remained pretty lame. But, it seems that may change.

Communal Life Through Thick and Thin

Life in the People of Praise is so amazing. We had a fun weekend with a big party for J-T Kelly's CD release - it was a great time with the house full of friends. But it's more the daily things that make life in the People of Praise so great.

Enjoy the Snow!

Seriously, the state of Minnesota should start revoking state IDs from people who are complaining about the weather. It sure beats rain anytime of the year. I love it!

Good Friday, Work, and Play

Easter is coming in less than two weeks. For me and my family, Easter was always an important, holy time. We'd often go to services that week. Good Friday was especially different, for there were a number of traditions that day. First, I think for something like 15 years of my life, I attended the peaceful demonstrations organized by Pro-Life Action Ministries in from of a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul. Not only was it a demonstration, but it was a great time to pray for our country, worship God, and reflect on his sacrifice.

OpenID Working

For those who wanted to use OpenID to authenticate themselves on my site, it should now work. There were some problems reported with logging in because my PHP was not compiled with the GMP library. You should and are encouraged to start using OpenID in many places, if possible.

New Life in the Heart of Minneapolis

About five years ago, I was walking around on the streets of Chicago Ave. and Lake St. in Minneapolis and we were talking about Christ and praying with people in the neighborhood. There were many homeless and very poor people walking around and it was a tough neighborhood. We told people that we wanted to make the neighborhood better by leading them to Christ. I remember one man saying, "If you want to help out this neighborhood, buy that building."

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