Since my blog was being neglected for so long, I decided I might give it a face-lift to enter in the new year. Some previous themes I have spent many, many hours on and I really liked how they turned out. While I have put a decent amount of work into the new look, I didn’t want to have to edit and change as much code as I have done previously. This theme from NeoEase called iNove was just the thing I needed. I like the look and feel of it and the stuff I did want to change was fairly easy to do. I have also added in a few new plugins (including a Facebook “like” button and new photo gallery, ask me if you want to know about any of them) to add to some of the functionality.
I would love to get any feedback you might have to offer. Did it load in a reasonable amount of time? Do you like the look? Anything I should add? Take away? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, I can take the criticism.
Remember, feedback is about the design, not the content. I don’t expect people to like that anyway. Read more…
I just realized that last Wednesday, May 19th, was the 6th anniversary of starting my blog! Hard to believe it was that long ago that I started letting my thoughts explode into 1s and 0s on teh interwebs. For good or bad, you’ve got 6 years of my inane verbiage for you to ingest, I wonder how long I will keep this up. My first post, which is largely devoid of content: Why am I here? and another post because I was recently asked about my thoughts on the issue: Sex sex sex!
Related to that, does anyone have any thoughts or opinions about posts such as that one on such a public forum that anyone could see (like employers or even students!)? It is a fine line and it is always hard to know how much to share on the interwebs. I know some think things should be completely private, others think we should be completely free to share our voices. Comments? Thoughts?
'It's easier to be an asshole to words than to people.'
I’ve finally had the chance to start reading Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision, N.T. Wright‘s response to critics of The New Perspective on Paul with specific discussion of Piper’s The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright. I’m sure I will have comments about the book at a later time (I do definitely fall into Wright’s camp when it comes to placing Paul and his theology firmly rooted in 1st century exilic Judaism), but right now I wanted to share what he had to say in the book’s introduction about blogging. His comments are both insightful and important reminders to those of us who interact in the blogosphere and call ourselves Christians.
It really is high time we developed a Christian ethic of blogging. Bad temper is bad temper even in the apparent privacy of your own hard drive, and harsh and unjust words, when released into the wild, rampage around and do real damage. And as for the practice of saying mean and untrue things while hiding behind a pseudonym – well, if I get a letter like that it goes straight in the bin. But the cyberspace equivalents of road rage doesn’t happen by accident. People who type vicious, angry, slanderous and inaccurate accusations do so because they feel their worldview to be under attack. Yes, I have pastoral concern for such people. (And, for that matter, a pastoral concern for anyone who spends more than a few minutes a day taking part in blogsite discussion, especially when they all use code names: was it for this that the creator God made human beings?) But sometimes worldviews have to be shaken. They may become idolatrous and self-serving. And I fear that the has happened, and continues to happen, even in well-regulated, shiny Christian contexts – including, of course, my own.
I hope you aren’t offended by the mouse hover/caption to the xkcd comic, but I found it particularly appropriate for Wright’s comments. In any discussion we have with people we run the risk of our hubris taking over. Humility is crucial and necessary. We should always presume positive intent of those in discussion and we should always write and speak with positive intent. It’s a good rule of thumb.
Today marks the 5th anniversary of starting my blog. Pretty amazing that I have been doing this for 5 years! Of course in the last two years, or so, the posts haven’t been as frequent… but it is quality over quantity, right? I started at the, now nonexistent, Modblog which was a great community and introduction to blogging. I have, since then, had various blogs that I update with varying frequency, but it has been great running my own domain and just writing when I feel like it and about the topics I am really interested in. Everyone should blog really. No, really, go start one now, they’re free!
To go along with this anniversary, I am also happy to say I had an incredible night/weekend with some amazing people celebrating my and Stacey’s 30th birthday. I am supremely blessed to have the wonderful friends I have. Thanks to everyone who made it so special!
We started the night at Anthony’s on Pier 66 on Seattle’s waterfront then went back to our suite at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel for swimming, eating, and just general enjoyment of each other’s company. It was a night to remember! Please stop by Matt and Stacey turn 30! @ Flickr for some pictures from the evening.
Last Friday I braved a field trip to Mount St. Helens with 300 8th graders! I have been finishing the year by filling in for an 8th grade teacher who went on medical leave. One of her projects (that she adores) is an all grade field trip up the volcano. I’ll have to admit, it was a tiring project, but was a good experience. Luckily the teacher was still able to do a bunch of the work (like make the packets and decide on group), but taking care of everything at the school was quite involved. It is nice to be over with it. That being said, it really was an awesome field trip. I definitely hope the kids learned a bunch, I know I did!
We first went to Coldwater Lake Recreation area and walked their interpretive trail. Coldwater Lake was created after the 1980 eruption and all the debris it ejected.
After that we walked the Hummocks Trail (2.5 miles). The Hummocks Trail walks through the 1980 eruption avalanche area (a 5.1 magnitude earth quake triggered an avalanche that traveled 13 miles down the Toutle River). The hike is fairly easy (even for 8th graders) and is filled with gorgeous views, giant (and numerous) hummocks, and extremely interesting information about that fateful day. Yes, learning can be fun! The view of the Toutle River Valley is quite interesting because the river has been slowly eroding all the deposited material left by the eruption.
Finally we made it up to Johnston Ridge Observatory. Let me tell you, the day was perfect. You never know what will happen at JRO. Johnston Ridge looks directly into the north wall opening into the crater but on cloudy days (of which there are plenty) you can’t see too much. But Friday was completely clear and offered absolutely gorgeous views! Their video presentation opened up to a perfectly clear view of the growing volcano! I was amazed how much the crater has grown in the last few years. The south wall, the whaleback, has especially had some tremendous growth.
The other day Jae sent me a link to a clip from the BBC’s sketch comedy show Man Stroke Woman, it was pretty funny stuff so I thought I would pass on a few clips that I found particularly hilarious. I do have to warn you, if you want to check out any of their other clips, they can be a tad crass and vulgar at times, just FYI. The ones following are nice and clean though.
Thanks to Sal and her late-night insomnia, she stumbled across the Best Game Ever. Watch it and enjoy. Two little league baseball teams are mobbed by the Improv Everywhere team and given a game they will never forget!
Supermoon over Mount Baker!! Ok, really it’s just a Full Moon at perigee. It is about 14% bigger and 30% brighter. You know, assuming you can see it. And no, it isn’t connected with natural disasters.
Football! It was a smaller group today, but that didn’t take away from the fun times we had. After a few hard hits and a sprint at the end, I am pretty tired and sore. Ready to play again though!
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
The view of the Toutle River Valley is quite interesting because the river has been slowly eroding all the deposited material left by the eruption.
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