As you can see, I am currently re-designing and upgrading the site. Some of the changes include an upgrade to Wordpress 2.1, which was recently released. It’s a nice upgrade and includes new functionality including autosave, an improved tabbed editor, and an upload manager, among others. I am happy to say that the transition was fairly painless, and I am posting this entry from my newly upgraded admin screen.

That’s the under-the-hood stuff, but I am also doing a bit of work on the re-design and feature-enhancement side. I’ve promised for awhile to include a page with information on hikes around the area, and I’m planning on implementing that very soon. You will see the link (albeit non-functional) that has already been created for this use. You’ll notice some other links (also not active yet) that I plan to prepare pages for, including downloads and links. The downloads will focus primarily on open-source software that I’ve found useful. I also hope to publish and enhanced links section, providing a list of some of my favorite and useful sites to visit.

You may find some portions of the site non-functional until I have a chance to complete all the upgrades. My hope is that the upgrades and enhancements will be benefical to visitors, and that this site will become a good information source. Lopid
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It’s been almost 7 months since my employment ceased. It’s a bit of a strange world for me, working freelance, my schedule determined more by the jobs that I’m picking up here and there than by an actual routine. There are some days that I find myself behind the dual monitors of my desktop computer, designing and coding websites. There are other times that I am at a client’s workplace. Other times I’m writing, reading, or researching. Or tinkering with various computer equipment. Such are the wanderings of a freelance technogeek. In some ways I feel a little bit like an astronaut, exploring a frontier that I always knew existed, but never had the launch platform available to me to explore it. Suddenly I was ejected from the mother ship of a company and out into employment outer space. At first I felt like I was pushed out of the airlock without a spacesuit. But I quickly realized that the job experiences and abilities that I’ve developed since starting on my employment voyage have created quite a warm and comfortable escape pod.

How’s this for a cliche? A man sitting in a coffee shop, drinking coffee, staring into his laptop. Yet, that’s exactly what I’m doing, sitting at Panera, sipping hazelnut coffee, An Cat Dubh blaring in my ears. It’s 10:17 in the morning, and this place is bustling with activity. It’s easy to determine their target market. Retirees, soccer moms, and the occasional businessperson meeting with clients on neutral ground. There’s a large group of retirees sharing a a makeshift conference table, the faux laminate-topped tables shoved together. Nearby are several other cyber-junkies, laptops open and eyes glued to the screen. Then there’s an endless relay of people returning to the carafes for warm-ups of coffee.

This is an excellent place for me to work. While I have been working from home for several months and work very well independently, it is nice some days to get up, get cleaned up, dressed, and go somewhere. It gets me up and going, and $1.46 for a bottomless cup of coffee and unlimited internet access is hard to beat. I sometimes spend half a day here, working, writing, doing my bible study, and watching people.

I’ve observed people in many different environments, but it is interesting to see them interact in a coffeehouse setting. Hot drinks always seem to invite deeper conversation, eye contact, sharing. This is funny to me since coffee houses are such public institutions. And somehow there’s a greater level of trust when people enter these doors. Some people will walk away to use the restroom and leave their valuable equipment sitting on a table, sometimes logged into secure accounts.

Perhaps it’s the proximity of people they love and trust, perhaps it’s just the proximity of what most believe are good-willed people. Regardless of the reasons, it is interesting behavior. All of the good-willed people gathering together for mass-produced coffee and good conversation. At the far end of the room I spot a “community bulletin board.” Looking around, seeing the people in this place enjoying themselves, my thoughts turn to corporate Panera. I wonder what it’s like at their corporate headquarters. I wonder if the people and innerworkings that have created these institutions foster the same openness and environment. And if this environment does exist, what an accomplishment this would be. Greater than any ledger, greater than any financial statement. Which begs the question: Instead of cubicles and offices, should we design offices with ample coffee, fireplaces, tables and chairs?

What’s the point of having a website and blog if you never make any posts? That’s the question that I asked myself this morning. Is it lack of things to write about? Nope, that excuse doesn’t work. Is it lack of time? Nope, not that one either. I’ve had plenty of time to write lately. There’s not really an excuse and, well, I guess I really don’t have to give one, since it is MY blog.

However, since I’m here and actually typing something, I might as well talk about some things that have been going on in my life. I lost my job back in July (so see, I’ve had plenty of time to write). I expected this to be an extraordinarily traumatic experience, but it really hasn’t been that way. God has, as usual, provided for me and actually turned my unemployment into a blessing (doesn’t seem like it should work that way, but it does). It actually freed my time so that I could help in the planning of our wedding. I enjoyed being involved in the details, and it helped my wife stay sane as she balanced (very well, I might add) the responsibilities of working and planning our wedding.

We were married on October 14, 2006 at Dallas Bay Baptist Church. We had a simple ceremony with our closest friends and family present to celebrate with us. Our reception had a “high tea” theme, with cake, finger sandwiches, and of course, tea! We truly enjoyed the time we were able to share with friends and family. Weddings bring a lot of people together that you don’t always get to see, so it was sort of a shame for it to come to an end. End it did, but we were just beginning our adventure.

The next part of the adventure took place the next day. We caught an 11-hour flight to Rome, Italy, our arrival destination for our honeymoon. Our hotel was outstanding, actually an apartment that the hotel owned, away from the main hotel, Hotel Mozart. Hotel Mozart is located just several blocks from the Spanish Steps and the fashion district, a bustling area with lots and lots of people. Have you ever seen movies where the actors are just hanging around a famous landmark? It’s just not that way when you actually visit a place with lots of famous landmarks. Rome is a very, very busy place, and most of the landmarks of any repute have many people wandering about them. Rome was a fascinating place, teeming with sights both ancient and modern, artistic and ugly, religious and mythical. The architecture is amazing. Texas has nothing on Italy. I’m convinced that everything is bigger in Italy.

Nothing supports this statement more than the immensity of the Colosseum. We rode the subway to the Colosseum exit. We expected to be near our destination, but when we emerged from the subway terminal at street level, we didn’t expect the Colosseum to engulf our field of vision. It was just there, sprawling in front of us. I had seen pictures of it from time to time, and I’ve seen Gladiator. But photos and movie sets just don’t do it justice. It is a truly remarkable piece of architecture, one that we have used to model many of our modern arenas after. We spent three days in Rome, touring many of the famous landmarks, including the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Vatican, ancient Rome, and La Bocca Della Verita (The Mouth of Truth). We also took a day trip to the Isle of Capri, an absolutely gorgeous place just off the coast of Italy near Naples. Then it was off to Venice. We transferred via train to Venice, where we would spend the rest of our honeymoon. Our hotel, Bonvecchiati, was located just 5 minutes walking distance from St. Mark’s Square. You could hear the bells every morning. We visited St. Mark’s Cathedral, the Doge’s Palace, toured the Loggia, and explored the slowly-sinking city of Venice. That’s correct, Venice is sinking. That, compounded by ever-increasing sea levels, is a major area of concern in Venice. We found Venice to be interesting and beautiful in its own way, although we didn’t feel particularly accepted in Venice. Perhaps it’s the volume of tourists there, not all of them polite and attentive regarding their behavior in a foreign country, but most Venetians just seemed put out by our presence. Don’t get me wrong, there were exceptions, particularly off the beaten bath, away from the common tourist hang-outs. It is very interesting to see the day-to-day operation of a water-bound city. On our last day, we observed different deliveries on the water. There were building materials loaded aboard a large boat traveling to a building site. We saw fresh bread being delivered to a hotel. The city streets are very narrow, and some vendors use small carts to transport their wares around and through the streets. Our trip passed by very quickly–soon our time in Italy was up and we boarded a plane back to the states.

Arriving back at our new apartment found us moving Shelly’s things in, sorting through gifts, and adjusting to a new life together. This has been a smooth transition for us, I think mostly due to the fact that we are very compatible. Most of the things that I do are things that she would have thought of anyway, and vice-versa. For me, returning brought several job interviews, which so far have not yielded any jobs, but I’ve been keeping busy with some freelance work and helping a friend of mine with his growing business. I’m not sure what the Lord has in store for us, but I’m excited about the possibilities, and I am waiting patiently. Life is an ongoing adventure. We just have to realize this fact and learn to ride the waves!

I read several chapters in Job last week, and gained some helpful understanding and insight from them. I thought I would share a few of those thoughts here. Nothing earth-shattering, just things that I haven’t ever seen quite this way before.

Excerpts from Job 1
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

William Blake’s interpretation of the death of Job’s children

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

Don’t we all have days like this? Well, okay, maybe not quite that bad, but you know the kind. Everything just comes crashing down all at once. In the course of several minutes, Job loses his cattle, his sheep, his camels, and his children. Talk about a series of unfortunate events! It would almost be comical the way that his servants came one right after the other to tell him what had happened if it wasn’t so tragic. Of course, the amazing part is Job’s reaction to all of this: he fell on the ground in worship. Wow! And all I can do when things go wrong is groan, worry, and complain.

Excerpts from Job 2
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by

William Blake’s interpretation of the curse of boils

agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

While Job’s friends did not act in a helpful manner later on, they certainly started out on the right foot. Advice, even comforting words aren’t always necessary, and sometimes can even be detrimental. Just the presence of close friends can be more than enough.

Excerpts from Job 3
1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said:

11 “Why did I not perish at birth,
and die as I came from the womb?

23 Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?

24 For sighing comes to me instead of food;
my groans pour out like water.

25 What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded has happened to me.

26 I have no peace, no quietness;
I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

Job curses his existence–and why not? He has lost much, and he’s in excruciating pain. We have times where I believe we’re justified in feeling anger, hurt, and frustration. The key is finding God in the midst of these feelings and not losing sight of Him. In the midst of Job’s pain and darkness, he never curses God.

Excerpts from Job 38:
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?

3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.

12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,

28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?

35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

Have you ever watched the scene from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy where Bilbo and Gandalf are talking about Bilbo giving up the ring? This is where we realize that Gandalf isn’t just a hunched over, washed-out wizard of days gone by. The room darkens, the walls seem to shrink, and Gandalf’s full authority engulfs the room as his voice booms, “Bilbo Baggins, do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks!” This is the image that comes to my mind as the Lord answers Job out of a storm, albeit even more intense. The imagery here is so vivid, communicating the ultimate power of God. God commands the earth with such authority that His descriptions are like us describing such trivial tasks as brushing our teeth or opening a door.

Why do we insist on worrying about the things we are powerless to control when we have all the confidence we will ever need in our Saviour? Learning to let go of control and trust God is probably the thing I struggle with most in my life, and seeing the overwhelming power of God described in such vivid detail is an encouragement to me. If He can hold the intricacy of our universe in perfect balance, I know he has my fragile life in complete control as well.

After a wild and crazy weekend of moving, I’m getting my new place into some semblance of order.

My fiance snapped this shot of me trying to untangle a ridiculous mess of wires

If you’re reading this post, I’ve successfully reconnected my server. My office is set up again, so I can actually work on some projects that have been in limbo since I started to move. This is a nice new place, much bigger than my other apartment–feels more like a house. I think the two of us will feel very comfortable here, at least until we’re able to find a house. One of the best features is the balcony, which is fairly private, looks into woods in the back, and has a power outlet–outdoor blogging and perhaps an electric grill!

Apple has released iTunes 7, a major software revision incorporating some fairly significant changes. The user interface is familiar, but there are some noticeable differences. One of the noticeable differences is in the iPod screen.

It shows a nice, clean screen with the various information about your iPod. From this screen, you can set music, podcasts, and contact sync settings. This is a nice feature since you no longer have to go into preferences to change these settings. You can also update your iPod software from this section. And capacity information is displayed in a nice graphical bar at the bottom of the screen.

Another significant update is in the library section.

You can view your library as you normally would in the text list fashion, but now you have two new ways to view and select music. One is in a list format with album art (see above) displayed to the left, dividing up your view by CD. The other is Cover Flow (see below), which was a third-party program for Macs, but was sold to Apple recently. Apple integrated this

nifty program into iTunes 7. It allows you to virtually “flip” through your music collection by album cover. This is accomplished using your arrow keys, scrollbar below Cover Flow, or your scroll wheel. I’ve set my remote up to scroll and select items, making it an excellent juke box solution.

I’ve read mixed reports of bugginess within the application. I’ve only experienced two issues since the update. First, my music playback is sometimes very choppy when my iPod is plugged into iTunes. Solution: unplug iPod–no big deal! Second, iTunes was freezing up last night when I would right-click on an item in the library list. I discovered that this was because my fileserver where all of my music is stored had lost connection, so iTunes couldn’t find anything–user error! I won’t be surprised to see some bugginess and complaints about program crashes. After all, it is a major software update. I’m sure Apple will be releasing a variety of patches shortly.

I think Apple is on the right track with this update. The interface changes were not so drastic that you have to relearn the application, and the new features are actually very useable, not just resource-draining eye candy. Overall, very nice update.

This morning I had to go to our main office to pick up paperwork and paychecks. This is a common Friday morning activity for me. When I picked up our paychecks, there was the usual blue Post-It note identifying these as the checks for the showroom employees. But I realized later that this note said something different: “See me ASAP.” The person I needed to talk to had approached me and asked me what they needed to, but I never realized that the note said something different than “Showroom” until after I was in my car, driving back to my office.

I started wondering how many other things I filter out of my mind on a daily basis. Things that bombard me on a regular basis and I disregard because it’s nothing new. Do I do that with people? Do I look for changes in the people I work with? Maybe I see them every day but don’t notice the look of concern or stress. Or have I become desensitized to the news? Yesterday we killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq’s most wanted terrorist. Make no mistake, this was a terrible person, a man who murdered his way to the top of his command, and needed to be stopped. But yesterday, hearing and seeing the news, even a picture of the dead al-Zarqawi, I was just sort of numb about it. Just another face. But this was a person, a person that transitioned from earth to hell. This is an extreme example, but how many people do we know that haven’t had the opportunity to hear the Gospel, and could perish today without the opportunity for the saving blood of Christ? And all we could see were blue Post-it notes.

Below you’ll find a link to some free music by an artist I have a lot of respect for. Several posts ago, I wrote about The Square Peg Alliance, a group of extremely talented independent musicians. Among these artists is Andrew Osenga, currently touring with Caedmon’s Call, and he just released a new CD. You can hear a sample by clicking on the link below. Support Andrew and his ministry by purchasing what promises to be an incredible CD!

http://planetdozer.dyndns.org is now http://www.planetdozer.net. Yes, my cheap self finally broke down and registered an official domain name. For those of you who simply cannot live life without linking to http://planetdozer.dyndns.org, I will leave this as an alias, but for simplicity sake, you can now use http://www.planetdozer.net or http://planetdozer.net.

No applause, please, no applause.