There was an article on the web today suggesting (for real, I think) that Apple is moving toward dropping their OS, and using a version of Windows on their machines?!?! That’s the craziest thing I have ever heard. I think it really is.
The article has had too many hits, and so is down currently, but check it out tomorrow or late tonight. Here’s the link.
Crazy….
“I’m Popeye The Sailor Man! Toot Toot!”
I used to watch that cartoon, and I even watched the movie with Robin Williams in it a time or two. (Should I be admitting that?) 🙂 And I do recall, Popeye in his familiar sailor speak (or whatever that was) saying one of his famous lines, “I yam what I yam!” He said it lamenting that he could not be a better person for Olive Oyle I think, but that was a little deep for Saturday morning cartoons, so it was just a funny line.
But this week I have been marveling at a part of me that seems to be unchangeable. Something so built-in that it really is just “who I am”. I am not one to usually put credence in such a phrase. You are able to make choices, and decisions, which affect your actions, which can change in some ways “who you are”. But there may just be certain things that God has built into us that will almost predict (if that were possible) how we might react in a certain situation.
I was talking with a friend recently about wanting to get up early in the mornings again, and get a good jump on my days that way. But every time I think of that, I start getting in this sort of funk. It can be small, but it’s still there. When I set the wake up time on my alarm, I feel myself cringe a bit. When I slide the switch over to “Alarm”, I am tempted to utter my feelings through a mumbling grumble. When the alarm goes off in the morning, it just starts my day off a bit sour.
And it’s not because I am not a morning person! Seriously! If I happen to just wake up in the morning, I kinda like it. The problem is that I am being made to do something. Yes, even though it is my own choice to do it, I am making myself do it!
Now, you are definitely already thinking, “Greg, just get over it! That’s totally weird!” But this is my point. How could I think such a thing? How could I feel restricted by my own decisions? I have always been self-employed (in my adulthood) because I need freedom, as much as possible. I really don’t like any sort of restrictions, rules, guidelines, routines, patterns, regularity, predictability — to me that is monotonous, and living death.
I can’t recall as I write this the other examples of my insanity, but the thing I am pondering is what good can come out of such a built in weirdness? I mean, at one level I am complete flexible and spontaneous, and a go-with-the-glow kinda guy. That can be good, right? But, then, if there are any pre-set plans or routines… I start to freak out! That can’t be good, can it?
I wish I could just say, “Well, I just need to be more balanced.” I can’t. At least not so far. I really “Yam what I Yam”. That doesn’t mean that I give up and do not try to at least within myself resolve the restlessness that I feel whenever I have some boundaries or confinement placed on me. It seems that could be better for me, and for others.
Or, maybe God made me to be this way, and what he made fits perfectly with where he has placed me.
I am not certain of the answer to that. I’m not certain there is an answer to that. But I’ll keep listening to my Father, and see how he plans to shape this spontaneity in me.
Right now I have to go make dinner. We’re having guests over for dinner tonight. They’ll be here at 6.
And I’m really starting to freak out because of this schedule I’ve placed on myself!!!!
😉
I’m pretty sure that I was dreaming this morning just before I woke up that I dreamt I was dreaming. Is that possible?
If you’ve seen Jen lately, you have wondered that very thing. After a double take, or two (wait, would that be a triple take?) you compose yourself and realize that whenever it is, it’s quite soon… 🙂
The actual due date (3/17) is fast approaching, so, we have once again created a little page for you to guess the baby’s due date. I’ll post all the guesses and we’ll use that page as a place to share photos, movies, stories, etc once the baby arrives.
Today is February 20th. 20 years ago today, our niece (the first of her kind in Jen’s family, being the first child of Jen’s oldest brother) was born. That’s a good long time ago. But, imagine this… 32 years ago today, two of our other friends were born – in different, unrelated places. Yes, that makes three folks we know and do life with who were born on this day.
But it gets weirder…
Exactly one year ago today, our new friend Chloe was born bringing the total number of friends and family born on February 20th to a whopping FOUR. Four!!!
That’s crazy.
Happy birthday all!!! 🙂
Just an update…
I spent a few hours last night compiling more stuff for the book to be released early this year. (Question: at what point does it no longer qualify as “early” this year?) 🙂 I am really enjoying putting this together. There is a lot of great stuff that I was thinking through (And in some cases, I still am!) and some well said articles that I hope will challenge, encourage and inspire folks who get to read them – either for the first time, or again, minus typos and with correct sentence structure and stuff. 🙂
(like that one, I guess…)
So, my hope is still that I would have the rough rough draft complete by the time the baby arrives. That grows ever closer however! If you’ve not had a chance to get your prediction in, perhaps you should stop by today, or… you might be too late!
More to come soon. Just wanted to give an update on the next book.
If you read news online, chances are you have heard about the nasty streak of viruses hurled at the Mac platform this week. It’s terrifying! It’s catastrophic! No one is safe anymore!!!
Or, not.
Really, they were very small malware scripts that do mostly nothing. That’s my summary. I found this article today, which I believe is appropriately titled.
Before you believe the hype, take a look at this article:
Just saw this come across my news feeds:
Macworld: Podcasts: Macworld Podcast #29: Examining Leap-A
(it’s a podcast about the more well known of the three malware issues that surfaced this week affecting the Mac OS)
I have read a few articles expressing disdain for the modern day Olympics, with the overwhelming influence of professional athletes. “The Olympics is for amateurs!” they say. I think I slightly agree. I don’t think that people who do these sports as a profession should be excluded from the competition completely. I actually like that the pros and the amateurs compete side by side. It’s kind of like what the digital era and the internet has done for indie musician. We are approaching a time when the independent musician will be on a level playing field with the big record labels and marketing companies. They still have the advantage, but at least we are able to compete, and in some cases do very well. (Perhaps even medal?) 🙂
My beef with the Olympics is those crazy announcers! Maybe there is where there should be no “professionals”!!! Come on folks… give the athletes a BREAK. I have not watched that much, but every time I do, it seems the announcers know WAY too much (or at least they think they do) and so they are constantly critiquing every move made by the athlete. A steady stream of picky, negative commentary comes from their mouths, berating the slightest deviance from perfection. Ahhhh!!! Stop it already!
I do enjoy watching the Olympics – though usually only in short bursts – and if these professional announcers would just stick to giving us background stories and perhaps try to emphasize the good things the athletes are doing, then I wouldn’t be so tempted to just turn off the sound!
Good thing I only watch about 10 minutes at a time… 🙂
I have thought a lot recently about the dangers of viewing the world as black and white. One thing is right, one thing is wrong. There can be such a rigid interpretation of this way of thinking that legalism, and even hatred and violence completely take over. People take sides, and create battle lines. Wars are waged over the noble cause of Truth and Purity.
I understand that there are some things in life that are true, and right, and good. Unfortunately, there are so many things that do depend on the circumstances of the situation to determine their “rightness”. Sometimes, it’s ok to take another person’s life. It is a side effect of a broken, fallen world. Even though murder is wrong, if someone attacks you, with the intent to kill, and in self-defense, you end up taking their life – though tragic – it’s not “wrong.”
There certainly can be danger in a world full of shades of gray. Who’s to say what’s right and wrong? Who determines which version of “right” is actually “right”? Well, unfortunately, it is often those who see the world as black and white who attempt to enforce their views on the rest of the population.
I watched the movie Remember The Titans yesterday. I had just copied it from VHS to DVD and was testing out the DVD, but was quickly captured by the story. It was about black and white. Right and wrong.
If you’ve not seen it, please do. Excellent movie. It’s not really just a football/sports movie. There’s a lot more there. It’s set in 1971 Alexandria, Virginia. The social climate is hot with racial tension. T.C. Williams is the first public school in the area to be forced to “integrate”. (At the time, “colored folks” did not mix socially with “white folk”, so this was quite scandalous.) (EDITOR’S NOTE: I can’t believe this happened only 3 years before I was born. That’s insane.) The movie focuses on the school’s football team (it’s based on a true story, by the way) where a hall-of-fame coach had commanded the troops for quite a long time to many state championships. As part of the integration however, Herman Boone – a black man – was named the head coach. The rest of the story is how two starkly opposite worlds – black and white – are forced to integrate, and in the process learn that their “black and white” understanding was not so clear after all.
Titans is a wonderful story of people choosing to see what’s inside a person rather than prejudging from what is seen on the outside. Very cool movie. I highly recommend it.
I watched it by myself – no one else was awake! – but Jen is going to watch it with the boys today. I hope they see the craziness that used to pervade our society. How we treated people like animals, even worse than animals, just because they had different skin color. I can’t even believe we could think such a thing. I still see remnants of it in my grandparents’ speech. Every once in a while, an old way of thinking will emerge in a word or a sentence. But for the most part, it is really good that we have moved on from seeing our world as “black and white”.
We’re not done yet. There is more to go. Maybe when our kids are having kids things will be different. Perhaps by then, their children will look back at the mid to late 20th century – even the early 21st century – and wonder why we just didn’t get it.
But, probably not.
In every generation, there will be people who will see black and white. It may not be applied to skin color, as it was in the 60s and 70s. It might be something else. But it will be black and white. I am right, and you are wrong. It is, as I said, an unfortunate reality of a fallen world.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Rom 3:23
But all are freely justified by faith in Christ Jesus. All of us. Whether we can’t leave other people to their own journey because we can only see black and white, or whether we steal, kill, lie, commit adultery, or some other “grand” sin. We’re all on equal footing, whether we think so or not. There are no sides – like black and white.
We are many shades of gray.
