A state of peace

Wow I don’t know what it is with me these last few Sundays but its seems
that I’m getting inspired to pen poetry albeit during Church. Anyway here is another one that just came to me as I was sitting there during the worship hour.

Everyone is so happy
yet I don’t share their enthusiasm
I’m like one on the outside looking into a party to which I wasn’t invited
They scream they clap with such delight in their faces
But I sit here as one looking in
They wait expectantly for something I wonder what
Yet there is this intensity in this place I cannot shake
There is a presence here I cannot explain
As the songs repeat they begin to sway with the words
I take up my pen and I try to reflect on paper what I see before my eyes
A sweet melody is on the air, more happiness
I don’t feel so distant anymore
I realize that I’m invited to come in
into this state of joyful peace

Water for Life

I used to take water for granted. By that I mean I didn’t really think about where the water I drank or took a shower with came from. Like most people in the US I suppose I was just glad that it was there. This all changed after I got my first job out of grad school. I got the chance to work in the Water & Sewer department for the City in which I lived. I spent many years there mapping the water system and learned all about where the water came from (a local creek) and how the water gets to us from there. I found out that there was this extensive underground network of pipes of many sizes, valves, tanks, pumps and a whole lot of chemicals in-between. I watched as the guys went out early in the morning to either install or repair these pipes, saw my friend run around the city taking water samples to make sure that the water that we drink everyday was safe. I began to see the huge responsibility it is to ensure that we get safe drinking water. I gladly put those pieces of pipes and values and tanks on an electronic map everyday for about 8 years coz it was all worth it. Yet, many people in the World does not have access to clean, safe drinking water. Last night I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Derek Chignell chairman of a group called Water For Life who are concerned about providing clean water to developing nations. He told us the story of his adventures in providing safe drinking water using a rain catchment system on Fanning Island . The rain catchment system is simple to do, easy to maintain and very effective. The water is clean, and, with correct storage, can be kept clean for long periods. Anyway, he showed slides after slides of the island, the people, and of course the rain catchment system itself. He expounded on some of the challenges they faced and some initial failures during the tank building process. It was neat for me to see how what I had worked with for years could be used in such a simple way for the saving of many lives and was one of the best talks I had heard about integrating faith and meeting the needs of others. Some Dr. Chignell’s story can be found in this article but Water for Life is currently working on a website of their own. I was glad that I was a part of the hearing of that story and once again I’m reminded to be thankful for the clean, safe water that the City in which I live do provide and am glad that I played a part in using my skills to map the system. Who knows what adventures lie ahead. BTW Dr. Chignell is looking for a portable water testing kit that he can take with him in the field and get quick, solid results. If you know of a company that sells such a kit or can provide one let me know and I’ll pass on the information.

Keep it Safe Keep it Hidden…

I’m currently a dead 4th generation iPod owner. Although I didn’t have anyone rob me of my precious cargo there were a couple of times when I got a few lustful looks on account of the white earbuds I would wear with it. In response to the recent iPod thefts in England the Home Office crime prevention department in the UK has launched a three-year “Let’s Keep Crime Down” campaign with a specific bend on consumer electronics and portables to, um, help reduce crime. They are using some pretty snazzy advertising some of the best can be found here. Check out the the crimereduction.gov.uk site for more. I’m wondering why the US don’t do something like this. At the least one should probably take the advise of the NYPD and wear some different headphones and keep the iPod out of sight. As for my dead 4th generation iPod its currently being used as paperweight since I can’t afford the replacement fee to get it revived.

A Poem for Today

I jot this little poem down whilst in Church today. I was sitting there listening to this minister preach and something he said just struck a chord and I took up my bulletin and started to write. I haven’t written a poem in quite some time so the timing was most welcome as I enjoy writing poems in general. Anyway, here is what I wrote.

He came out of nowhere
walking down the road proud and tall like and olive shoot
There was something about him, something like an orb of light
shone from him
The way he walked was more like gliding than walking but the light
was the thing that I couldn’t get out of my mind
What was it? where did it come from? was it from him? around him?
what is this new thing?
As I got closer to him he stared in my direction, his eyes shown as one on fire
That light again it was in his eyes as well
It just seemed to radiate from his whole being
As he stood there in front of me I couldn’t help but speaking
so I asked him his name
He smiled and said you know who I am and called me by name
I wondered how he knew what my name was
I asked his name again he smiled and looked directly at me with those
burning eyes and says
I am TRUTHBEARER…
At that moment the light that shown from his eyes went out from him
next thing I now my hands were tingling
They started to radiate the same light that was in his eyes
it was then I realized that yes we have indeed already met I know him
he is and always will remain TRUTHBEARER

“Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6

Life Changing Software

As a follow up to a question asked by one of my favorite mac related blogs, I thought I would put my list of life changing software here. I came up with more than a few although most people had 5 or so. Here is my list in some particular order.

• Arcview got me interested in GIS as a profession (too bad ESRI stopped making the Mac version) I use the more robust version now for work.
• OS X- the reason I switched back to a Mac
• Acrobat- portable documents at its best
• Imagestyler/Livemotion- I’ve designed tons of banners and website graphics with these over the years

If anyone out there have a copy of Livemotion 2 for the Mac that they aren’t using let me know).

• Dreamweaver- allow me to design websites the way I like to (from scratch) and I love the workflow
• Firefox on the PC- my first tabbed based Browser and I found it faster and safer than IE 6 (on the PC)
• Safari- I’m using it right now need I say more?
• Object Dock- allows me to have a Dock on my PC similar to the OS X dock
• Thunderbird- I like this app a bit more than mail even the Junk mail filter is really good
• iTunes- I love it and hate it at the same time…
• iWeb- for a quick website it doesn’t get any easier than this… save me tons of time

Those hot laptops

I’m getting a bit annoyed with all the complaints about hot laptops specifically MacBooks of late. It seems that everywhere I turn another thing is cooking in/on the Macbooks. One guy even suggested that you could cooked up some egg on the bottom of a MacBook. (BTW this is a joke) and I don’t think the eggs would taste well anyway with the plastic and all. So how hot is the Macbook anyway? The folks at Krische onLine did a little temperature test where they tested the temperature of the MacBook vs. a Dell D620 whilst running a DVD (the Hills of Eyes) for 1.5 hrs. The results might surprise you but the gist of it is that they found out that the MacBook wasn’t much hotter than the Dell. If you keep in mind that the Dell D620 Dell has built in cooling fans while the MacBooks do not. Makes me wonder why the D620 runs so hot with the cooling fans and why Apple left out cooling fans out of the Macbooks. Be sure to check out the graphs and details. After a visit to the local store I noticed that my fingers did not burn anymore than with any of the other laptops in the store and these were running well before I got there. Granted I wasn’t running a DVD though. I didn’t notice any scraping paint and other worn out marks on these store demo models either.

Where do iPods Come from…

Once in a while I pop over to Joy of Tech to check out their tech related toons. I came across this one and just wanted to pass it along. OK I’ve been having dreams of kids lately so perhaps I’m just in that maternal mood who knows. At any rate this toon give you some albeit quirky answers on what to say when your little ones ask you where iPods come from. Enjoy and check out more tech toons at Joy of Tech. I thought that this one was hilarious.

Dell’s New Blog

Dell has launched an official blog called one2one. They have some video highlights of their new products and explain them in great detail. I checked out the video of the Latitude D420, their 1″ thin take this on the plane with you goodness. Have to admit that I got a bit impatient coz I was wondering about the price the whole time. I went to the Dell site and checked out the price and it started at ~ $1400 under the Government employee section (usually some sort of discount). Anyway, after looking at the specs I wasn’t impress and having just seen a Macbook last week I was like that ain’t a good deal. I can get a 2 GHz Core Duo as opposed to a Core Solo, 80GB hard drive @ 5400 RPM as opposed to the D420’s 60GB HD @4200 RPM (this is an upgrade), plus by the time I added the CD/DVD player to the D420 I have about the same weight anyway. Not to mention I get a nice shiny 13″ (not 12.1″) screen and the ability to run Mac OS X and Windows on the same machine. Gosh I wish I could get a Macbook before Apple realized the sweet deal its giving away and take it back. Anyone care to donate one to me go ahead.

Jobs for Jesus

I didn’t know whether to chuckle at this or not but I thought that the poster was a bit creative so I’ll post it here.
Anyway, some guy called Narco posted this image to Flicker. Its basically a religious pamphlet that uses Steve Job’s career
to promote Jews for Jesus. Check out the full-sized image for more details. Disclaimer; I have no idea if this pamphlet is officially used by this group. Keep in mind this is the internet, someone could have whipped something up during class and posted it so take this with a grain of salt.

macTV’s New Look

macTV has a new look. Only reason why I know that is that I visited it from my favorite mac Blog. I’ve never visited macTV to be honest until today. I started checking out a few of the ads and was pleasantly surprised that I liked em. The first was the Ellen Feiss ad. She’s been getting a bit of ink on my fav blog of late and had no clue who she was. Sorry didn’t get back into the Mac World until last Fall. The ad was from 2002. I really liked the ITMS ad by this kid name Jacob (pictured above). Its the only Eminem song that I like (the clean version) and I thought the kid looked a bit like him. If you haven’t given the site a look through before here is your chance.