along the journey

Real Live Preacher -”I learned that it doesn’t matter in the least that I be convinced of God’s existence. Whether or not God exists is none of my business, really. What do I know of existence? I don’t even know how the VCR works.”

This is excellent stuff, Preacher shares his story. I’m hoping that by sharing this stuff, some of those who are dis-illusioned by the church and God can some how find a shred of truth.

I know I started a seperate blog for my spiritual ramblings, but I can’t justify the separation…. I don’t want to apologize, God is stretching me, I have no clue why, or what the end result will be, but there’s some definate change about. I’m sure I sound like a rambling fool, but frankly I don’t care. I need an outlet.

I found Preachers site through a link to this story- it shares a lot of what I’m feeling, it’s just another nudge.

This coming Tuesday is the next Bloggers Lunch! We’ll be heading to Akbar, nice little indian buffet. Lunch is about $6.95 We’ll be meeting at the corner of Saratoga and Charles, there’s a little plaza there in front of the food court around 11:45. EVERYONE on this list is welcome to join us!! Please if you’re downtown during the day, or can be, try to make it!

If you have any questions email me - dean@dean-o.org

” I am very sure God has me here for (among other things) the very good purpose of learning to get far enough outside my introverted shell to love people.”

I can definately understand this struggle. I’m a fairly extroverted person. I’m really not very shy especially around people I know. But there are times in my life when I realize that I just don’t interact with the world around me in the way that I think Christ would. This to me is a big deal. I keep thinking that I should be making eye-contact with everyone I come into contact with, striking up conversations about their life, especially the people I work with, or see on a regular basis. Not necessarily to cram Jesus down their throat, but to get to know people, who they are, where they’re going, why. I really am interested in people in this way…. but I get scared. I’m not sure of what. I just can’t take the step. I guess I start thinking about the other side of the conversation that might be happening, and how I react when near-strangers interact with me as if they know me. I don’t necessarily dislike the conversations, they’re just awkward. I get suscpicious- what’s they’re motivation. My ultimate motivation is just to learn, experience, grow with others. It’s not so hard an idea, just very difficult for me to put into practice.

Been sorta busy around these last few days. Nothing in particular, just keeping going. Hadn’t had a whole lot interesting going on. I did have an incident with some “Magic Cream” that was supposed to take my hair off, but it’s kind of embarasing and the story takes long enough to tell, let alone write it all down. The only other thing regarding it is that my scalp is not burning today, and most of the bumps are gone.

We went to the mall last night to get some work clothes for Amy. At the mall they have a little play area for toddlers, it’s got like a 3-dimensional storybook with a bridge and a big apple and some crayons and stuff, all made out of this really cool foamy material. The floor was really bouncy too. Caleb was watching the older kids climbing over the side of the bridge and getting almost to the top without climbing up and then sliding down. He was acting so big, he really was sort of shy about interacting with the other kids though. That bothers me. I’m guessing that after he starts daycare that will not be an issue. I mean he never has problems saying hi to other kids, but actually playing with them, he’ll run to me and squeeze my neck. I admit, I love the neck squeezing part.
We played there for probably 45 minutes while Amy shopped. Then we walked around the rest of the mall trying to fulfill the shopping list.

I also started cleaning up my tanks so we can start up aquariums again. I found a large chunk of glass out of one of the sides of our big tank unfortunately. So we’ll have to replace that tank, I’ve got to get some filters and stuff but it’s not too bad considering I haven’t looked at those things in almost two years! Amy and I are both excited at getting them setup again. I’m thinking about bringing in my tank to work again, that’s where I had the small one before I moved, I’m also waiting to make sure I get hired permanently.

My friend Jim and his son Jordon are flying in from Cincinnati tonight. He’s been to Japan but he’s never been to the East Coast! He’s leaving Monday morning. Our plan is to spend tomorrow in Baltimore, drive to DC on Saturday, and spend Sunday in Baltimore too. Hopefully the weather won’t be too bad but it’s looking like it’s going to be rainy and cold.

I picked up my copy of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker today. I’m excited to play it, however I think I might restrain myself and wait until I beat Ocarina of Time. I haven’t played Zelda much, I’m kind of stuck trying to find a boss key, even with the strategy guide!! I don’t know. I don’t know!!

Well I’m sick today. Hopefully it doesn’t last as long as Am’s or Calebs bout with it. Caleb is still recovering. I’ve slept most of the day. I got up about 30 minutes ago, sick of being in bed. I forced myself to throw up and feel tons better. Amy’s got an interesting story about our neighbors over on her blog.

Came home early today to help the family, both Amy and Caleb are still feeling a bit sick, and Amy’s been very streesed. I didn’t realize it. Some times, ok, a lot of times, I’m completely oblivious. We sort of talked about that at our group meeting two weeks ago. We were gonna go to the kite festival tomorrow, but with the family being sick and the mall being muddy we’ve decided not to go. So tomorrow, it’s supposed to be in the 70’s and we don’t have any plans, perhaps we’ll get to a park where we can fly kites on our own.

I’m playing with Blozom. It’s a blogging tool with a flat file storage system, and built on Mozilla. I’m not looking to change tools, especially for a client-side only tool, but like playing, and finding out new things with Mozilla. Here’s my Blozom site, not much there, but it’s there. I’ve been chatting with Andy to figure out how to get it running and various functions built-in that are confusing. He mentioned that I’m the first person that’s got it working as far as he knows.

We rented One Hour Photo, we enjoyed it quite a bit, but was a disappointed at the end, it didn’t wrap up some loose ends. We also rented Royal Tannenbaums, we’ll get to that one day this weekend.

I’ve never been big on blogging apps. I mean the third-party things that let you post to your blog without actually going through the web interface. Been reading about toys at work that I wanted to try when I get home, tonights the first night I’ve got to play. Caleb’s asleep, Amy’s asleep, it’s just now 9. So this particular app is Zempt. So far it’s got promise. I wonder if it’ll work through our proxy server at work, no apps that talk to the internet do, besides web browsers, don’t know why I think this would be any different.

Kevin Sites Blog is a “First-person account of a solo journalist’s life on the front lines of war.”.

Where is Raed ? is a blog apparently authored by a guy currently residing in Baghdad. Could be some interesting stuff in there over the next few months, as long as his access still exists.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared the lyrics to one of my favorite songs with my blog readers. There’s a christian band called Johnny Q. Public, on their first album they had a song I think it was called Women of Zion or something but the lyrics go like this:

Outstretched neck
You flirt with your eyes
Walking arrogantly along
With ornamented disguise
Therefore the Lord will bring sores
-CHORUS-
Bald women
You should have been humble
Bald women
You should have been smarter
Bald women
You’re bald because you’re bald
Instead of perfume
There’ll be stench
Instead of sash, a rope
Instead of well dressed hair, baldness
Therefore the Lord will bring sores
(repeat CHORUS)
Therefore the Lord will bring sores
Therefore the Lord will bring sores
Therefore the Lord will bring sores

All that to say, I’m bald.

Yep, I did it again, shaved my head, much to the delight of my co-workers. One lady commented that I look 100% better. That made me feel real good, I’ve had long hair for like 6 months! It’s not a big deal, just a very drastic change. I like being bald. It feels good.

Another more popular geek shaved his head recently, but he’s not quite as bald.