Interweb Wednesday - WFF and Amazon Student

To the none of you that follow this blog, I'm sorry I didn't post an IW last week. Guess what? I'll do two today.

First up, the launch of Wallet-friendly Foods. It's a website I created to help bring together recipes and ideas about healthy, cheap eating.  Still in development, but it's there and you can start frequenting it and commenting about how great it might be one day.

Secondly, I discovered Amazon Student the other day. It's amazing. If you know about Amazon Prime, it's the same idea.  Amazon Prime allows you to pay a membership fee and then get free two-day shipping on all eligible orders for the time of your membership.  Amazon Student, however is FREE for the first six months if you have a .edu address.  If you get textbooks and prefer to get them quickly, or purchase from Amazon often, this is the way to go.  I haven't decided if I'm ready to pay the $40 a year after the first six months to keep it, but you can't beat that free two day shipping for half a year.

Interweb Wednesday: Map of Online Communities

I've decided I'm going to start a series called "Interweb Wednesday" where I bring you fun or interesting things from around the web.

This week I want to show you something. Maybe you always know where you're going on the internet, but maybe you don't.  And if not, then I think this map by xkcd will help. The image is safe for all ages, but I make no guarantee about their website.

Click for larger version

I particularly like the associated references to other aspects of the said demographics. For example the ferry from Gaia(an MMO) to 4chan(a forum) and the fact that FarmVille and Happy Farm are bordered by the Dopamine Sea. But I think my favorite place is in the western portion of the country Facebook, where we find the "Plains of Awkwardly Public Family Interactions". Of course, being created last summer there are already areas that have changed.  For example there's no Google+.  What's interesting is that they created another map three years prior and had to update it massively for this one. The internet is a continually shifting landscape and I believe it is probably growing to encompass a larger portion of the megacontinent of spoken word.

Enjoy,

-j

Trying to beat the heat.

If you don't live in Texas you may have missed the horrible terrible sweltering lovely weather we've been having. I can't remember the last day that it didn't get over 100°F. Yeesh.

So with the utility bill soaring like Icarus, we decided something had to be done. We have a large front window that is great for natural lighting.  It also gets pretty full afternoon sun so it was really heating up the living room.  We bought thermal curtains for that window and we also replaced the thermostat.  Here's the original thermostat.

I think the technology behind these was invented in 1950. It wasn't very accurate and the a/c always seemed to be running without end, which coincidentally sounded like money being siphoned out of my wallet. So I bought a digital programmable thermostat and replaced it.

The thermometer is housed in the front piece. It's a spiraled piece of metal that will expand and contract with the temperature. As it increases the metal expands and swings to the right. Assuming it's calibrated, expansion and contraction of metal is a fairly constant calculation.

Here's the temperature set mechanism. The left lever sets whether it's auto or constant and the right lever sets whether you're heating, cooling or off.  The bottom lever lines up with the thermometer on the front (so you can see what you're setting it to) and changes the tilt of the mercury bulb at the top. As the temperature increases, the mercury expands and moves across the bulb, completing the open circuit. It's actually pretty clever. But again this is all assuming it's calibrated correctly. And as I found out removing it, the bottom screw anchoring the unit to the wall was not actually holding anything. This meant that the whole thing could swing which invalidates the pitch of the mercury bulb. This explains why sometimes I would smack it and the a/c would come on or go off. Lovely.














But never fear, I pulled that dinosaur off the wall and installed the new one. It's pretty. Ignore the now-exposed unpainted portion of my wall back there.

And look, it lights up! ooooh. aaaaah.

Here's hoping that, like Icarus, the energy bill will also plummet back to Earth.


********update************

I just realized that the mechanism of the old thermostat would have to work in reverse for heating the house.  The heat would stay on unless it was warm enough to cause the mercury to expand and complete the circuit, at which point it would cut off.

"College Move-In" or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Horde"

It's August. August has many meaning here:
1. It's hot. Really, really hot.
2. Your utility bill is really high (if you're unsure why, see 1).
3. Get in your last minute get-aways because
4. School is starting.

That's right, next week the kids go back to school. That's not so bad. It's the natural order of things.  But one of the things we deal with here and maybe you don't where you live is this: College Move-in.  They come in droves, like locusts.  The first few have already started trickling in.  They come from all over and they all drive at different speeds.  Our town doubles or triples its population (depending on whether or not you count the parents and siblings).  The roads grind to a halt and a half mile trip will be a half hour trip.  Road crews are literally patching all road projects and reinforcing the bordering intersections in the next two weeks in preparation.  If you forget and accidentally go to the get groceries or normal everyday items at any store that weekend, you will pay for it for several hours.

I've begun to make a checklist of things we need to have done before move in weekend so that we can go into bunker mode until it blows over and the parents all go home.  As I look over my list I wander, How is this different from how I would prepare for a zombie apocalypse? I mean it, look through this list.

If it were zombies I would add "__Get some ammunition and guns." before "__Go home and lock the door." That's really the only difference.  Here's my self portrait at ideal preparedness based on things I have at my house:

Hmmm....maybe that reveals a little too much about me.


Of course all the selfish whining aside, I do love the college kids coming back. There are lots of small things about living near the University that irritate me, but this town wouldn't be the same without them. I miss seeing the goofiness. I miss going to football games and stuff with them. Where else can a restaurant stay in business that only sells chicken fingers? Where can you have six frozen yogurt places within a quarter of a square mile?


View Fro-Yo in a larger map

And that doesn't include three others, outside that area but probably within ten minutes drive from any of those. Not to mention coffee shops. You can't throw a rock without hitting a coffee shop in this town. It's awesome.  I give this place another year before I can pretty much have wi-fi anywhere. All because of college kids.

But most importantly I miss seeing them at church. I miss seeing their enthusiasm with knowing God more and serving in ministries.  I miss seeing how they appreciate a home-cooked meal.  If you have college kids in your town, love on them. I love what our church and several others do on move in weekend.  We help move them into the dorms.  We haul enormous TVs and pink plushy bean bag chairs up four flights of stairs because we want them to know that Jesus loves them, so we love them.

Push through move-in and love them.  I was one once, and trust me, they need it.  Sometimes they need a meal, sometimes a couch or bed to crash on. Sometimes they need a knock upside the head because you love em too much to let them do something dumb. However it plays out, love them.

Hannah Coulter and the Great Out of Doors

If I'm not careful this whole blog is going to become about books.



If you missed my tweets, I recently got a free download of "Hannah Coulter" in audio format and it was a great book. I decided to listen all the way through before I started "The Subtle Knife" and I'm glad I did. Most of the fiction I read is "speculative" fiction.  Science fiction, fantasy, weird stuff, etc.  I think I forgot that there can be a real narrative to an ordinary person's life.  As though you have to have some kind of grand adventure to make your life worth reading about.  To be honest the last nonfiction I read was "End of the Spear" by Steve Saint.  Not your average life.  His dad was one of the missionaries speared by Waodoni warriors back in the 50s.  Then he and his mom and aunt moved in with the Waodoni and eventually became family. As an adult he moved away had a family of his own and then moved them back and helped the Waodoni be able to provide for themselves in a changing world. That's a horribly brief summary of a book you really should read, but you get my point.

Hannah Coulter on the other hand was this really great reminder that in every life there are crises and triumphs.  Moments where we feel the blessing and wonder of God.  Marriage, babies, looking out over a beautiful landscape.  Moments where we feel our life is crumbling around us.  The death of a friend, divorce, war.  In short it was a really good book, even though nobody took a ring to a volcano, battled evil wizards or talked to a lion.

And more than that it gave me a renewed desire for the outdoors and getting away from being so plugged in all the time.  I know there's a certain level of hypocrisy in that statement, given the present media, but it often saddens me to see how we've enslaved ourselves to our "conveniences".  My dad never forced me to go hunting or fishing with him.  I went some, but he never wanted it to be something I didn't enjoy because I'd been forced to go, so he always waited for me to ask and most of the time I just didn't think to.  Sometimes I wish he'd kicked my butt outside a few more times or told me I was going either way.  Because I love going now, but the busy-ness of life and living in a different town makes it hard to find the time.  So Dad, if you're reading this, I'm really excited about opening weekend coming up. Even if we don't hit a thing, I'm pumped about getting away from the phones and computers and noise with you and being out in God's creation.  Maybe we'll see something majestic.  And maybe something tasty.

IT'S ALIVE! and Morally Ambiguous Fiction

I'm resurrecting this blog.  So I pretty much expect nobody to read it.  But I figured I might try to post somewhat regularly.  Even if it's about nothing. So if you plan on reading this regularly, I apologize in advance for the likely garbage posts.

Moving on...

I just finished Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass.  I remember a few years ago when the movie came out there was a big stink about how Pullman was an avowed atheist and was "the anti-Lewis" and good Christians shouldn't go see it and all.  I went and saw it anyway.  Oops.  I didn't really see what all the fuss was about.  I could definitely see some anti-religious establishment themes in it, but not much beyond that.  I thought the movie was mediocre.  It looked like something that fell pretty short of it's potential, based on how neat the ideas and characters were.

So the other day I started listening to the audiobook.  As I listened it became pretty obvious that the movie differed greatly.  The basic theme stayed the same but vast sections of character development, world explanation and back story had just been tossed aside.  Also the chronology in the movie was kind of jumbled from the book, and the book made much more sense.  That being said, I can't exactly say I liked the book.  I didn't hate it, but it didn't leave me with warm fuzzies.  I may go ahead and finish the series, but I don't expect it to be something I cherish when I finish.  Lord of the Rings, Narnia and Harry Potter I cherish.  Ender's Game I cherish. The "His Dark Materials" series (as it's called) not so much.

***WARNING: SPOILERS***

Here's the main reason I wasn't that fond of it: it's morally ambiguous.  The book get's pretty obviously anti-Church if nothing else towards the end.  But I can deal with that.  Similar to DaVinci Code or those types of books, where those in the church use their power to gain control over people, instead of shepherding a flock.  I can deal with that if at the end, the hero is good.  But in this book Lyra (the main character) is more or less a pathological liar.  Everytime she gets into a tight spot, she lies her way out and the book pretty much glorifies it.  I get that the bad guys are bad.  But the good guy(girl) wasn't really that good.

In Narnia, Harry Potter, and LotR the good guys and bad guys are pretty obvious, barring a few sneaks.  There are clear lines between what is right and what is wrong.  In Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, a large point of the book is how the adults use the children to do terrible things. They are technically the good guys, but they are conflicted characters because they are forced to do terrible things. But the terrible things they do keep them awake at night, because they hate it and are presented as good men.
You could argue that the desire for the good to triumph over evil is an archaic stereotype, but I think it's more than that.  I think a fantasy/sci-fi story, particularly one in which the protagonist is a child, needs a positive moral because otherwise it's just a bizarre version of our world.  We are awash in a sea of moral ambiguity today. If I wanted a story that glorified moral ambiguity I'd just read the newspaper. Homosexual partners can't have the rights of married people (agreed) but heterosexual non-marrieds can if they live together for a while (what?). A man can be guilty of double homocide if he attacks a pregnant mother (no matter how far along), but if she gives permission to a doctor, then it's okay. When I pick up a book I want something that moves beyond the drudgery and confusion of this world.  Make the villain bad. Make them vile, repulsive and evil, but give me a hero. And your hero can be flawed, that's fine.  Frodo wanted to keep the ring, Edmund followed the White Witch for a while, Harry was a selfish brat half the time. But in the end, give me something that inspires.

For another good read check out Andrew Peterson's posts on Harry Potter and Writing Fantasy

Orevwa

So much has happened since July.  But like most blogs I've tried in the past, I just didn't keep up with this. If you want to know what's going on in our lives my preference is that you come over and spend some time with us.  If you just have to blog-stalk check out the family blog that ricci keeps up with.  I sometimes guest post.  So this is my goodbye post.  I'm going to leave it up for a while, but eventually I'll probably take it down.  So if there's anything worthwhile in these posts, copy it soon.

Thanks to A and H the two people who read this, but I talk to you enough that I don't worry about our relationship after this ;)

Finances [Man Talk]

It has taken way too long, but I'm finally getting around to the man talk on finances.  Ricci and I are right in the middle of the Radical sermons/book so I may have a Finances part 2 talk afterwords.  We're reevaluating our financial situation right now. In the mean time I wanted to talk about the basics. I'm going to use "man" language so if you're a girl reading this, don't be offended.  There's no swearing, I just not gonna sugar coat anything.  Man Talks are meant to be honest whether or not they make you feel good.

  As a Christ-follower, we are called to tithe.  I think a lot of people are not properly explained what this means, so I'll attempt to break it down here.  Tithe literally means a tenth (or ten percent).  If you receive income, you owe God ten percent back through the church.  This helps provide for the needs of the church and the pastor.  When I say "owe" I mean that ten percent is the baseline minimum that we should be giving.  If you don't tithe will it keep you from salvation?  Will God send plagues to eat your flesh?  Um...that's silly.  I mean God has the power of plagues so He could do it if He wanted.  And honestly if you are unwilling to give God back ten percent of what He has trusted you with, you might want to really question your salvation, but finances tend to be more a question of obedience and your attitude toward God.
Note: I'm going to talk about our family's finances a little here. Not with numerical detail but in regards to things God has laid on our heart and how we've responded.  None of this is to brag, but just an attempt at transparency and what God has done in us.

See, God gives us everything we have to begin with.  Our jobs, the money from those jobs, the food, clothes, cars, places to live we pay for with those jobs, etc.  We don't own any of that stuff.  The Bible says that you and I are stewards of it.  God has trusted us to use those resources wisely.  When you shift your thinking from "God why do I have to give you my stuff?" to "God thanks for everything else you provide us with!" it makes it a lot easier to give.

This is where we start to really be tested. Ready?  When you see that God is still providing for you in spite of that ten percent, He will often challenge you to give more.  This is what we call "offerings".  He commands us to give ten percent to the church, but often he wants us to give more.  It's very easy at this point to once again say, "No God.  That's my 90%. You said you only needed 10%!"  How selfish of us!

We cannot outgive God. Try it.  Ricci and I give our tithes from the gross on our paychecks (before taxes, etc.).  I don't say this to brag, just to share our conviction.  The point of the tithe is like the first fruit offerings from the Old Testament.  God wants our first and best, not the rejects and leftovers. God then laid on our hearts to give a higher percent than ten for every paycheck.  It made us nervous.  It made me sweat a little, because we don't make that much when you count up the cost of rent,utilities, etc.  But we obeyed, and you know what? God provided for us.  He gives us enough to live on.  Another reason we give tithes and offerings on the gross is so that if there's a tax return we've already given God his share on that.

I had this idea that "Hey since I've already tithed, that money back is ours to spend how we like".  We were thinking about getting a nice new computer.  Ours is getting old and Ricci could use the new one for some blog design and photography processing. God laughed at me.  I didn't think that was very funny.  I had already given God his due and more right? Shouldn't we get to spend this on whatever?  Apparently not.  God laid a cause on our hearts that used most of that money.  At first we were frustrated but God totally blew us away.  Besides providing for our needs (this wasn't really the question since we were going to buy a computer), He allowed us to help someone out and in turn be encouraged and blessed in spirit beyond what we could have hoped for.

Some of you may be saying, "After I pay all of my bills, I don't have ten percent left over for God." There's a couple of things wrong with this picture:

First I don't know that God demands we give out of our gross (though you would then have to tithe from your tax return or the money you owe the IRS), but if these are part of our first fruits to God (besides our hearts, attitudes and other intangibles) then we have to make tithes and offerings non-negotiable. No question, we do it.  The easiest way to do this is to give tithes and offerings as soon as you get paid.  That way what you're left with is what you get, and you don't have to worry about spending what's God's.  Sometimes Ricci and I forget the check book at home or something like that.  We're not the perfect example.  But we make it a point to remember and not spend our money down to the point that we cannot give to God.  Factor it into your budget so that it's already taken out of your expendable money.

The second problem with the previous statement: If you've given God what's his and then paid your bills and you're finding that it's hard to make ends meet, you might need to reevaluate your spending.  I'm not saying it's always easy.  Sometimes God will put people in situations where we have to rely on others to help us.  But before you put yourself in this category look at what you're paying for.  So much of what we spend the money God has entrusted to us is unnecessary.

Going out to eat? please. Cable? come on. Internet? not essential. Cell phones? you could go without it if you needed to.

There are other things too, but there's no way I could write everything here. I'm not saying these things are bad or sinful, just that you wouldn't die if you gave it up. Sometimes we are doing great and then God asks us to give to something up.  If you can't afford it, chances are you're going to have to sacrifice something.  We recently had to give up netflix.  We didn't want to.  I drug my heels. But the Holy Spirit kept telling me to get over it.  That's just one example, but you kinda get the idea.

These aren't just suggestions for married people either.  In fact if you're a single guy and you don't tithe now, what makes you think marriage will change that?  You need to be an example to others and if a godly woman looks at you and sees you aren't tithing, she should move on because you are not showing her that you can lead your family in the area of finances.

So in closing:
Give God what's His: At least ten percent, but possibly more.
Make giving non-negotiable.  It's a command so do it. Simple.
If you're giving properly and the ends don't meet, see what you can cut.

 I could give lots of other advice on saving money, but that's a whole other subject.

Orevwa (Haitian for goodbye)

Haitian Creole

So with the team recently coming back from Haiti, and reading more about Mosaic Village I decided to see what resources were available online for learning Haitian Creole.  Don't freak out, we're not moving to Haiti.  Actually I haven't even felt a call to be part of a trip to Haiti.  But I also haven't heard God say "Oh by the way, Josh, I'm never gonna call you to do anything in Haiti so you can just mark that one off the list."

My point is, I checked it out because knowing a language is simply equipping yourself in case God calls you somewhere.  Especially for us because we know that we will be involved with missions at some point.  I've seen on the website for Doctors Without Borders the need for French speaking aids for work in Chad, Niger, DRC, and Haiti and it got me thinking.  So then when I saw that the Hendricks were learning Creole prior to their move to Haiti I decided to see what resources were available.

The first place I turned was to Rosetta Stone.  I could never actually afford Rosetta Stone, but from what I understand it is the best and fastest language learning software and the Texas A&M libraries have copies of Rosetta Stone in several languages.  So I looked, but they do not have a version for Haitian Creole.  My next attempt was the TAMU libraries to see if they had RS in French.  Haitian Creole is based on French with a mix of African languages and some others as well.  So French would be the next best thing. Unfortunately TAMU libraries did not have French Rosetta Stone. I made a purchase suggestion that they buy it, since they do have Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese.  But that could take a while, so I started looking online.

And that's when I found Byki. Byki is a division of Transparent Languages and offers a lot of different languages.  For all of their languages they have the "express" version, which is very basic and the "deluxe" version which is more in depth.  The great thing about this is that the "express" version is free.  If you decide you like their method and want a full knowledge of whichever language, you buy the deluxe version ($50-70 as opposed to $130 for lesson 1 with RS).  I'm really excited because they have Afrikaans, a derivitive of Dutch/German used Namibia and South Africa. But that's off topic.  The best thing I found though, is that right now the full amount of resources for Haitian Creole are available for free. That's right.  For freeeeeeeeeee (thank you Bedtime Stories).

So if you're interested in learning Haitian Creole head over to Byki.  You can either download the express version of Haitian Creole which right now has the full thing, or you can register for Byki Online which allows you to use the same materials from the web without using hard drive space.  Byki also has several Twitter accounts for daily phrases in some of the languages. Sorry I know it sounds like I'm gushing but I'm really excited.

I think everyone should have to learn more than one language. I really do.  Go to Europe or Africa and as any random kid how many languages they know.  They may not be perfectly fluent, but I'll bet they can converse in at least two if not three or four. Heck, go down to south Texas where the population is mostly Hispanic.  In America, most of us don't live near an international border so we get this haughty attitude of "If you're gonna live in this country, learn the language!" That's an acceptable attitude if you aren't a Christian.  I'm not saying we shouldn't have an official language, but as a Christian we are called to look out for aliens and treat them like any other person.  It's hardly Christ-like to have the attitude "I'll share Jesus with you if you'll learn English first!"

Don't get me started on the political hot-button issue of immigration. If you really want to know my opinion I'll talk with you about it.  But this is not the venue.  Basically I think everyone should obey the established laws.  That said, people from another country are still PEOPLE. Not trash. Not dogs. They need Jesus just like we do. 

So check out Byki, download some software or follow a twitter account, learn a language, and be equipped for God to use you in a cool way.  I don't think Byki is a Christian organization I just suggest them because they have free resources.  If you have resources that allow you to still be wise with your money go for it.  See if your library has a copy of Rosetta Stone or other tools.  If you know anybody that works for the DoD and had to learn a language they probably have a copy.  It doesn't matter what you use, the point is to let God use you.

Radical dude!

This was a phrase often followed by "Cowabunga!" when I was younger.  I was a big fan of Ninja Turtles.  But that is not what this post is about.  If you've been to our family blog you've seen that we're about to start going through the "Radical" series by David Platt.  We put this off for a while because everyone who recommended it was changed.  That sounds dumb, but what I mean is, we weren't ready to give up our selfishness.  We could see this series made people really question a lot of things in their lives and we weren't ready to that yet.

One of the families that it really made a difference on was the Hendricks. They talked about it a lot.  And not only because of Radical, but definitely out of a series of God-orchestrated events which included Radical they are now moving to Haiti. See what I mean?  Anyway I was reading through their blog, as well as the blog for their new mission-community-connection-whatever organization Mosaic Village and I finally stopped fighting it.  Ricci and I are going to start going through this series and I'm pretty sure it's going to rock our nice little boat.  I told Ricci this feeling is the spiritual equivalent of knowing you have to go get a shot.  You know it's gonna hurt. You might cry. And it might even be sore for a while. But you also know that it's good for you so need to just suck it up and do it.



In unrelated news, Ricci and I were in HEB getting hot dogs for my work party for the 4th of July.  I grabbed a package of Hebrew Nationals, because they aren't horrible for you.  Basically they're kosher dogs.  Upon flipping the package over I counted how many franks there were so I'd know how many packages to get.  "1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Okay there's...wait...seven?" I counted again, because it was an odd number. There were definitely seven. "Why would they have seven?" I asked. And then simultaneously Ricci and I looked at each other and said "It's a perfect number!" and then couldn't stop laughing in the meat section of the grocery store.

So there you go. Something serious and something light. Have a great day