More activity to come...

Now that the political season is winding down you can expect more activity on this blog in the coming days.

I have been accepted into Thomas Nelson Publishers Book Review Bloggers Program.

As you can see to the right I am currently reading and will soon review Dr. David Jeremiah's new book "What in the world is going on?"

I used to listen to Dr. Jeremiah every day when I was driving for my old job so I am interested to get his take on the signs of the end times. It sounds like a very good read so I'll let you know when I am done.

Peace

Grandma's Birthday

Dinner out with family

But that's the point isn't it?

God wants us to be just like his son Jesus, because that is the example of the perfect human life isn't it?

In order for us to be conformed by God and his Spirit they (he) must be able to come close to us. And in order for that to happen there had to be blood to cover our sins. The perfect blood of Jesus.

God loves us and meets us right where we are and he works in us (if we allow him to) to make us more like his Son.

It's interesting that my Pastor is preaching on the same passage 1Pet 1:18.

For next time, how does works play out in the Christian's walk?

Matthew 5:48

Okay, so let me get this straight. The major crux of the Gospel is that we are so messed up that the only way that God could enter into relationship with us is to send his son Jesus as a perfect sacrifice for our sin. Sin requires blood, Jesus shed his blood for us.

Okay, I get that. So what happens after that? We are then told to spend the rest of our lives trying to be perfect (like Jesus), something that we could never do in the first place.


Huh?

I would appreciate your comments.

Catching up??

So, I've been gone for a while. Time to fire up the old Blogger and post something. My friend over to the left over there is Bill the Cat from the old Bloom County cartoons by Berkeley Breathed.

I thought it was suitable as this is exactly how I felt when I got to work today. It was like an overload switch had tripped. I think a bit of drool actually was forming at the corner of my mouth.

In a word I was FRIED. I think my friend Bill captures the feeling pretty well. I just had too much going on this past week. I had a final for my 8th class out of ten in my Master's in Tax program. Two more to go (woo-hoo)!! Add to that the time of year it is at work when we are all trying to get in our hours with not much work in the office, and all that I'm having to do to get re-elected. Not to mention all that went down at Monday night's council meeting. Overall, not a good week. Oh, I forgot to mention the boys. They are getting bigger and more active, MUCH more active. Their favorite activity is to run at each other at full speed and full volume and slam into each other. They do this over and over until one of them ends up hurt and crying.

Oh well, I hope a good night's sleep and a long weekend will help things along. I could really use a vacation, I haven't had a decent time off since busy season, and that was to stay with Jeremy in the hospital.

So, how are things with you? What do you do for stress relief? How do you wind down? Read, pray, meditate, eat, watch TV? What seems to work?

Aids Walk SF

Guess what we had for dinner

Is Palm dead?

I am a faithful Palm user. I used to consider myself a Palm apologist but I think those days are quickly coming to and end.

I have used Palm products for years but I think our affair may be coming to an end.

The reason I chose the Sprint 755p when I needed a new phone was the quick data connection and the scores and scores of software solutions available on the Palm OS.

Those halcion days I think are coming to an end. With the introduction of the new iPhone with its 3G connectivity and open platform, the buzz has definitely shifted to the iPhone within the development community.

The only thing keeping me with my Sprint 755p is the cost of the data plan through Sprint. AT&T doesn't have a plan anywhere near as affordable as Sprint does, so for now, I am staying put. However, I am not recommending any Palm products to my friends or coworkers.

Good luck Palm. Your next OS, expected in 2009, better be stellar and equal to the "buzz" created by Apple.

Tour de France

Well the Tour is in full force and, surprisingly, an American team seems to in the hunt. Team Columbia with veteran US cyclist George Hincapie seems to be the surprise of the early 2008 tour.

You can find out more here at Versus (Formerly OLN).

I'll also add the link to my sidebar

Jeremy's favorite train

Out and about

It's Friday night and me, mommy and the boys are up in Stockton for a night on the town.

First was dinner at Macaroni Grill. The spaghetti and meatballs was very good but I can't recommend the Italian sodas. Not what I'm used to and frankly not very good. :-p

Now we are at Stockton's newest shopping center, Coldwater Creek. Nice so far.

Time to hit REI so more later.

Mini Tablet PC - "The Future is Now"?

So I keep reading in the tech blogs that I follow that the prices oflaptops and notebooks are falling through the floor. This in addition to the drop in size that has become evident everywhere but in the "bigbox" technology stores that I frequent. It seems that in your largerstores the consumer is still faced with having to pay a premium for asmaller sized laptop.Anyhow, that's a side point. Thepoint I really want to talk about is how this is going to change theway that Americans use technology to "do business".I just read a report on the blog post on jkOnTheRun that the company Gigabyte has introduced a new Tablet PC for $699. That is incredible. For those of you who don't know what a "Tablet PC" is, it is like a notebook (laptop) computer that has a swivel screen that folds down on top of the keyboard. With the unit arranged like this you can write on the computer with a stylus and it's a lot like writing on a tablet of paper.So if anyone has seen the Star Trek episodes where they are writing and reading information off of a little slate computer, we are getting pretty close to that.So how is this going to change the way we do business? Will there come a day when paper tablets fall by the wayside and everyone is producing, consuming and sharing information in the "cloud" on a real time basis?I think the future is right around the corner on this one. Think about it, all of the elements are, or soon will be, in place to make this happen. It is possible to fully connected to the Internet "cloud" at all times. Kevin Tofel at jkOnTheRun has blogged about his experiences with running all of his life out of his browser.I believe this is the future. I remember when rumblings began in the tech world ten years ago when folks were talking about having computers with now resident software just connections to the internet where the software would reside. I think we are almost there.Thoughts?

Tour on Vs

Permalink

The morality of fireworks...

Okay, is it just me or does it feel wrong to everyone to sit and watch someone else's fireworks? I mean what is the morality of fireworks after all?

If I don't buy my own fireworks but sit out in front of my house and watch someone else's fireworks, is that stealing? Most of the time I just feel like a mooch.

Maybe someone can fill me in.

What do you think?

Coloring outside the lines

Okay, I admit. After all I am a CPA, Mayor, Husband and Father. I've come to grips with it. Or at least I think I have. You see, I am living what most would call a "within the lines" kind of life. Oh, did I mention too that I am a Christian? Although historically many of mankinds biggest movers and shakers would deem themselves Christians. However, in the current epoch, Christians aren't regarded (encouraged?) to push the envelope.

I wonder why that is? Isn't God (our Father) portrayed as the originator of creativity in the opening scenes of the Bible? Why have His followers forgotten that for the most part? Oops, rabbit trail. Anyhow back to me...

God is creative, we are to be creative. What little creativity I had when I was a child has been lost to the 7 to 5 workaday world. I sit in a square office and make sure that group of numbers A tie and conform to group of other numbers B. Not the most creative existence one could imagine.

So why am I bringing this up? Because I'm a father. I've got twin boys who are turning three in a few months. I think you can see their pictures below. I love them and I want them to at least be at a place when they grow up where they can choose to color inside or outside of the lines. And frankly, I would love for one or both of them to teach their dad how to do it as well.....

So, tell me, how do YOU color outside the lines? Leave me a reply below.

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Championship

Off topic, but is there really a topic here? Champion professional eater Joey Chestnut retains the coveted Mustard Belt at the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating championship held at Coney Island. In a format that was reduced from 12 minutes to 10 (to lessen the cholesterol impact of the eating contest) both Joey and his chief rival Takeru Kobayahsi finished with a dog and bun total of 59 each. What followed will go down in history. Both competitors, already pushed to their emotional and physical limits, were given an additional five hot dogs and prepared for a sudden death, do or die match up. While trading the lead back and forth through much of the battle, San Jose's own Joey Chestnut emerged the winner by a mere fraction of a second. The Nathan's Famous hot dog eating championship is an annual event that marks the Fourth of July weekend and is televised sports hype at its finest.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July.

Brothers

We're brothers

Snack time

Snack time for the boys

Gotcha :-)

Cheeese :-)

A night out at McDonald's

A night out with the boys

A night out

Boy, what can I say, nothing beats a night out with just you and the wife of your youth when you two are parents of twin two-year old boys.

My parents were gracious enough to come over and take my boys out to dinner while I, and their mother, enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner at Le Porccinni in Riverbank and then went and took in Iron Man at the Galaxy Theatres, also in Riverbank.

So it was a great night out! More later.

Tired of waiting for mommy

test post

hey, who's wandering anyhow?