archshrk

October 2007

• Wednesday 31 | Happy Holloween

  A man is walking home alone late one foggy Halloween night, when behind him
  he hears:
  BUMP…
  BUMP.. .
  BUMP…
  Walking faster, he look s back and through the fog he makes out the image of
  an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.

• Tuesday 30 | Pheasant Hunt

  Got an email today with a wonderful opportunity to learn more about a company interested in giving tours of their facilities. Understand that our office is in San Diego, CA and we don’t have much use for their product/services with the schools we work with. You have got to love those vendors though…
  Good [...]

• Tuesday 30 | ExerSaucer

  As an expectant father, I admit that there are times when I don’t feel as connected to my son as my wife does. That’s understandable since she’s the one who feels every kick, jab and wiggle but there is one way I get to participate that is right up my alley. Nesting.
  Nesting isn’t [...]

• Tuesday 30 | The Golden Compass

  Not all fantasy/scifi movies are created equal.
  The Golden Compass, a fantasy film starring Nicole Kidman that is scheduled to be released into theaters on 7 December 2007, has been drawing fire from concerned Christians. The film is based on Northern Lights (released in the U.S. as The Golden Compass), the first offering in Philip Pullman’s [...]

• Tuesday 30 | Reformation Day

  It’s been 490 years since “a monk with a mallet” nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. God used Martin Luther to start the greatest revival the world has seen. Though there were many benefits to the Protestant Reformation, the publishing of God’s Word in common languages was united to a [...]

• Friday 26 | GodDivas » (cheap) halloween costume ideas

  Wendei from GodDivas has some wonderful (and cheap) Halloween costume ideas. My favorite? God’s Gift to Women.
  Find a box large enough to fit around your body. Cut some holes for your arms and head, and then cover the box with wrapping paper. Add a large bow. Attach a tag that says “TO: Women, FROM: [...]

• Friday 26 | Not-so-biblical counseling

  Bob Newhart "Psychologist" MadTV | Funny Jokes at JibJab

  I don’t recommend the counseling method seen in the video – yet in some ways, that’s how we counsel others. Instead, we need to have a gospel-oriented approach.
  Recently, I finished reading How People Change by Timothy S. Lane and Paul D. Tripp. This book is [...]

• Wednesday 24 | San Diego Fires on Google Maps

  Here’s an updated Google map of the San Diego fires (2007). You can see the extent of the fires, evacuation areas and additional information. Click here for larger map.
  See the latest maps from San Diego County Emergency website at Firemaps

  View Larger Map

  Major wildfires are burning throughout San Diego County. We’ll update this map [...]

• Tuesday 23 | How time flies

  It’s been 3 years but it feels always. Like we’ve always been married and yet, like we’ve just begun.

  Today is kind of surreal due to the surrounding firestorm but other than bad air quality, things are relatively unchanged in our neighborhood. Businesses are open, people are working, things are getting done. [...]

• Tuesday 23 | We’re fine

  Most of the fires are a good distance from us but the air quality is bad all over. Crest, where Julia’s mom and dad live, was evacuated due to the Harris Fire but they had already evacuated themselves before the official notice. They went to the river in Yuma (they have a trailer [...]

• Monday 22 | Firestorm satellite images

  Here are a couple of satellite images from these fires and and the 2003 fires

  See the similarities?

• Monday 22 | We’re OK – for now

  As many of you know, I live in the San Diego area. An area that is experiencing the worst fire storm since the 2003 Cedar Fire – maybe worse. Luckily for us, we are not in any immediate danger nor does it look like we will be at risk – but things change. [...]

• Tuesday 16 | What is Amazon MP3?

  Amazon MP3 offers Earth’s biggest selection of a la carte, DRM-free MP3 music downloads. With over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels, Amazon MP3 complements Amazon.com’s existing selection of over 1 million CDs to offer customers more selection of physical and digital music than any [...]

• Monday 15 | Can you afford to stay at home

  BabyCenter.com has many wonderful articles to help you understand and deal with the changes that come with having a child. One such article that affects many of us is whether or not we can afford to be a one-income family.

  Choosing whether to be your child’s full-time caregiver can be a complicated emotional and [...]

• Sunday 14 | Beautiful glider-rocker

  Tuesday night, we picked up another Craig’s List bargain. A Nursing-Glider-Rocker and matching ottoman. Here’s the description from the posting…
  Beautiful glider/rocker in great condition. Extremely relaxing, comfortable. Matching ottoman rocks also, or can be locked in still position. Glider also locks for child safety. Top of the line quality.
  Pale buttercream (yellow) cushions and [...]

• Saturday 13 | Birth plan

  Birth plan example found in the Johnson’s – Mother & Baby book.
  I am looking forward to the birth of my first child, and I have written down a few ideas on how I hope my labor will progress.
  1. Support person – My partner, ____, will be with me throughout the birth.
  [...]

• Saturday 13 | A new kind of spam

  I’ve been getting hit with a new kind of spam lately. the trackback spam. And it moves pretty fast. The post I just published…already hit.
  Basically, a dumbing blog is created that post countless articles that basically read
  [random name] wrote an interesting post today on
  Here’s a quick excerpt
  and then is followed by a [...]

• Saturday 13 | Pirate’s Cove

  I finally got the chance to play Pirate’s Cove again tonight. I’ve only played a few times but it’s been pretty fun so far. I don’t typically like the same old board games I played as a youth so when I get the chance to play something that’s new and exciting, it’s a good [...]

• Thursday 11 | 619-269-0041

  Update: I finally called the number back to see what I could learn. Turns out the that when i call I get a message that states “Cox Communication San Diego Federal” and then goes on to say something like A&E my number A&E the number I called and then just rings for [...]

• Wednesday 10 | Baby Backpack

  Smart Baby Packs, the ultimate in style and function, have features you never knew you wanted, but you’ll never want to be without. The Sienna Backpack is a lightweight, backpack-style diaper bag with multiple interior and exterior accessory compartments.
  Features include a thermal bottle chamber with Therma-Flect reflective barrier insulation, interior ice pack/accessory pocket, an [...]

• Wednesday 10 | Nesting

  My first car was a 1978 Plymouth Volare – two tone blue. Imagine a mini Nova. Two doors with the pimp car frame-less windows and it rode close to the ground and I could replace the tires for as little as $25 but go splurge on the $55 tires that lasted much longer. [...]

• Wednesday 10 | Going into labor – Signs

  Knowing the signs (prelabor stage can last for 2, 3, or even more weeks, so don’t be surprised if things don’t happen quickly)
  * A nesting instinct – the urge to rush around getting your house in order before the baby appears.
  * Change in movement pattern.
  [...]

• Wednesday 10 | Inside AdSense – Video units

  AdSense isn’t just for ads anymore; it’s also a place to get video content for your site — and earn extra revenue at the same time. I’m not sure I’ll use this for my site but it may be just right for your site.
  We’re excited about the launch of video units — a new [...]

• Monday 8 | What to pack for the hospital when you go into labor

  Below is a list of items you should remember to pack for the hospital when you go into labor. This list was found in the Johnson’s – Mother & Baby book, which is proving to be a very wonderful and useful resource for Julia and I as we prepare for our first child. [...]

• Saturday 6 | Shameless self promotion

  But it’s for my baby.
  So we are registered and with less than 10 weeks to go, we’re about to get into the shower season. We currently have four different showers scheduled, which sounds like a lot, but is really the best way to keep them intimate. One with my family, one with Julia’s [...]

• Saturday 6 | Seam Carving – Image resizing

  This video demonstrates a technique for resizing images from Dr Ariel Shamir and Shai Avidan of the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science known as Seam Carving or SIGGRAPH.
  SIGGRAPH is a new method of image resizing that looks for seams of pixels with the ‘least energy’ (least contrast / change in detail) It does this [...]

• Friday 5 | Still got it

  So first thing’s first – I passed the ARE test I took a few weeks ago. That’s seven out of nine, done and done. Plus, I took number eight this morning and I’m feeling really good about it. It’s a 6-hour exam. Part one is 1-hour which I completely used up [...]

• Wednesday 3 | Evangelical Books

  We have several “Christian” bookstores around here but there’s only one that I’ll go to for my Christian book needs – Evangelical Bible Book Store
  From their website:
  Today, the term “Christian books” refers to a wide spectrum of literature. Too often so-called Christian books incorporate worldly philosophies and ideas which ignore or even deny what the [...]

• Wednesday 3 | Vintage Jesus – preorder now!

  For those looking for new reading material…

  Vintage Jesus | Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears

  Roughly two thousand years ago, Jesus was born in a dumpy, rural, hick town, not unlike those today where guys change their own oil, think pro wrestling is real, find women who chew tobacco sexy, and eat a lot of Hot Pockets [...]

• Tuesday 2 | Chema Madoz Fotógrafo

  I don’t remember how I found this but Chema Madoz is one very impressive artist. Unfortunately, his English is not so good.

  Since quite sometime ago Chema Madoz comes up with silver ideas. With his work opens up unexpected spaces, forms of great strength, reaching us all, as it reminds us of something and forces [...]