• if you are bad, santa will put coal in your stocking.
  • i will refrain from my whole santa rant, but how many bad kids have ever received coal on Christmas? did you ever see any of the bad kids in your school pull out their stash of coal on the 26th of december? i saw plenty of them bringing cool stuff to school after vacation. . .so how could anyone buy into this?
    
• if you wear a ball cap (now called a "hat") you will go bald.
  • this never bothered me because i wanted to go bald (still do, but doesn't look like it will happen). what bothers me is that someone would say that to a child. for me it was a grandparent that delivered such news. what is so disappointing is that such a falsehead is easily dispelled by watching baseball. take a look at pete rose for example. . .or randy johnson. these guys wore a hat for most of their lives and have enough hair to wear-out hedge trimmers.
    
• babies are cute.
  • later this was modified into "when you have kids, you will think they are cute. . .even if they are ugly". this just isn't true. babies are ugly. i mean really ugly. occasionally they will do something that we think is cute, but that doesn't make them cute.
    
• the detroit lions will eventually have a winning season
  • ok, i haven't heard this exactly. . .but i've heard statements that are close to this. keep dreaming.

more later. . .

peace and java

• question: what is your phone number?
  answer: "2"
  explanation: we currently only have cell phones and have set the speed dial on each of the phones so that 2 gets the other cell.
  
• question: which of the following pictures is a sport?
  answer: (he got the right one--tennis, but he looked at me for a couple seconds before answering)
  explanation: i usually drill landon on what activities are sports and what activities are not sports. for example, baseball is a sport, but golf is not. so he thought he might be in trouble if he picked something that dad doesn't consider a sport. for those of you that believe golf is a sport, please demonstrate the defensive aspects of the game and show me that there is sufficient physical exertion to warrant sport status (do us both a favor and please don't try to convince me that by walking the course, it is difficult).
  
• question: what season do we wear shorts?
  answer: winter
  explanation: for some reason, landon enjoys wearing long-sleeved, long-legged pjs during the summer months and then wants to wear shorts in the winter. he even kicks the blankets off in winter, but piles them on in summer. so i'd say he answered correctly for him, but not for the majority of the populace.

all-in-all, he had a lot of fun (even though the basketball he had to catch was a michigan ball). . .and did very well.

more later. . .

peace and java

peace and java

some things i don't want to forget:

• landon usually calls dalton "the one-year old"
• dalton points with all of his fingers
• dalton imitates a cough after anyone coughs or sneezes
• dalton loves to shave with daddy (just like landon used to)
• auburn often makes clothing choices based on the color purple or if i said i like it.
• for his 5th birthday, landon said that he only wanted star wars items. grandma said that she only gets yucky stuff for birthdays. . .like clothes. landon's response: "i hope its yoda clothes."
• during a sleepover, landon and his friends stayed up till 11:15 goofing around. for the last 15 minutes i listened to them giggle as they talked about what would happen if a house fell on them or a tree or a person or cottage cheese. landon was sure that if a tree fell on him he could catch it. . .or run away from it.

more later. . .

peace and java

peace and java

peace and java

peace and java

1) do you really think the bcs will allow 2 teams from the same conference to play in a national title game (especially when one of those teams will have a loss at the end of this week)? i think that since they are all about money, they can't afford to be limited to one conference for the big game. the only possible way i see this happening is if the game goes into double or triple overtime and a frenzy of sponsors beg for the rematch.

2) if michigan beats osu in ohio, what would be the big draw to see another showdown on a neutral field? if osu doesn't win it at home, i don't believe they deserve to be in the championship game. even if they were to go and defeat the wolverines, the "series" would be a tie.

and what is the deal with the championship game taking place on the 8th of january? don't they know that school is back in session and people are back to work from the holidays? some have suggested that this is to prepare the way for a tournament in the future. perhaps this is true. . . but i would rather see the first round of bowl games (which would include the first round of the tournament - best 8 teams) take place the week of Christmas and then the second round of the tournament could be on new year's day and then the final game could be the following week. this would keep the bowls in place and should cause most fans some closure to the season (instead of complaining about their shot at the title).

more later. . .
peace and java

peace and java

• my time is wasted because i feel required to find the matching twin to the twinkie i am about to eat. this is no easy task. at times i even wonder if the twins were accidentally split up into different boxes. the mental anguish is horrible. . . it makes me hungry.
  


• it further leads me into the temptation of thinking that perhaps these twins were actually triplets. in the past, you would only see twinkies in packs of 2. i knew which 2 went together and since i knew i shouldn't eat 4, i stopped with 1 pack. now, i am frequently tempted to go for a third. the following guilt is horrible. . .it makes me hungry.

i'm wondering if there is actually some conspiracy at work here. . . some "hostess code". after all, if you change the order of the letters, twinkies can be read as "wine kits". could these cakes be part of a plot to drive us to drink? i smell a best selling book and movie. . .and it makes me hungry.

so the chief is no longer referring to that la team as hadji's dodgers. now that they are second in their division, i guess it is respectable to be a fan. tonight, the warrior child's cousins brought him back his dodger hat (he accidentally left it over at their house). i showed him the l for landon and the a for auburn and on the back d for dalton (then the fish names: owen, dingo, gunsch - then i told him we need names for the e r and s).

the chief blogged about baseball and the wild west, but tonight the wild west refers to the suns and mavericks. hard to believe the mavs had 100 points with 10 minutes left in the game. . .and then lost at the end. i still maintain that the mavs will win the series, but tonight should strike fear into the hearts of the eastern teams. i don't see how shaq can keep up with such a frenetic pace. . .and the pistons will have to rely on their bench (if they make it past the heat. . .which i don't think they will). tomorrow night we descend upon fish's batchelor pad to watch eastern conference finals game 2. though i see the heat winning the series, i think detroit will take game 2 here at home.

speaking of detroit, how about those tiggies? strange things are happening in baseball when detroit leads the league. i'm trying to imagine a dodger/tiger series. that would almost be as great as the spurs beating the pistons last year. . .almost.

tonight, ddoran jr. referred to the 23,000/24,000 that died because of idolatry (1 corinthians 10) and said it would be like half of the stadium at comerica park. then he added that any other season that's all that would be at the park anyway. how true.

ordered new ubuntu release cds today. funny that i tried running the mac live cd on the office emac. . .crashed it. for those who have never seen a mac crash, come by the cave for a demo. perhaps i should video it and post it here.

letters to measure height, numbers to reveal that he is almost 4 in this pic.


though she isn't quite 2 in this pic (and won't be until friday), she certainly was acting it for this pic.


dalton is fully zero in this pic (less than a month old). wish we would've thought to do this earlier with the big kids.

more later. . .
peace and java

i meant to mention in my last post that it was refreshing to see that google kept their olympic theme going throughout the 14th. perhaps they were more interested in the olympics than that hallmark holiday. . .or perhaps they are making a political statement. . .or maybe they forgot. i sure hope it doesn't have anything to do with commercialism.

the kids are still sick. . .the warrior child is taking the worst of it, but has been persevering as normal. he reached the wonderful temperature of 104.5 last night, which isn't easy in our house. according to sources that should know, he has an ear infection. it hasn't helped any of our sleep schedules, but, Lord-willing, he will recover soon and not pass this along to the not-so-new-anymore kid (it has just dawned on me that i need to come up with another identifier for the daughter. . .since the new "new kid" is due in about 10 weeks).

my children received krispy kreme doughnut cards for that not-to-be-named, so-called holiday last week. here they are enjoying the spoils (pics taken on my new phone):

yes, i got a camera phone. i used to laugh at people that took pictures on their phones, but now i understand. i don't know that i'm enlightened on this topic. . .perhaps i've tripped into some enjoyable ignorance. i do like my new phone and do not ever want to replace it.

pcpodcasting episode 10 was just released. check it out (if you have 5 minutes to spare).

more later. . .
peace and java

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

• part 1 of a series on communication. think before you speak applies to more than just the content of your speech. consider also your tone and the possible interpretations by your audience.


• the orange shirt seems to get positive reviews at school (no, i'm not a sf giants fan). forgot to mention that my purple shirt always receives comments at seminary. not sure why. . .but i'm not ashamed to show a little school spirit from time-to-time.


• white sox looked pitiful at the end of the season, but came alive in the playoffs. if i were a chisox fan, i would quickly find a better team. . .one that doesn't coast for the last half of the season. clips of one of their last games at comerica at the end of the podcast.


• sa spurs are still nba champions. . .and a repeat looks inevitable. who can stop them? darko and the stones. . .i think not.


• nba announces new off-court appearance dress code that is listed as business casual. . .but prohibits wearing shorts or sleeveless shirts. how is it that business casual is more formal that their standard "business" attire?


• news of the wierd: scotty's ashes to be "beemed up" to outer space. he wasn't an astronaut. why are we littering space with his ashes? he isn't going alone. 120 others are going with him. . .including an unidentified astronaut. unidentified? how do they know he is an astronaut? and how do they know he wants to have his ashes sent to outer space? and why are we just shooting people's ashes into space? i don't get it.
  thousands have sent messages (often misspelled) to scott that will be sent up with him. if you wish to send a misspelled message to outer space, click here.

so the chief blogged about thusday last week. this takes me back to our days in the bubble when he was teaching me all things web and java (and coffee minus the cats. . .as far as we knew). during this time i carried the names shadow, hadji, and weak-of-stomach. while in training, anything i messed up came back to haunt the chief. . .like the time i misspelled thursday on the chapel notes while the chief was out "representing the university" in denver. at least i learned early not to directly email the president. . .though i'm still a little skiddish about that lesson. i had the sheets-in-headlights experience.

       

more later. . .

• milk out of the eye - usa today story
  
  
  
• snake out of the mouth - strangecosmos story
  
  
  
• bicycle piercing - organicathlete story (you have to scroll down to the "dedicated?" section)

• this podcast comes to you as a charity benefit event for hegacicf
  
  
• mozilla firebird rss reader.
  
  
• more info on rss.
  
  
• fish through nose story can be found here. if this doesn't deter you from wanting to practice yoga, i don't know what would.
  
  
• spaghetti through the nose story can be found here.

more later. . .

more later. . .

peace and java

friday evening was opening night of the high school play the importance of being earnest. the cast did a great job, despite some dropped lines early in the first act. the ending was huge and many laughs were had by the audience as well as the cast and crew. ad lib line of the night: "this is filthy" dmontero speaking of a table that was earlier cleaned and had its crumbs tossed into the tea by jneal the butler.

saturday the jr. high department went to a tigers game. we had a lot of fun getting to the park and finding our seats. when we did finally climb to the top of the stadium, there were people in our seats. since it was already sprinkling at the park and our seats were under the overhang at the top, a group had decided to sit in our seats. they were nice enough to move to the row in front of us and put on their dry cleaner covers to keep the rain off. the tiggers were playing the los angeles angels of anaheim. someone please explain to me how that is the official name of a real team. we made it to the bottom of the 6th inning, but then the dark cloud was over us and everyone was getting dumped on. half of the park cleared out as the grounds crew tarped the field. they should've stopped the game earlier (when we were ahead 2-0...bonderman was a sultan on the mound), but they waited until the game was tied. the los angeles angels of anaheim eventually went on to win the game, but the tiggers got 'em in the 2nd round of the double-header. . .which i couldn't stay for since there was another performace saturday evening.

as far as lines go, saturday's performance was the best. i'm fairly certain we didn't drop a single line throughout the whole first act. one line that was a little butchered (but worked out ok) was given by khelms: "i believe whenever one has something candid to say, one should speak quite candidly". though the original line was not intended to be funny, the laughter brought about by this bumble was most enjoyable for cast and audience.

some of my students have been asking questions in the "ask the rabbi" section that has just been modified. please feel free to visit and post a question yourself. some faithful melvinists will recall the "ask a cavedweller" section of the chief's intranet spot. perhaps i should re-open that from my archives (aka files for chickens).

by the way, anytime you make a backup, don't call it a backup. put it in a directory called "files for chickens". it is most melvinistic to do so. . .especially if you have a glow-in-the-dark star on your monitor.

more later. . .

peace and java

today was seminary graduation. it cracks me up that every year someone asks me how long until i graduate. i generally tell people i'm on the 10 year plan. i'm only taking 4-6 credits at a time so things move slow. i'm not really in a big hurry to get through with school. part of the joy in being here is the opportunity i have to take classes and increase the broad spectrum of subjects that i don't know. recent discussion with the computer teacher confirmed my suspicion that school results in showing us more things that we don't know. the pit ever grows.

had another opportunity today to show a mac user the error of his ways and teach him some of the joys of life in a pc world. i did touch the office mac today to test an app i've been working on at work. concluded once again that mac is a nice toy and a cool office decoration.

the wife believes that i have issues with women. this came up after watching a tv show in which a guy had an issue with a pushy woman. i believe that we all have certain biases and prejudices that affect our perceptions of everything. . .including the biases and prejudices of others. perhaps it is she who has the real issue. . .or maybe it is you.

yesterday this blog was visited almost twice as oftens as the wife's blog. i realize it is only a small victory, but at this point i'll take whatever i can get.

more later. . .

peace and java

as far as the paper is concerned, i found myself in agreement with the westminster confession of faith on the topic of infant salvation: "all elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit." i thought about posting the paper, but it needs work before it is worth reading. i feel sorry for my prof.

here is a wacky picture of the warrior child. somehow he got his shirt off and this is how he got it back on. this certainly brought a laugh and smile to us.

the play is coming up this weekend. tomorrow afternoon is the final rehearsal and then 2 performances (friday and saturday). those in the area should get tickets soon before it sells out. this could be the best school play of this decade.

the warrior child turns 3 next tuesday and the new kid turns 1 in 2 weeks. hard to believe. we sat down with a lawyer tonight to get our wills written. in the middle of our conversation, the new kid honked my nose. without thinking i made the honking noise. fortunately, the lawyer is a friend.

summer vacation is less than a month away. summer plans are starting to get finalized. this could be a very busy summer.

more later. . .

peace and java

more later. . .

peace and java

interested in a free ipod? you must be 18 or older to qualify for this opportunity. i have a friend who has already earned one through this program.

don't forget to vote on the wife's coat.

more later. . .

peace and java

nmiller once again leads fantasy basketball playoffs. . .today his score is 666. . .whatever that means. i'm not superstitious.

this morning i was at the library working on a paper for systematic. why is it that when i go to the library, all the books i need are on the bottom shelf? i'm thinking that bottom shelf shouldn't exist. think of the water damage that would come about if the library were floaded. my knees would appreciate it if they didn't have to be abused for sake of the mind. i would much rather climb a ladder than have to crawl around the floor.

the warrior child has gone to numbering us all. he is #1, the wife is #2, the new kid is #3, and i am #4. not sure what the significance of the order is, but the wife and i are the even numbers and the kids are. . .odd.

i would like to thank the chief for his shameless plug for this site. you should visit his sometime soon. the wife also put a link on her blog, but since we are in competition this month, i can't bring myself to link back.

more later. . .

peace and java

so we locked ourselves out of the house today. got back from church and neither one of us had a house key. so we broke into our own house. scary how easy it was. that needs to change.

please continue to make comments to this preceeding post. current count is at 10 and i'm looking to push it above 25. i have an idea for a new poll that might help. i need to take a certain picture first.

more later. . .

peace and java

speaking of my students, one 7th graders' family was featured on nbc nightly news. . .though it was postponed the original night and then preempted (locally) due to a shooting in nbc's local studio. the interview can be seen here. my student is the basketball star. . .not the "dump tons of ketchup on the hotdog" king.

today we had a fire drill and my class exited with the computer class. our group was commended for speed but reprimanded for being too loud. one of my former (blonde) students excitedly proclaimed "i'd rather be loud and dead, than slow and dead". when i mentioned the comment to my current students, they didn't see anything odd about the statement. . .even when i reminded them in either case they would be dead. i love my students (poor little emus). . .but i fear that when they are on their own they will be like bleeding seals in shark-infested water.

today the yearbook staff conducted a survey among the student body. my students wanted me to read their memorable moments out loud. most of them had the same memories, but their were a few that stood out to me. . .all about the same student. 2 quotes that i remember from this student: 1) this rain is wet and 2) when told that the pies were 50 cents replied, "no, they're 2 for a dollar".

the next time you see one of my 8th graders, ask them why xerxes is mentioned in the old testament book of esther. . .especially rmontero.

play rehearsal was interesting. . .check out bzsigray's foot. nice wart. thanks for sharing bill. the next time you see bill or dmontero, tell them you don't like their clothes. . .regardless of what they are wearing.

more later. . .

peace and java

highlights of the day include the warrior child sitting on animal statues and pressing the button on the zoo facts boxes. he was really disappointed when someone would put in a key to get information. he wanted to hear the advertisement jingle telling him to buy a key. you might notice from the pictures that he was directing the music coming from the box.

he had the desire to ride all of the big animals: tiger, lion, etc. but he was afraid to get close to the peacock and the butterflies.

i got a kick out of the women shouting facts about the gorillas to people that couldn't care less.

it seems like there was more that happened that i should be remembering, but i guess it doesn't matter since no one reads this anyway.

the wife wants me to mention that the warrior child claims the tiger bit his finger. she said it would remind her to blog about it since other people actually read her blog.

more later. . .

peace and java

next time you see the wife, ask her what a hair-nail is. it is a truly enlightening bit of info.

i love raisins. i love diet coke. i love my wife. . .she told me to type that.

nmiller received a birthday surprise at lunch today. apparently his dad put a wax finger in his chili. the 3rd bite freaked him out. i gotta remember that.

new student teams have been posted in the students section. 7th graders still haven't figured out how the system works. i wonder if they will even figure it out next year. they kept asking for a recount. . .but it was based on their ratings.

a teacher last year told me that my jr. highers acted like 3rd graders. i was reminded of that today when many of my 7th graders were tattling on each other. i even mentioned to them that they were acting like 3rd graders and started to mimic their little voices begging for me to take action against another. so this one kid that isn't paying attention turns around and says the exact thing i had just said in mockery. some of the kids found it amusing. maybe i should teach 3rd grade next year. i already have experience.

more later. . .

peace and java

more later. . .

peace and java

play practice was quite interesting today. got to hear about gross things done on senior trip. i was accused of agreeing with the director that she isn't very deep. my only defense was that i am shallow. i guess you had to be there. dblackburn had trouble pronouncing certain words which added an almost-unnecessary comic relief. guess you had to be there. next time you see billy zsigray, ask him to say bunburyist 7 times real fast.

recent daveandnic.com site goes live: http://www.highcountrybaptist.org - the parker's church plant in colorado springs.

i got to see the new kid crawl for the first time today. she has been doing this military/arms-only crawl for a while, but today she used her knees and actually looked natural doing so. i was devastated tonight to see my daughter playing with a football and my son playing with a tea set. yes i believe this was a clear-cut case of gender confusion. i don't have any problems with auburn playing football. . .but my son's behavior does have me a little concerned. 

more later. . .

peace and java

more later. . .

peace and java

more later. . .

peace and java

check the countdown above to see when i'm in denver. looking forward to the chief's wedding festivities. . .and being out west again.

ncaa tourney is over and the only real success i enjoyed was the correct championship pick. didn't think illinois would make it so far. . .and msu and west virginia certainly messed up the rest of my bracket. illinois still gave unc a good game, but the running team beat the set team. . .with a little help from the refs (keeping augustine on the bench for most of the game).

i need to start a section of the blog featuring unique and helpful sites. if you've been online for several hours, please visit (http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm).

many (including chief) have been trying to get me to use the firefox browser from mozilla. didn't have much interest in it, but eventually checked it out so that i could at least formulate some decent excuses to not use it. i must say that i was quite impressed with some of the extra functionality. . .especially the adblock extension. this is certainly sultan.

my boss was more adamently opposed to firefox, so for april fools day i installed it on his machine, set it as his default browser and pointed all of his internet explorer icons to firefox.

i'm not doing so well in season 2 of the basketball fantasy league. i've been in 3rd for a while, but haven't been able to muster any advantage after that. would like to see a teacher at the top. . .need to keep the students humble.

more later. . .

peace and java

i have to admit that i gave in to the desire to roll down my window on monday night (when it was still fairly cold). . .which is something that i have mocked others for doing. i was coming home from playing basketball and very sweaty, but i still felt like a hypocrite.

my ncaa bracket predictions were terrible this year. i think i'm scraping the bottom. i picked all of the wrong upsets. i told the kiddies to plan on a 12th seed beating a 5th seed. . .but i didn't think it would be alabama. my only hope at this point is that arizona and north carolina end up in the final game.

i laugh at the coach k commercials for american express. i have a hard time seeing the connection between his philosophy of coaching and his choice in credit cards. i also doubt that he uses his american express card exclusively. . .since it isn't excepted everywhere. what a joke.

helping out with the school play this year. should be a lot of fun. practices have been fun so far. we are doing the importance of being earnest by oscar wilde. having performed in this play in the past, it is a lot of fun to revisit.

more later. . .

peace and java

please note, if you are filling in multiple brackets, you need to close all browser windows after filling in one bracket before you fill in another one.

more later. . .

peace and java

the warrior child had a breakthrough in his potty training today. . .in his words he "made a birdie". he was thrilled, we were excited. it was a great time.

the chief apparently got engaged last week. not terribly surprising since charis recently passed the "meatloaf test". now the question comes up: can she make cappacino and sushi?

more later. . .

peace and java

a former student comments to me that illinois lost, i tell him, "no, ohio state won. that is the important thing."

more later. . .

peace and java

a rather humorous thing happened the other morning that made me proud of my son. i don't have time tonight to tell the story, but you can read it on the wife's blog (http://www.daveandnic.com/nicblog/?view=plink&id=183).

more later. . .

peace and java

why is it that so many michigan drivers have been driving around with their car windows down lately? the temperatures have been ranging from the mid 20s to 30s. . .so it isn't as if signs of spring are making early appearances. i just don't get it. i'm seeking enlightenment.

oakland tournament last weekend was a lot of fun. pictures are coming soon.

the warrior child is starting to learn the art of diaper-less living. no, he isn't "trained" yet, but he is going more regularly these days. so exciting it takes a line here.

a 9th grader is winning the fantasy basketball league. byerspcteacher is in 2nd and i'm down to 3rd. could be worse. i won't say how.

peter jennings "reports" on ufos tonight. oddly enough, this doesn't strike me as anything but ordinary.

more later. . .

peace and java

jed(i) reminds me yesterday that we need to get the bracket manager back up and running. . .he also states that if i want firefox support, i need to give him advanced warning. i'm still a little cautious about using some of these newer browsers. they tend to do funny things. i like the opera browser. it allows me to emulate other browsers and also resize the window by percentages.

jed(i)'s comment reminds me of the new site i came across: http://www.ubergizmo.com/. jed(i) is certainly an ubergenius of the first order. . .and a great guy.

so the wife and i went to texas roadhouse the other day. the place is sultan. . .maybe even better than outback. how about that. . .a texas alternative to outsourcing.

more later. . .

peace and java

went over to the in-laws for lasagna and chocolate cake made with mayonaise (don't knock it till you've tried it). funny how we stereotype food. as if certain elements only deserve to be part of certain dishes. another example of this is the response i've heard to putting grape jelly into meatball sauce. say what you want, but those were the best meatballs i've ever had.

the warrior child got to attempt the trumpet last night. he did manage one note, but was easily distracted from the lesson. i would tell you that he doesn't get that from me, but it is too close to a certain hallmark holiday. . .so i will merely infer it with these comments.

one memory i have of my father is that he used to come up with concepts for invention. . .and then years later see his concept being marketed by someone else who had the same idea. we used to tell him that he should invent the stuff he thinks of and make us all rich, but he got greater joy out of thinking them up and then seeing it come out later. something almost similar happened to me recently. i was drawing out a concept for my co-workers a week ago or so and today i had a link sent to me of a device that just about does the same thing as my concept. now i understand a little of how my dad felt.

more later. . .

peace and java

speaking of hockey, i'm not at all disappointed that there wasn't a hockey season this year. i didn't miss a thing. kings would've lost again, so big deal.

professional basketball is getting to be a lazy game. usually 2 players are involved in every play and the other 3 just watch to see if the play will work. i think if a team came out with 5 aggressive players, they could win big without needing any major talent. could make the game more interesting. . .or they could play with international rules. . .otherwise, college hoops will continue to dominate.

osu is starting to look decent in basketball again. . .too bad they've already said they will suspend themselves from post-season play. not that i think they would go to ncaa, but nit would be a good step for this team.

mp3 players can be great. . .or frustrating. chief mentioned that he was thinking of podcasting. hip concept, but i think the idea of leaning towards an apple product might cause problems in the subculture. who knows, maybe some day it won't sound so bad. (peace, pizza, poptarts, puppies, podcasting?) 

more later. . .

peace and java

]]> 2/14/2005 3:02:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/blog/?view=pLink&id=162 162 it never ceases to amaze me that people in business today are very loose with their reputation. they don't care if they cheat you or lie to get your business. i have had 3 episodes of this recently and it bothers me.

my 7th graders know everything there is to know about everything and they are sure there is nothing new for them to learn. today, though, they admitted for a moment that they didn't know what gluttony was, but when described many of them expressed that it wasn't actually a sin. amazing. for further study on the topic, read proverbs 23 and 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.

my 8th graders claim that my vocabulary is limited to 3 words: wow, nice, and sweet. of course they have forgotten hala. . .and emu.

heading back to the homeland tomorrow. it is good to visit ohio every now and then just to give michigan drivers a bad name.

i think my accelerated life is now having an impact on my memory. i think i forgot something today, but i can't remember what it was.

more later. . .

peace and java

i've been travelling back and forth on weekends and trying to keep up with everything, but obviously things like posting here have been on hold for a while.

basketball has been going well. 2 games last week, 2 wins. 1st game was an overtime victory, 2nd game was a double overtime victory. players are begging me not to go to today's game for fear that a triple overtime might be the result. i tell them that at least they've won those games, so they shouldn't be upset.

so today is "fat tuesday" and i had an authentic packzi. so exciting it takes a line here.

apparently the fantasy basketball league is broken into 2 seasons, so despite the fact that i have lead the whole time, i will have to start all over again on the 22nd. those interested in joining the league should email me. in season 1, byers has made up a lot of ground lately. . .as has the wife. my second team wallows at the bottom.

warrior child has 3 cousins: jordan, jenna, philip. the other day i let him play with some of my old toys. he learns very quickly who michael jordan is and knows how to make him dunk the basketball. last night he asks me, "where is michael jenna?"

corolla died. sad times. thought i would drive shadow for 3 or 4 more years, but now i drive cory the montana. hate to admit that i like driving a minivan, but it isn't the driving experience that i enjoy as much as the storage capacity and all the extra buttons.

more later. . .

peace and java

watching an old video (taped from tv) and i kept cracking up at the commercials. isn't it amazing how sad things were then in comparison to where they are and yet we thought it was cool back then. another thing that i was thinking about a few weeks ago that is along the same lines, isn't it amazing how certain slogan/commercials stand out in our minds more than others. some are more quoted than others. some of the ones that popped into my mind instantly were: priceless, where's the beef, got milk?, and wazzzup. perhaps others stick out to you. . .let me know (email).

perhaps one of the lamest gift ideas i have ever heard of is naming a star after someone. though i'm sure the idea brought some "genius" a lot of money, what difference does it make if somewhere in some book your name is written down in reference to a star? speaking as one who has a very prominent star named after him (the one on the flag of israel), it really isn't that big of a deal. the only truly great thing about it is that it doesn't take up "space" in your house or just sit around collecting "dust".

here's a question that has puzzled me for a while: why hasn't netzero changed its name? for the longest time they bragged about keeping the internet free. . .and now that they charge for their service, don't you think they should be called net$9.99?

looking back over the past years i realize that i am becoming someone that i never thought i would become. . .not just old, but stale. i've done things lately that i never thought i would do, such as drink diet coke and enjoy it, eat wheat bread and enjoy it, and drink coffee while wishing i hadn't put any sugar in it. i'm starting to freak myself out. fortunately, the warrior child is doing his best to keep me young. this year i turn 30. . .maybe. i'm still thinking about it.

more later. . .

peace and java

the warrior child has been cracking me up lately. usually when a friend calls me, i answer the phone "hey chief".  . .the warrior child picked up a spoon yesterday and said "hey chief". he was also promised a candy cane when we got back on the road. as we were driving home last night he mentioned that he wanted to go to the road. the wife informed him that we were on the road. he quickly asked "can i have my candy cane?"

we had great visits with both sides of the family. the drive home from ohio was a tad treacherous at first, but ended up being fairly smooth. we relax until friday and then make a one day trip to see more family. . .then it is back to school.

more later. . .

peace and java

last week of school. . .kiddies and teachers are ready for a break. . .and have just about shut down for the year. last week of seminary as well. paper was turned in with 30 min to spare. . .final exam on wednesday, then another one goes down in the books.

twas a good night for basketball. . .another good reason not to play golf. . .not that i need too many.

buy stock in best buy before the after-Christmas rush. wouldn't be surprised if the circuit city in our area closes down. hardly anyone there when i do go. best buy, though their customer service stinks and most of their sales personnel know nothing about what they are talking about, is my man store of choice. gift cards to bb are always on my wish list.

kinda funny seeing the 7th graders play with a blue-haired "dorothy" manequin that they made for their hallway decoration. bhelms even kissed her several times. i've heard of desparate, but this has to be some kind of record.

more later. . .

peace and java

mall rally went well on saturday. funny that the guys team beat both of the girls teams. . .especially since they got off to such a slow start.

amazing that guys can sing loudly in the van about blowing out santa's brain, but when we get to the singspiration and we are singing true Christmas carols, very little sound comes forth. how can this be?

you may have noticed that i added a quote to the top of this page. it changes upon every screen refresh, so enjoy. also, bible bowl week one scores are up as well as week 2 matchups. check it out in the student section.

more later. . .

peace and java

trying to get seminary reading and paper done. too much else going on to stay focused.

bible bowl first week has begun. teams can be seen in the students section. this week is inter-league play. then we play a 2 week season and then the tournament. results should show up on mondays.

a petition should be going around to get auburn into the orange bowl...especially after they beat tennessee this weekend. (reference my record on sports predictions this year).

byerspcteacher threatens that he will pass me in the basketball fantasy league. we will see. unless someone picks up tim duncan, i don't see anyone passing me.

more later. . .

peace and java

four and a half months since i started the "no watch" challenge. the twitching has stopped as has the urge to frequently check my wrist. there have been some times i have been inconvenienced, but the benefits far outweigh such negativity. i don't see myself wearing a watch ever again. for those planning to buy me a watch for Christmas, get a best buy gift card instead.

i've noticed recently that michigan fans are not very gracious losers. you would think with all the practice they have had, it would come naturally. . .but maybe after they lose the rose bowl that will change.

too much has already been said about the "malice at the palace", but let me go on record as saying that everyone is equally responsible for his own actions. i'm tired of hearing that the players should've been more responsible. i agree they are held to a higher standard, but a fan is just as responsible for his actions as a player. i'm glad that they are being searched out for justice.

many have requested the addition of the rest of the tabernacle projects, so here is yet another project. this project features an unnamed animal on the bronze altar:

more later. . .

peace and java

much more to blog about. . .maybe later today.

peace and java

so today i have a big exam. . .i study all night and all morning, but nothing could prepare me for the shock and horror of this puppy. i was hoping to get done early (like last time) so i could video tape chapel, but to my dismay the prof gave us an extra question. normally we have 3 essay questions per test, today we had 4. needless to say i didn't make it to chapel. another teacher taped it for me. . .but i'm nervous about the test.

7th graders are making plans for the end of the year party. they mentioned outback and chuck e cheese today. i told them we weren't going anywhere, but we have it "catered" in. maybe olive garden would work out. you'll notice on the party donations page that they are well ahead of the 8th graders. . .not that this is a competition.

the other day the warrior child asked me for some juice before going to bed. we always water his juice down, but lately we've been trying to keep him from drinking a lot of juice (for undisclosed reasons) so i added a little water to his cup (which already had a smidgeon of water/juice in it) thinking it would still have some of the juice taste and he wouldn't notice. he took one sip and said "this is water". i asked him "doesn't it taste like juice?" "i don't think so, daddy" was his reply. then he told me i needed to open it up and look inside. he got me. i had to go back and add some juice to it before he would drink it.

latest craze: skype. instant messaging program with free computer to computer calling. voice clarity is almost as good as a phone. it puts aim talk to shame. there is even a pocket pc version if you have a network connection. being the geek that i am, i called myself. every now and then i call home during the day to talk to my family.

big osu game tomorrow. i go to the house of seacrist to be shamed, ridiculed, and scorned. but osu has nothing to lose. . .and michigan has everything to lose. go bucks. students have been heckling me lately. i guess we find out tomorrow who will have their heads up high come monday. osu could give me a nice birthday gift if they win. . .but odds are against them. . .again.

i'm still leading in the basketball fantasy league. cselstad claims he will catch me, but he knows not the power of tim duncan. the nba is feeling that power. i'll be surprised if the spurs do not make it to the nba finals this year. . .much less win it all.

the chief got an interesting gift recently. so exciting it takes a line in my blog.

more later. . .

peace and java

auburn won big over georgia this weekend. this is the only bright spot in my weekend of sports. all big ten games were terriblely depressing. . .but auburn won. . .and despite what many commentators said this past weekend, they deserve the opportunity to play for the championship this year. oklahoma has nearly lost the past two weekends and has a cushy game next weekend. auburn has proven it can play with the big boys and win decisively. ok, i'm biased because i want my daughter's name to be well-represented.

i'm still ahead in the basketball fantasy league. . .but i keep falling further and further behind the leaders of other leagues. i'm currently 1098 places out of first, which i guess isn't as bad as it could be. i notice that there are at least 25,780 people involved. . .and perhaps many more.

funny to see the little caesars principle applied against little caesars. some pizza company is using duplicating speech in one of their commercials. . .just like little caesars used to do. melvinistically speaking, this is very funny. lex taliones

site redesign is almost finished. some areas still need work, but you at least get the idea. send all negative comments to bob@aol.com. . .all positive comments to dave@daveandnic.com.

had a student last week that couldn't log in. . .of course he waited till mr. byers left the country to have this problem. i won't catalog here all the last minute requests i received over the weekend, but the list was longer than it should've been. i've always said i don't want dwinnberg's job. . .and now i really know how much i don't want it.

7th graders set a record for highest donation to a class party. go the students section to see the record and current party totals. looks like pizza pizza for 8th grade and outback for 7th grade.

more later. . .

peace and java

politics in this nation continues to crack me up. this past election gave us a stronger republican senate and house and a continued republican in the white house (with the highest popular vote in history), yet the democrats think that republicans need to bend over backwards to do what they (democrats) want. that doesn't appear to be what the country wants. it appears that the country wants a stronger republican influence than a democrat one. . .so why should the republicans keep from the country what it has voted for? too funny.

the warrior child continues to amuse us. the other day he was talking on his phone telling several different people about his day and what he had done. usually when he is goofy i call him a "silly gus". over the weekend i disconnected my phone from the belt clip and left the belt clip on an end table. when i tried to reconnect, i couldn't find the clip. the wife suggested that i ask landon where it went, but i couldn't think of how to describe it to him, so i continued to look. not long after, he came in the living room and i held up my phone asking him where the other part went. he ran back to his room and returned with the clip (i never saw him come close to the end table, but i guess he is stealthy). he had a big smile on his face and stated "landon's a silly gus".

two weeks till the 29th anniversary of my birthday. thus the new poll topic. the question of what make the best gift has come up in my home a number of times. . .especially at this time of year when everyone is doing Christmas gift shopping. please vote.

i just heard the results of a health survey of the states. apparently colorado and hawaii have the lowest percentage of obese people. melvinistic influence perhaps? the chief finds this hard to believe. . .especially considering the popularity of spam in the melvinistic diet.

more later. . .

peace and java

weekend was bitter-sweet. osu buckeyes won semi-big over the legendary joe paterno and his nittany lions, but michigan state gave away a victory to cross-town rivals. sad. just sad. ok state should've defeated oklahoma. sad. just sad.

auburn continues to be undefeated. i'm happy to see my daughter doing so well. i plan to get an auburn univ. hat this year in honor of their great season on the year of my daughter's birth.

birthday is 3 weeks away. i'm almost at the age where i would rather celebrate someone else's birthday than my own. funny thing is the students some times treat me like i'm really old, then other times they act as though i don't have enough experience to know what is going on. preparing me for parenting teenagers. . .as much prep as one gets i suppose.

warrior child continues to crack us up with his statements and antics. the other day he was "fixing" the wall with his bat (twisting it like a screwdriver). when he stopped he said "whew, that was a close one".

below is another tabernacle project from 8th grade. this one had the golden touch.

more later. . .

peace and java

the wife's blog has a funny quote from the warrior child. . .please visit and vote in her poll. . .she likes to see her poll numbers go up.

funny that a 7th grader offered me a diet coke as a bribe the other day. i gave the 7th graders the opportunity to write down bible questions for me the other day. one said he didn't have any bible questions-that he knew it all already. so i asked him what was the correct biblical ordo salutis. he told me he would have an answer to me by yesterday. . .then it got bumped to friday. i look forward to seeing his answer.

school quarter ends tomorrow. so exciting it takes a line in my blog.

just think. . .by this time next week, bush's opponent will have demanded a couple of recounts in florida or another swing state.

tabernacle projects and reports are all graded now. here is another group's work.

more later. . .

peace and java

basketball was a lot of fun last night. played 4-on-3 full-court. . .more guys should come out. . .but it was still fun.

boston needs to get a win on the road tonight. my most recent prediction is sox in 5. chief believes the cards will pull it out. . .citing, among other things, the "curse". funny that some ny paper had a picture of the babe with a tear in his eye after bosox defeated the mercenary yanks.

graded tabernacle projects today. . .and i'm still wading through the reports. some creative projects this year. . .like the tabernacle made from food/candy (below).

more tabernacles to come.

peace and java

]]> 10/26/2004 7:30:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/blog/?view=pLink&id=146 146 the conference is over, i finally got some sleep, the bucks finally won, the sox continue to roll, boys soccer team continues to roll, purdue gave away a win to mi.

the hermit crabs have both been found and have been returned to their home, bush lead continues to grow over his opponent and the election is just over a week away.

tabernacle projects were turned into today. pictures may follow soon.

less than a month till my birthday. . .not as excited this year as past year. . .and next year is the big 3-0. some days i feel old, but i don't ever think old. . .at least i don't think i think old.

latest fun involves creating a fantasy basketball team. nice thing about basketball is you don't have to know too many names to really get into it. only had to pick 6 players (manu ginobili, reggie miller, tim duncan, shane battier, dirk nowitzki, scot pollard). get your own free team (http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/). wife and byerspcteacher have already made teams as well. i'll try to post weekly results or whatever. if you want to join the league, send an email to dave@daveandnic.com

plans in the works to see a dodgers game next year. . .chicago, denver, somewhere.

wisconsin should win big 10. . .who would've thunk?

more later. . .

peace and java

lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me.

more later. . .

peace and java

nhl is just a mess. . .too funny. can't say i would miss anything if they didn't play. still loyal to the kings, but who wants to see their team go down year after year?

spurs looking good for this year. should go deep in the playoffs. only major problem they may have is stopping quick guards. just a prediction. . .which you know my record for this year.

speaking of which, i've started developing my picks manager for next year. leagues should open in january of 2005, predictions may start as early as december to get in bowl game predictions. more info coming.

funny how everyone is goofy about halloween falling on a sunday. many areas are changing the festivities to a different day this year. just cracks me up. on the one hand people will argue that there is nothing spiritual about the "holiday" but then when it falls on a sunday, suddenly there is a problem. be consistent people.

osu football is one of my few correct predictions, except i didn't predict them to lose to northwestern. byerspcteacher would love to see indiana take them down another notch this weekend, but even i can't predict that happening. looking forward to seeing purdue defeat michigan this weekend. i shall relish the thought of it before, during, and after the game. osu v. mich. game is 2 days before my b-day. watching the game at bseacrist's place again this year. would like to see something different this year. my early present from the bucks would be keeping the game close. maybe by then they will remember how to play defense. maybe by then troy smith will get the hang of throwing td passes. maybe the run game will improve by then. i can dream.

charger men win the league (story here). so exciting it takes a line in my blog. wish girls bball was going as well.

macp is this week. should stay busy. may not blog for a while. go sox!

more later. . .

peace and java

]]> 10/20/2004 4:45:00 PM http://www.daveandnic.com/blog/?view=pLink&id=143 143 i find it interesting that people who claim to listen to me but don't follow my instructions believe it makes sense to blame me for their incompetence. enough said.

i also find it interesting that people can hear me say that "even though i am an osu fan, i don't believe they will do well this year" and then criticize me when osu loses as if i don't know their limitations. enough said.

october 8 came and went with very little fan-fair. . .mainly due to my lack of sleep in prep for my exam. students kept things hopping by chasing a bee around the classroom. this has happened too many times. i'm glad that no one is asking to open the window any more. enough said.

3rd presidential debate wasn't as close as the media made it appear. bush obviously cleaned his opponent's clock. . .almost as badly as cheney cleaned his opponent's clock. unfortunately, people today don't enjoy thinking for themselves. . .so whatever appeals to their emotions or sounds good, they follow. . .regardless of how little sense it actually makes. not enough said, but enough for today.

last week as i was leaving the house, the warrior child asked for a kiss, hug, and a squeeze. after collecting those, he thanked me for coming to his house. this is normally saved for visitors, but i guess i was counted worthy for once. . .even though it isn't really his house. . .and it isn't really my house either. the only thing i own is a debt for this house. . .but enough said.

dodgers are gone. . .bucks might not make a bowl game if they can't stop this losing skid. michigan almost lost to minnesota and illinois, so i doubt they will win against purdue next week. sad to see purdue lose yesterday, but big ten has the reputation of beating up on each other. enough said.

more later. . .

peace and java

buckeyes play the badgers of wi. tomorrow. since they couldn't beat nw last week, i have little reason to believe they can stand up to wisconsin. . .but it would be nice to get revenge for last year's loss.

today is october 8. or for you math guys 8 october 2004. today is nicole smith appreciation day. . .as well as national everything day (dave barry reference. . .but i can't remember the exact title of the book).

today is great because my exam is over. my brain and body can now rest for a few days and recuperate.

there is some sad news though. . .duct tape only received one vote in the primary. and those that voted for green m & m got destroyed by barbie supporters. it will be interesting to see if anyone can beat her in the election. i don't think i want a pink school.

i recently read that "gullibility" isn't in the dictionary. this is somewhat discouraging since i just discussed this with my 7th graders. hopefully they took good notes during class.

more later. . .

dsmith

vice presidential debate was very enjoyable. cheney took his opponent to lunch. after fastening a bib around ed's neck, cheney had to spoon-feed him rational thought. . .something new to the vp hopeful.

students were extra squirrelly yesterday. not sure what the deal was, but today needs to be better, else the shark will smell blood.

watched osu get killed by northwestern with mbyers. then found out it was the most watched game ever on espn2 (http://nusports.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/100504aab.html).

warrior child has made some interesting comments lately:
"that sounds like a good idea. whatever me want"
"Jesus is going to bring us a van. . .and a beach"
"should you play with me, daddy? you should!"
"where are they going?" me: "i don't know" him: "they coming to landon's house"

school elections: vote duct tape! probably too late to start a campaign, but i feel no remorse for this shameless plug. students have this weird notion. they vote green m & m in the primary so that barbie won't be in the election, but they don't get that if they don't vote for a candidate that they like, their candidate may not be in the election either. c.holland is such a student.

new kid seems to enjoy her rice. who woulda thunk. perhaps i will blog about the significance of this soon.

wife ventures meatloaf again. . .this is becoming a staple in our menu.

new chapter topic for the unpublished book has to do with brilliant people that lack common sense.

more later. . .

peace and java

so i'm at mbyers house watching northwestern own ohio state (notice the new poll), and one of the commentators announces nugent as a heisman contender. i just laugh, but apparently he was serious. so this starts the conversation about whether a place kicker actually deserves it. . .and since nugent has most of the buckeye's points, he is (arguably) their "best player". then in ot when he shanks the kick and they lose, another commentator says "and you were going to give him a heisman?" as much of a fan as i am, i have said all season that they weren't good enough to be in the top 10. last night proved that. my prediction is that purdue will win the big 10. iowa won yesterday, but they aren't as good as i previously thought.

my students crack me up. one thinks i only have 2 responses to any statement: 1) wow or 2) nice. she is forgetting 3) hala and 4) really?
so we are going over the plagues in class. . .one of the choices was the plauge of cats and the question comes up, "were cats part of the curse on adam and eve?" hmmm. . . perhaps i should post my list of "why i hate cats".

most recent fun with windows xp powertoys. they are sultan. . .especially multiple desktops and alt-tab preview.

the new kid tasted rice for the first time this week. perhaps sometime i should explain the significance of this.

presidential debate this past week was basically a waste of time. no one's mind is changed. bush tries to explain why his opponent (who will remain unnamed for numerous reasons) is "unfit for command" while his oppoenent continues his pathological lying tendencies and repeatedly shows his own inconsistencies. amazing that people can find anything worth voting for in this guy. tis a shame that most people don't know how to think for themselves. this is my only explanation.

more later. . .

peace and java

not long ago i was at my in-laws for a big get-together with the whole fam. my job was to get drinks for everyone. some people asked for a mixture of drinks that i didn't think made sense, but i did it anyway. one of the strange mixtures that i thought i heard my father-in-law ask for was 7-up mixed with raspberry tea. i thought it strange, but figured he knows what he likes. i found out very quickly that that isn't what he wanted, but he drank it anyway. i have been mocked ever since. . .however, my wife found a recipe that is fairly close to the mixture that i came up with (http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&recipe_id=53871). go figure.

last thursday we had workathon. so thrilling it takes a line in my blog; one of my students found some narcotics and a "funny-looking" pipe. police came and took it away.  no video of kids falling off the merry-go-round this year. maybe next time.

school elections: go duct tape. there definitely needs to be more support for this qualified and capable candidate.

more later. . .

peace and java

tonight we played capture the flag out on the field. bower was being quite the stinker. . .not playing the game. even without brendon around she managed to avoid actually having fun. tried to disguise her lack of cooperation by pretending to want to talk to the leaders. nice try.

the latest craze has been the game escape (http://uk.download.yahoo.com/ne/fu/dodge.html). see how well you can move a mouse. my best score is 28.99 seconds. mr. byers has passed 30 seconds.

dodgers are only 1.5 games ahead of cross-town rivals. seems to be their lot in life. . .do well early on, then fizzle at the end of the year. still can't help thinking that depodesta is an idiot. . .but we all want someone to blame.

dan rather. . .is it possible to trust this man? in a recent statement he said that he ran the store in an effort to show that there was no favoritism in his reporting. what? i'm so thankful that this makes no sense to me. john kerry has been taking cues from the clinton political team. . .not only do they give him pointers on political strategy, they have also helped him perfect his ability to lie with a straight face. recently in an interview, he stated that he doesn't pay attention to the polls and that he doesn't pay attention to the people in his campaign that pay attention to the polls. . .then later he was asked how close the race was and he answered "only a couple of points" amazing.

tomorrow is work-a-thon at school. . .no classes, just public service and pizza. question is, who will fall of the merry-go-round this year?

to those who have wireless routers, please lock them down so that my axim doesn't connect. this is very annoying. someone in my neighborhood has a linksys router that they have left wide open. if anyone is interested in free wireless internet, cruise my neighborhood and connect to their network.

studying the hardening of pharaoh's heart in 8th grade yesterday and today. question goes out: "who was responsible for the hardening of pharaoh's heart, God or pharaoh?" most thought it was a trick question. . .of course i always get accused of asking tricky questions. i also get accused of giving hard quizzes/tests. 8th graders are doing great this year. . .no grade below a b. quizzes must not be too hard.

just got off the phone with the wife. . .our car died at the store. that should make for an interesting couple of days.

peace and java.

i keep forgetting to mention that the new kid has been sporting a mohawk lately. spray it pink and she could show her attitude more effectively. mood swings were out in full force today, though she was an angel in the nursery tonight. workers told me that she was perfect all night long. false advertising i tell them. . .though she is wrapping me around her little finger. she is quickly becoming a daddy's girl. the wife is starting to get a little jealous. amazing that the kid has that much charisma. . .and still lacks attractive features (besides her beautiful blue eyes).

thoughts from the weekend

for a number of years i have been amazed at how many people believe they need to get cleaned up before they can come to church or make a decision for Christ. i used to think such a belief was impossible or at best an unlikely thought. apparently it is more widely held than i could've imagined. . .and i think i'm starting to understand why. . .at least a little bit.

my thoughts on this subject started as i was teaching on exodus 19 to the 8th graders. God commanded moses to have the people cleanse themselves before He came to meet them on mt. sinai. then the thought struck me that the priests always had to cleanse themselves before offering sacrifices and the high priest had to cleanse himself thoroughly before going into the most holy place. yet, they weren't really clean before a holy God. they were, at best, filthy in His sight. but it represented the distinction between a holy God and an unholy people and God's attitude toward sin.

with Christ's death (and the subsequent ripping of the veil), believers may now enter freely into the presence of God, clean through Christ's righteousness. we did not have to clean ourselves to come to God, we had to be joined to Christ's cleanness.

so how could someone still think they needed to be clean first? here are the two ideas i have come up with so far. . .feel free to email me with any other suggestions:
1) man's pride tempts him to think he can do something about his guilty state.
2) man is blinded by a veil (2 corinthians 3:14-16) without Christ.

my pastor preached on this passage this morning (after i heard of someone who wants to start coming back to church, but thinks he needs to "clean up" first) and the idea of the veil seems to be connected to the old testament, which in light of their (old testament saints) relationship to God, makes sense. this goes along with the question, "could a man stranded on an island today with only the old testament get saved?" the answer is no, since there is more revelation today for him to respond to. . .and, likewise, with this new revelation, the old system should not be considered the standard. however, the idea of the veil seems to indicate a misleading or misunderstanding and not an informed decision. the need for the Illuminator is clear.

more later. . .

peace and java

i'm dave smith and i approved this message

funny that michigan lost to notre dame last week. . .just funny.

blondedude is so proud of his mac and has spoken of its resistance to hackers and virii. . .yet apple recently announced "15 new security vulnerabilities affecting OS X 10.2.8 and 10.3.x. An attacker exploiting these flaws could cause Denials of Service, elevate his privileges, or, in some cases, execute arbitrary code." others have spoken of the resilliance of linux systems, but hackers will have their day with linux and which snake do you want to play with, the snake you are familiar with or the snake you aren't?

a 9th grader that will not be named (though just about everyone at school knows who i'm talking about) crashed one of the terminal servers on friday. apparently he wanted to find out how many pages word could handle, so he held the enter key down until he brought the server down. i never heard how many pages it got up to, but i really don't care. i wonder if it would've allowed him to go further if he held the ctrl key down as well (hard page return). . .but i'm not so curious as to try it on the terminal.

this reminds me of the time "help" sheets wrote a forking program on the lab server at bju and brought everything to a screeching halt. i also remember the sentences that shauby told him to write on the chalkboard. . .funny thing about it, shauby was kidding. . .sheets didn't know that. chalkboard remained covered in sentences for the rest of the year as i recall.

the new kid is only 3 and a half months and she is already going through mood swings. perhaps you are thinking that this is just something that all 3 and a half month olds go through or exhibit. . .i assure you the warrior child was not this moody. she also has figured a way to blend her "talking" with crying/screaming so there usually is no way to distinguish between the two.

my portable mouse died. where to bury it is the question. by the way, keep your eyes open for 2 green frogs with orange bellies. they either escaped or were frognapped from the office. the secretaries reported that they had been depressed for a while due to the temperature in their "home". i did notice the one staring at a cricket less than an inch away from its mouth and not even attempting to eat it. anyway, they were last seen on sunday morning. any information would be appreciated. jokes about the chinese restaurant down the street will not be subject to even courtesy laughter.

more later. . .

i'm dave smith and i approved this message

latest rave: adobe acrobat reader 6.0.  even though it takes longer to open this reader than it's predecessor, the wait is worth it. this reader actually reads to you. . .sort of. as long as the pdf was created from a text source (rather than as an image), acrobat will read the contents to you. if you use a mac, you will hear a female voice. . .a pc user will hear a male voice. very hip. 
got a text file that you want the computer to read to you? convert it to pdf using openoffice.org (free microsoft office simulator) and listen to it while you get other things done.

 finally got some new pictures up on the site. check out the new kid. . .she's got attitude. warrior child is an "outside the box" thinker. check out his bouncer antics.

perceptions are funny things. this should be a chater in the unpublished book.
the other day i had this thought: "it seems like the people you want to avoid will always find you, and those you want to contact you, seem to ignore you." perhaps this is only a matter of perception. perhaps, this isn't true, but seems to be true because we are impatient and selfish and want immediate contact regarding things that we think are important. perhaps, also, those we are desiring contact from are working hard at avoiding us. perhaps they are better at avoiding people than you are. hmmm. . .this may take more thought.

more later. . .

peace and java

now i'm trying to catch up on some web projects that have been sitting on the back burner for a few weeks. eventually i'll head to the office and get caught up on some projects there and prep for school tomorrow. i also need to fit some seminary reading in somewhere. . .and a little extra play time with the kids.

the warrior child and i played a little golf this morning. . .then he decided it would be more fun to beat the ground with our golf clubs (i wonder from where he picked this up? . . . certainly not from me, since i don't play real golf). right now he is acting out scenes from toy story 2. this afternoon he hopes to eat a real ice cream cone with real ice cream (since he has been pretending for weeks).

the new kid is 3 months old and already learning to scoot and spin. today she almost flipped herself over and started the process of crawling. she is able to tuck her legs under her, but hasn't figured out the hand movements necessary. . .which is ironic since she has recently been fascinated with the control she has over her hands. she is infatuated with her hands.

spent the weekend down in ohio. got to see the osu buckeyes defeat cinci. i can't say i was impressed with the osu defense. they've lost something from the past 2 years. cinci offense came out strong in the first quarter. . .kept osu guessing with several different formations (5 different formations in the first 6 plays). if they could've kept it up, they may have had a shot at the w. ran out of plays by the end of the first half. unfortunately, they didn't look as impressive as u of m in their game over miami of ohio. osu has a lot of work to do if they plan on beating michigan this year.

the chief's dodgers are in a 3 game losing skid. depodesta's trades may be his worst move. if so, he should be traded.

more later. . .

peace and java

the blondedude admitted to me that macs are confusing. in a conversation regarding the new terminal servers he stated that they were a lot like macs and kind of confusing all in the same sentence. what an admission. funny thing about this new g5. . .every article i read talked about what they left out (like internal wiress and tv out). poor macs. . .trying to catch up to the pc market.

my most recent experience with the mac at work was a terrible one. using cyberduck (ftp client) i uploaded the past 2 weeks sermons. . .but when i went to access them i was told that access was denied. i had to manually delete each file and re-upload them using my laptop. the guys in the office can verify that i was hip to cyberduck until this recent revelation. if anyone knows of a mac ftp program that doesn't change security settings on files, let me know.

the warrior child took a tragic turn for the worst today. the wife checked pbs today to see if there were any worthwhile educational programs on. unfortunately, barney was on. my son now sings the theme song and talks favorably talks about barney. it may take a lot of work to flush his mind of such drivel. we'll start with some dodger baseball and then add a little osu football.

got hip to gmail from google. amazing. 1 gig of space and unique search/filing features. unfortunately it is currently available only by invitation. at this time. hopefully soon it will be open to the public. keep an eye out for it.

more later. . .

peace and java

students seem to be more optimistic this year than last. . .but maybe that is just my perception.

dodgers on a 2 game win streak leading san diego by 5 games.

more later. . .

peace and java

usa men brought home the basketball bronze today. . .argentina takes home 2 gold (first time to get olympic gold, first time to get a medal in basketball). ginobili is the man. glad the spurs have him. many are talking about who is to blame for the usa men not getting gold. pretty simple to figure out (from my perspective). we don't send wwf wrestlers to the olympics, why do we send nba players? it is a different game. either we get an internation team to play together throughout the year, or we send an actual team. i think duke could've won the gold. . .and would've enjoyed the pursuit a lot more than the group we sent (notice i didn't say team we sent).

warrior child continues to be enamored by toy story and his buzz and woody toys. i often quote lines from the movie and he will tell me who said them or who it is talking about. tonight i said "somebody poisoned the water hole" his reply: "mommy". this happened twice and i didn't put him up to it either time.

frustration in life: when people call my cell and don't leave a message. this doesn't help me at all. i just have a notification that the person called. . .i don't know why or if i need to call back, so i don't. if they don't leave a message, they don't get a return call. . .usually.

school starts on monday. . .ready or not. this should be a very interesting year. one 8th grader continues to tell me that she will treat the 7th graders with respect. . .but she may be the only one. some have already started showing 8th grade attitude of superiority, which is actually pretty funny when you think about it. . .unless you are in 8th grade.

more later. . .

peace and java

a recent illustration comes to mind. tonight i took my warrior child to the "blue man store" (best buy) to have the battery replaced in the wife's computer. while we were waiting in line for the geek squad to look at the machine, the son noticed balloons and one of the nice employees there gave him a choice green balloon (green is his favorite color). only seconds after receiving it, he wanted to "put it away". since i had already tied it to the cart, i tried to convince him we were allowed to keep it and take it home to mom. even after getting in the car, he continued to say "put it away". i was starting to get the idea that he really didn't have an interest in keeping the balloon. so i began to sell him on the idea of letting it go up to the clouds. he began repeating my excited mantra and when we arrived at the house, i let him let it go up to the clouds. we watched it with glee and cheered it's ascent. . .until he turned to me and said "get it back". as i broke reality to my son, he wept. . .hard. for the rest of the night, all joy would eventually crumble before tears and sobs of "my balloon in the cloiuds". from now on, no balloon shall ever be purposely sent to the clouds if i can help it.

more later. . .

peace and java

went to the secret man shop today. thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich. . .only thing that would've made it better would be a little "extry" sauce.

dodgers beat the fish yesterday. today is od perez on the mound for the bluemen.

tonight is the big battle among some of the teachers. could be a long night.

more later. . .

peace and java

recently noticed that sports illustrated has rated the osu buckeyes #8 this year and u of m wolverines #12. i don't know where they are getting their information, but i think it is sadly lacking this time. you would think that a quality, well-read magazine would have better sources than to rank the buckeyes and wolverines so high this year. in fact, though i don't relish this thought, i would put michigan ahead of osu and neither team would make it into the top 15. but what do i know? the only correct sports prediction i have made this year is that the usa basketball team would not get gold. . .oops. that hasn't been totally fulfilled yet. it will. just wait.

speaking of which, puerto rico was not the better squad of athletes, but they played a smarter game all around. up till now, usa teams featuring nba players has never had to play smart. this year, if they don't play smart, they won't make it to the medal round.

a co-worker mentioned to me today that shaq's presence would not have made a difference in yesterday's game. his comment was based on shaq's performance in the last olympics. i disagree. even though i am not a big fan of shaq, he is more of a slammer than duncan. duncan missed several easy scoring opportunities because he didn't attempt to slam the ball. though his finesse moves normally work in the nba, they weren't working yesterday. shaq on the other hand would have most likely made more points by via his thundering jams. co-worker believes shaq would get called for too many offensive fouls. this is entirely possible. feel free to comment on this. another dispute was over the absence of carmello anthony. not sure why he wasn't played. . .especially against a zone defense. co-worker didn't think he would've helped at all. too bad we didn't get arroyo on usa team. we might've won.

i don't suppose reebok will sell too many replica jerseys this olympic year. . .but roots might just sell out of those berets. i wonder how many kids will wear them like allen iverson at the parade of nations. what a freak. . .even wears his headband upside down so the star points downward. i respect his game, but his personality and "style" leave much to be desired. sadly, many young people idolize him and try to look and act like him. yes, lack of style is a style, but not a positive one. unfortunately, it seems that few are looking for positive examples. . .and few want to be positive examples.

the olympics have given me cause to reflect on the mentality in our nation regarding work ethic. as i watch these athletes compete, it is obvious that they are not just "puting in their time". they have worked overtime to be the best they can be. they don't merely clock-in and clock-out and bum around for the rest of the day. they are focused on getting a job done and doing it better than anyone else. sadly, this doesn't translate into the cultural fabric of our country (as it apparently has in other cultures). most would rather just do a mediocre job (if that) and expect to be rewarded. it is sad that many politicians would have us believe that all americans deserve the same benefits and privileges. why should someone who barely gets his job done get the same "perks" as someone doing twice as much work in the same amount of time?
we seem to understand this in the realm of professional sports. the players that achieve the greatest success usually have the highest paycheck. if everyone were rewarded the same regardless of effort, very little would get done. . .and everyone would eventually lose out. whereas, if everyone was striving to do the best, more would be accomplished. i see it as no strange coincidence that many companies have started hiring outside the usa.

enough about that.

dodgers basically in the same place they have been for a while. . .right on top. which is a nice change of pace for this time of year. funny to see them going against former teammates in florida. 3 players exchange potential earthquakes for real hurricanes. nice move. dodgers up 1 - 0 in the 3rd. need to keep lo duca under control.

more later. . .

peace and java

oh yeah, school is starting soon. i should have a countdown to the school year. wait. . .here's one (http://www.daveandnic.com/rabbi/countdown/index.html). currently we are down to about 21 and a half days. . .but the teachers go back a week earlier. . .so students have nothing to complain about.

anyway, back to the olympics. i'm starting to agree with people who say that the olympics should be closed to professional athletes, or at least, the usa should only send collegiate basketball players (yes i know there is a big difference between those statements, but they show the boundaries of the statements i have heard). i doubt allen iverson really cares whether or not he gets a gold medal, but a lot of college players would play their hearts out to make it to the top of the medal platform. i also think more people would watch (since more people seem to enjoy collegiate sports than professional) and it might be more exciting.

i've been working on the school year-in-review video recently. fun to look back at events from past year and allow the memories to pour forth. pictures are good for this, videos are better (in my opinion).

dodgers are back to winning after losing a tough 11-inning game to the phils. has anyone ever considered that my children's initials are L.A. - no this wasn't an accident. only thing better would be to have tommy as a middle name for the warrior child.

more later. . .

peace and java.

blondedude decided to blog about the overnight event (read it here). his rendition of the evening is definitely more comical than mine. for those who have no idea what i'm talking about, skip to the next paragraph. the pulling of the goalie was a beautiful moment. even better is after they put their goalie back in (ours was still out), we still score and they say it is because we have a 6th man on the ice. too much fun. another great moment is when they tried to do the warm water trick, but didn't do it right. bible study was great as well. . .though everyone was probably too tired to really think about what we were discussing. those who were there need to review the 1 corinthians and philippians references and give them some more thought.

personal annoyance: when someone gives me unfinished content for a project and doesn't have it proofed until the design is done. this has happened all too often. i'm sure i'm not the only person that this happens to ("nothing new under the sun") yet it grieves me deeply.

chief is claiming the dodgers these days. no big surprise since they are winning, but he is leaving room for himself by bashing their recent trades. i have to say i'm with him on this one. i think trading lo duca will hurt all the way around. . .but what do i know? if we win it all this year, i will not be upset about this trade. if we get swept in the playoffs, depodesta goes to the top of my "list". . .and melvinists everywhere should know what that means.

chief is also a rottweiler. . .hmmm. would've though pitbull, but i guess if you put a mets shirt on a pit, he looks like a rott. maybe.

tonight had a media event with some of the teachers. let's just say i won 3 times solo and once on a team. nuf said.

more later. . .

peace and java.

]]> 8/5/2004 12:35:00 AM http://www.daveandnic.com/blog/?view=pLink&id=123 123 welcome to august. school is less than a month away.

had a great time at the overnight event. satisfaction poll showed high favorability. some got more sleep than others. great moment of the night: when holland lost the football tournament on his own machine to mr. byers on the last play. what made the moment so great, was that the officials called the completion in the end zone out of bounds and holland told byers that he could challenge the call. . .which was ruled a completion after the challenge. amazing.

too much junk food. . .the candidate most likely put the 3 pounds back that he lost over the first part of the week.

the wife did a great job with the garage sale she and some of her friends held the past few days.

it is official, i need to stay away from bestbuy for a while. i went 3 days in a row last week. fortunately i saved money the last 2 days i went. . .but that's a long story.

the warrior child is definitely in the talented twos. today while trying to throw the football to me, he knocked over my diet coke. what is amazing about this is that i was trying to block the can with my hands and he banked the football off the wall and knocked the can over anyway.

more later. . .

peace and java

more later. . .

peace and java

the warrior child continues to enjoy the "talented twos". the other day he was eating crackers and managed to get cracker particles in his ears. . .and continued to walk around the house without losing them.
he has also perfected selective hearing. when questioned, he assumes it is something he was already told no about. so the other day i was going to take him to circuit city--something he gets excited about. i told him to look in my eyes and then i said, "landon, we're going to the man store". he started to smile, but when i asked him "what did daddy say?" he replied, "no".

if you haven't been to chief's blog in a while, he has changed the template. . .very dodgeristic. he also posted a pic of himself in the charisian presence at a dodger game. she has been converted. oh, don't forget to remind him to use his chic-fil-a coupon before saturday. i would remind him, but i'm envious that he has a chic-fil-a in denver and we have none close by. . .nor do we have good chinese.

i posted some pictures of the play we went to last week. pics can be found at http://www.daveandnic.com/photos/friends/taming/index.html. go back to last week's blog to find my comments.

more later. . .

peace and java

yesterday marked 5 months till "election day". start making plans now.

recently i debated a former student over the definition of a sport. i have often had such debates in an effort to educate the younger populace of our country. . .and even at time members from an older generation (always in a humble spirit of course). there are numerous terms that can be used to describe the same thing with unique characteristics. in this case, their is much confusion between the following three terms: game, contest, and sport.

• game is the most generic of these terms. it can be used of things such as tag, hide-n-seek, solitaire, or monopoly. it is also fitting to speak of a basketball game.
  
• competition is a little less generic than game. it somewhat difficult to imagine a tag tournament, but one could posibly accept the idea of a monopoly tournament. at this point, monopoly, while remaining a game, has become a competition.
  
• sport is the least generic of these terms. monopoly just doesn't fit into this category (nor do tag, hide-n-seek, or solitaire). usually we associate a sport with some kind of physical exertion, but that is where most definitions stop and where the discussion starts to get dicey. if this is all that is involved, mowing lawns could be considered a sport.
  
  so, some extra parameters must be supplied to distinguish non-sports from sports. i submit that a sport must involve offense and defense. this would leave golf and figure skating in the competition category. . .which usually gets someone upset. though both golf and figure skating involve a lot of effort, without the element of defense, it is hard to really classify them in the same category as football, basketball, and hockey.
  
  while i know that i may have alienated myself from members of my base, the truth must be presented, not waffled about. send all flame to dave@daveandnic.com.

though some will resort to a dictionary definition to prove their side, let me remind all that our language is constantly in flux and there is no one perfect source for proper use of terminology. as sultan former professor dr. salter would say, "if the dictionary has a different definition than the one i give you, burn the dictionary."

wednesday evening i went to a play: "taming of the shrew" performed locally. it was certainly a different experience from other plays i have attended. a former student of mine did a great job with his character (though he didn't perform requests sent to him via fanmail). the only thing more entertaining was the talented bubble vendor that "performed" amongst the crowd while the stage was empty. slightly annoying (and crude to be sure) was a guy who called himself joe.

had an office cookout at the in-laws house. we all played house golf, which is more fun than it may sound. the wife and i tied for 3rd place. i almost got a hole in 1 on one of the more difficult holes (i know nobody believes me, but this is the only golf story i have) and ended up taking a 4 on it.

more later. . .

peace and java

also, i'm trying out some google services on this page. let me know if anything questionable comes up. . .and no, dodgers content is not questionable. . .it is sultan.

more later. . .

peace and java

i had a very similar experience last night. we were in the elem gym after the summer bible conference service and the warrior child was running around and playing with a softball and hoola hoop. since he had talked about seeing grandpa earlier, i asked him if he wanted to go find grandpa. his response: "no, i have to play".

funny that the american league won the all-star game. . .especially when you note that half of their teams are below .500 and only 6 of 16 national league teams are sub .500 and upper nl teams have better records than upper al teams.

dodgers still on top of nl west - 2nd in nl and 3rd overall in mlb. 8 game winning streak keeps them as the hottest team in baseball. st. louis is the next hottest team with a 3 game streak. coldest team is aridzona (9 game losing skid). go dodgers.

yesterday i was asked: "do you know how to balance the sound in headphones in a mac". . .i'm almost insulted.

more later. . .

peace and java

many things will be changing here at daveandnic.com over the next couple of weeks. in addition to this blog, we will be opening a forum here soon as well as our web and video/dvd services. we are also looking at design alternatives and some more fun options. please be patient as we incorporate these changes.

more posts to come soon.

peace and java