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Sports, technology and doing things well are my passions. I enjoy discussing how they apply to life.
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I've finally gotten a new website for the New Wilmington Missionary Conference(NWMC) up and running. It's still a work in progress, but is another custom build of community server.
As for the real content, it's primarily going to host missionary blogs
discussion forums to match resources and opportunities with people who
want and need them. It will also offer podcasts of speakers at
the conference, encouraging discussion and also so photo galleries.
The goal of NWMC is to get youth and young adults excited about and
interested in mission. I hope to see it grow into the place to be
for Christian mission in the years to come and hope the website will
share those experiences with the world.
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I've actually been a little disappointed in Google recently. Local business searches haven't lived up to the normal standard for Google. I've had more success with Windows Live Local. For that reason, I decided to try MSN Search and Yahoo at work the other day. They were horrible. It wasn't their results, I'm not sure if I even got to them, it was the home page. The flickering backgrounds and rotating images were nicely done in AJAX, but kept pulling my eyes away from the search box. I wanted to know why ASP.NET wouldn't render a caption tag inside a table with a runat="server" attribute, not the top 5 romantic getaways this summer. Google gave me what I wanted and I won't return to the competitors until they've changed their ways. Eventually, quality search results will become a commodity (or at least close to it). Google's clean search interface is best for people who want to get things done because it doesn't introduce more distractions. There are enough at the office, at home or wherever you're working as it is without search engine AJAX implementations adding to them.
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I went online tonight to buy Dad's birthday present - tickets to
Saturday's Pirate game. We love our Bucs, but they're pushing all
my wrong buttons. Each of the four tickets (Mom and Jill like to
humor us) carried a joyful $3.50 "convenience." charge. Google was kind enough to remind me of the definition of convenience, "the state of being suitable or opportune."
The convenient charge was nicely asterisked to denote there may be
online ordering fees. After forcing me to create yet another worthless
account (no, I don't want you to add me to your email list),
Mlb.com didn't disappoint by charging $3.50. I decided to go will
call and forgoe the $1.75 opportunity to print the tickets at home.
Each page I visited in this joyful journey of giving reminded me others
were waiting for the precious Pirate tickets I had reserved by giving
me 2-3 minutes to complete the page or forfeit my tickets.
Nothing like sales pressure when buying tickets for a 5-15 team.
Grand total in fees: $17.50.
Supposed price of 1 ticket: $16.
No wonder the 5-15 Pirates have such remarkable walk-up numbers.
Who in their right mind would be willing to pay for an extra ticket for
the convenience of ordering online?
I guess I should mention they've managed to give Albert Pujojls another
first inning home run while I'm writing this post. We will . . . test your patience.
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The time is now 11:45.
I am merely posting this to see how easy it is to record and podcast an audio clip with Community Server and Audacity. Just click on the mp3 file below to listen to my recording.
The time is now 11:49.
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After way too much preparation for a job search, I took the first one. I'm looking forward to joining Celtic Healthcare
at the end of April. Celtic provides therapy and nursing services
and focuses on high quality service. Technology provides their
greatest competitive advantage next to people, who I can confirm they
value greatly. I'll be working to create top of the line
solutions with cutting edge technology on the web. Give me a call
or email me if you want to hear more.
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I was really disappointed to see how Pitt finished the Big
East Championship. The long and short of it is that they didn't. Although Krauser lost his cool and probably
should have been ejected for a cheap shot, he got his head together and did a
great job hitting a big three and drawing a foul on another three point
attempt. But that’s where it all fell
apart.
The officials didn’t make the call and Pitt’s players stood
around admiring their misfortune while Syracuse
ran down the court for a lay-up. Those
two points would have changed how the game ended. Pitt may not have won, but would have had a
much better chance.
After my last post, I was concerned I made it sound like the
officials cost WVU the game. They didn’t
help, but players have to rise above the officiating if they want to be champions. It’s not like Pitt didn’t finish on plenty of
easy opportunities earlier in the game anyways.
The players need to keep competing and let the coach deal with the
officials.
Congratulations, Syracuse. My team lost, but you guys stepped up every
game this week. You earned that Big East
championship. I’m curious to see how Syracuse ends up getting
seeded tomorrow. I could see them being
a 5 or 6, but probably an 8 seed. No
matter the seed, I sure wouldn’t want to have to play them.
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You have to love Big East hoops. The games are always exciting,
new teams have made it the most competitive league and the officials
let the teams play . . . sometimes a little too much. Look at the
Pitt and WVU game. Officials often called the 2nd or 3rd foul
which usually wasn't the worst. J.D. Collins blatantly grabbed
Carl Krauser holding him away from a loose ball, but Aaron Gray pushed
him even worse when he had a free layup with about a minute left.
That missed call cost WVU 2 points and killed some building momentum
and I'm a Pitt fan. I feel like I'm watching some of the high
schoolers who referee in the rec league I coach and hope it doesn't
take a brawl for Big East refs to take back control.
I have to give some props to Gerry McNamara. He hit two big shots
to win games his team wasn't supposed to, but really won the games with
the 22 assists he had between them.
If you want guys who aren't afraid to take the big shot, look no
further than McNamara and Carl Krauser. I just wish Krauser would
look to set up his teammates a little more. In his defense, he
has been better the last couple games. Pitt needs to him to
continue improving. They tend to miss too many open men and hold
the ball too long against pressure defenses.
In another direction, I'm waiting for ESPN.com to stop playing the
stupid videos when I go there. I don't want the video and I
certainly don't want to be bothered by the first half of the commercial
the video starts with.
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Seeing the cheerleader from Southern Illinois get injured the other
night was sad. I enjoy seeing people get fired up about
competition and, say what you will about cheerleaders, she was fired
up.
It was also encouraging to see her moving around after getting
hurt. You want to see movement from anyone with that type of
injury, BUT . . . am I the only one who thinks she wasn't thinking when
she started throwing her limbs around like that? ESPN applauded
her enthusiasm. I couldn't get past the neck brace and
backboard. Wave. That's enough to tell everyone you're
OK. Don't move like that when the medics are trying to immobilize
you.
School spirit is great. Being on ESPN is cool. Neither is worth being paralized for life.
I remember breaking my wrist and being unable to use my right hand for
8 months. That was nothing compared to what this young woman
faced, but it transformed my perspective on thse things. Take
care of yourself! You only get one body. Medicine can do
incredible things, but your body is never the same and I'm sure there
are many who can speak about that better than I can.
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I was in middle school the last time the Pirates
had a winning season and am way too fired up about them right
now. I'm not the only person who thinks their current prospects
look more like Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla than Kevin Young and Kris
Benson, but half of my life tells me I'm settings myself up for a
disappointment. The town's still hung over from the Super Bowl,
but I think it's quietly hoping to carry the excitement on to the
Pirates.
In light of this, the Pirates announced their new marketing theme
of "WE WILL" (I didn't add the caps). Am I the only person who
thinks this is a dumb name? We will what? Have our 14th
straight losing season? Have the monkey off our back if we're
.500? The Post-Gazette also reported Pirate officials see it in a
similar light to Nike's "Just Do It." Well . . . just do
it. Really.
When you're good you don't have to tell anyone, just ask the New
England Patriots. It might take some time, but everyone will
know. You don't have to tell them. The marketing department
should be focusing on the excitement generated by the potential of
these young players.
I can't wait to see the young guys this year. Chris Duffy excite
me the most by far. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone that fast
down the line to first. It must be because I'm a slow, overweight
former distance runner hoping to bat leadoff for my softball team at
least one more year. He isn't even one of the guys with the
greatest potential. The Pirates WILL not get where they
ultimately want to this year. They may not even be .500, but this
year can be a giant step on the way there.
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As an avid Steelers fan, it’s been difficult to watch them struggle so greatly the past few games. It’s been even more painful listening to all of the talk about “must-win” games. I’m just not a fan of the concept. Maybe
I want to be of a hard-ass too much or maybe I’m too old-school, but
when your regular season determines whether you make the playoffs, each
game has the same value. It makes just as much sense to argue the games against weaker teams are the must-wins. Champions win the games they’re supposed to. Any way you look at the question, there are times you just have to step up and get the job done. Talking about it doesn’t get you there. Tomorrow, the Steelers face about as much of a regular season must-win as I’m willing to concede exists: the numbers just don’t look like they’ll work if they lose.
What does this have to do with faith? We
don’t have a problem talking about must-wins in terms of competition,
but when it comes down to the hard truths of life and death . . .
separation and salvation, that all changes. I’m as guilty as everyone else. The real challenge is finding the proper balance between pushing people too hard and not speaking up when we need to. Having
been in both places, I want to encourage everyone to trust the Lord,
listen to the Spirit use the mind He’s blessed you with.
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I had a bad day again. My wife could understand, but
HTML, .NET (no javascript for once) and computers in general just
aren't her thing. She got the credit card thing, though.
Through loud music and frustration, I came around to "Bad Day" by Fuel, a
good song. It could go deeper and doesn't quite get it right, but
paints the perfect picture of depression from both sides. I
always go to the aggressive stuff when I need to quiet myself and
listen to the Lord. If He really wants me to do something (start
a business) and it's half as important as I think it is, I should
know it will get done.
My problem seems to be the focus of this whole post . . . me. I need to turn my eyes upon Jesus and be energized by His wonder and grace. Gotta go now . . .
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