29th
OCT
Clean Teeth for God
Filed under God Type Things
I recently went to the dentist for the first time since the spring of 1998. Yup, that’s 7.5 years. Actually, I’ve gone twice recently. The first trip was my whole mouth evaluation where they took a full set of xrays, plus some other stuff. Then just this last week I went back and had my cleaning done. One thing that was found during my eval that is kinda not good was some leftover bracket adhesive from when I had braces…in 1994!!! Seriously, 11 years later I still had stuff stuck on #13 — whatever tooth that is, all I know is that it was on the upper left. Anywho, as I was brushing my teeth the night before my cleaning I was thinking about how it seems that we treat God and the dentist the same.
In the hours/days before you go to the dentist (understand that I’m making some societal assumptions here) you try to clean your teeth as best you can. You brush with a little bit more effort, making sure you get to all of those hard-to-reach places wishing you had a flip-top head. Even though you know it’s the dentist’s job to clean your teeth, you want to have them commend you for doing such a good job keeping your chompers in good health.
When you (again, making societal assumptions) are struggling with sin, depression, trauma, etc. the way that we tend to react is not to approach God with the problem. Rather, we think that if we work a little bit harder, listen to all of the self-help guides, watch all of Dr. Phil’s shows :-), that we can fix the problem and THEN approach God, expecting God to commend us for the Godly life we lead. This is one of my complaints/grips about the way Christianity is portrayed/perceived. The perception I see is that God only loves those who have everything in order, and if I’ve got something “wrong” with me then I need to get it fixed so God will love me. I’m hopeful this portrayal/perception will change.
It’s weird what you think of while your brushing your teeth.
29th
Hang It Up
Filed under General
Ok, seriously. Please just stop making movies! It’s not worth it. You are too old to be playing these “tough guy” roles. You’ll fall down and break a hip during filming. Please just spare us the box office flops, and fade away.
20th
OCT
Smile For The Camera
Filed under General
I believe this will be at the intersection of 99W and Springbrook.
20th
The Work is Done…For Now
Filed under General
My parents flew home today, but not before we got a ton of work done on the backyard. There is still more work to be done, but I’m very happy with the results so far. Check out the photos here.
20th
The New Iron Chef
Filed under Being a Kid, Family
This Halloween Judah will be doing his first trick-or-treating. His costume isn’t quite ready yet, but look at it so far. 
20th
Good Laugh
Filed under General
If you want a good laugh check this out. Make sure you have your speakers turned on.
18th
OCT
Bigger is Better
Filed under Work
I just recently got setup with a laptop and docking station at work. One of the best benefits of this setup is the fancy 19″ LCD monitor that I also got. And according to this article (via Gadgetopia) I’m more productive because of it. Man I love research that backs up my need for a technology fix.
17th
OCT
It’ll Be Worth It
Filed under Grown Up Stuff
I’m taking the week off because my parents are in town, but also to do work around the house. On tap this week is taking care of the backyard.
The previous owners had two dogs, and they had sectioned a big portion of the backyard off for the dogs. Since we don’t have any dogs the “dog run” was wasted space. I am happy to say that the dog run is no more. In addition to removing the fence there were some small trees (2 cherrie and 2 pear) and a rose bush along the fence. We moved three of the trees and the rose bush from what is now the middle of the yard to the side. Fortunately the largest tree was already in a good place so we got to leave it there.
Over the next two days we’ll be working on the grass situation. The dogs did a decent number on the grass in their section, so we’ll be re-seeding the lower section of the yard. But in order for me to be able to do that I will mow it short tomorrow — as to expose the low dirt spots. Then on Wednesday we’ll come back through with dirt and seed, as well as cutting the grass out from the area we planted the trees to transplant into some of the exposed holes we left today. Eventually we’ll fill the tree area with barkdust.
And with all of that said, I’m tired, sore, and I’ve got a bit of a cold. Boy don’t I feel old.
16th
OCT
“I’m the Shoveller. I shovel.”
Filed under Work
William H. Macy summed it up perfectly in Mystery Men. He knew who he was. He did what he was good at. Nothing more, nothing less. So I’ll personalize what Macy said, “I’m a Supervisor. I supervise.”
I was nominated at work to attend a management training program. The first session was on Friday, the second is in January, and the final one is in April. The major thing we did on Friday was to take the DiSC Profile Test. I came out as a high S, with a secondary high C. All in all, I think the results of the “instrument” were accurate to who I am. The presenter was very dynamic, and did an excellent job of presenting the information. We’ll see him again in April when he’ll finish up his presentation on “Communication and Problem Solving.”
The DiSC Assessment is also used in corporate team-building settings, and I can see how that would be very beneficial. You not only learn about how you work (at work), but how others work. I’m sure that a reaction of “That’s why you get on my nerves” is common to this type team-building activity. You can’t leave it at the recognition, though. Now that I know why you annoy me, and why I annoy you, we can work together to help meet the needs of the other with grace to not get to the annoyance stage.
Plus, I got paid to go.
Delicious Links
My Twitter Feed
- jschwanz: tons of NASA links on that list, very cool to see them embrace it January 4, 2009
- jschwanz: list of gov't persons/offices on twitter http://bit.ly/RvYZ January 4, 2009
- jschwanz: Tweet Benefits: @timage bloged today about Figuring Out The Benefits Of Twitter. Here’s what he has to say.. http://tinyurl.com/78f5ev January 4, 2009
- jschwanz: I really like WordPress 2.7, the changes from 2.6 are excellent; quick edit and FTP-less plugin install are my two favorites at the moment January 4, 2009
- jschwanz: @timage nice post on using Twitter January 4, 2009