Dystopian Paradise

Prior to this video, I hadn’t even thought of cutting off two of my fingers as a way to improve cell phone reception.

It may be worth a shot. I wonder what they’d go for on the black market.

I attended Gary Hoover’s presentation on the “History of Retail” last night and there was one thought he expressed that really jumped out at me. He said something to the effect of

“There are no new ideas anymore, only new combinations of existing thoughts.”

His examples were rooted in the retail world for this presentation, looking at how Sears, JC Penneys, and so many others had built on the backs of giants by doing what was in affect a social experiment.

“What would happen if we allowed shoppers to come in and look around, with no recourse if they didn’t purchase anything today?” “Could we sell just a few items, at a low margin, in small one-man stores and be profitable?” “What if we included public restrooms in our stores?”

These are just a few of the types of thoughts some of the titans of 20th century industry had along the way. So, I’ve been mulling that over in my head since last night and it occurred to me that in programming there’s a strong correlation. There are very rarely new ideas for how to create software, only the application of existing principles in new combinations.

So now it’s got me thinking…where else does this theory apply?

I’ve been debating a lot lately how much information I share publicly, vs the things we should be keeping private. Kassy definitely takes a much more cautious approach to online information sharing. Ever since I had an old college buddy track me down via this very blog, I’ve definitely given a lot of thought to how much information I post here. On top of all of this, I’m starting to take a much more public role at church, and so now I’m weighing everything out before we get too far along and I regret some early decisions I’ve made. One of the biggest questions surrounds just how much information I post about the kiddos. I have friends who use pseudonyms for their kids, and it’s something I’ve considered in the past. I’m not even sure what the questions to ask, and what I would change if I could, but it’s something to think about.

Sometimes all this distance between us and family is alright. Although we hate that our kiddos won’t see their grandparents as much, it does buffer us somewhat from all of the daily ins and outs of all our family members’ lives. The drive home can be a real bear of course and we can always sympathize folks making the drive down here, but the distance gives Kassy and I a chance to reconnect that we rarely get.

Tonight is one of those nights where I hate the distance between us and family. We had a family tragedy tonight, but being 11 hours away I feel so powerless. Please lift up a thought for my father’s family tonight as they deal with this. I know I will be.

Just saw Michael Moore’s new film “Capitalism: A Love Story” and he raised an interesting question. Is supporting capitalism a sin?

Should Christians support a different economic system that provides more social support or is that the Church’s responsibility exclusively?

Ultimately the film raised some great points around whether our current system of government is controlled more by the votes of the citizens or the dollars of big business.

I don’t purport to have answers to any of these questions, but I really enjoyed thinking and talking about them with some friends the other night and thought I’d share them.

So I’m about to get a hiring bonus for recruiting some friends to come work for the great company I work for, Bazaarvoice, and I’m trying to decide what to do with the extra funds. We’re still HDTV-less, a feat growing quite rare here in the US, so that’s almost a given, but what I’m really thinking of doing is getting a new laptop.

The big question is whether to get some big iron that can do my photo and video editing, or a simple netbook fr what I do most: web browsing and email. Thoughts?

Wow, it’s been a year since I posted anything. Let’s see in that time Kaden has turned two, started talking like mad, continued to develop a fanatical obsession with baseball, and grown up so much. Now Jace has arrived (he’s 11 days old today), and we’re starting over on this parenting thing in some regards. Being a parent to two is quite a bit more tricky than I think either of us realized, and so there’s been a lot of soul searching, and praying going on here around how we handle all this.

There’s always been alot of prayer in our household when it comes baby time, as there’s so much you can worry about, and if you get to offload all of those cares on someone so much bigger than ourselves, that’s a beautiful thing.

I head back to work next Monday, which I’m apprehensive about, but overall, I think we’re in pretty good shape. There’s definitely a few more things I wish were caught up inside the house, but I think Kassy’s in pretty good shape to do this on her own. I’m sure my schedule will change, but I think we have a handle on what we want to try first, and we’ll figure it out as we go, just like we did with Kaden. The good news is that Jace has been a champion sleeper. generally sleeping in three hour stretches, and even one night sleeping six hours (something we’re still a bit unsure about).

All in all, I’m glad to be back. I was interested in participating in NaNoWriMo this year, but with the new baby, there’s just no way that’s going to happen, but I’ll do my best to pick back up on the blogging.

It’s a bit early, but I’m hopeful that “Fringe” will be successful and interesting. I’ve only watched the pilot so far, but it’s definitely enough to have me reminiscing about “The X-Files.” If you missed it, you should definitely check out the link above as they have all three episodes online. I know I’ll be watching the others ASAP.

Flying to Pittsburgh for a short work trip and there’s a lot of time for reflection once I run out of “The Office” and “Scrubs”. I’m wondering how on the earth you balance 40+ hours a week at a job, cooking, exercising, time with the spouse, time with the little man, and the 100 other things that come up in the course of a week.

You know, I’ve been doing this for five years now and it actually seems like it’s getting harder, when my brain tells me it should be the other way around. Sure things are always changing, but it just feels a bit like I’m headed for a dead end eventually. Not that it’s any too soon, but only a crazy person would continue to drive the boat straight onto the rocks once they’ve seen the lighthouse.

The problem eight now is I don’t seem to know the direction to turn. I know and I trust that God is in control, but I haven’t been actively seeking his will lately and it has left me aimless and drifting, just as I knew it would. The trouble is that the only thing I can find that I can cut from my day is sleep and working out. Two things I really need to sustain my body.

But I think I may have found a way to balance by life a little better. I’ll blog about that soon.

This post is more introspective than usual. Feel free to skim or skip.

Ever since we moved here 5 years ago Kassy and I have been looking for a small group of friends we could connect with on a regular basis. A group that would hold us accountable to living this Christian life, encourage us in times of doubt or struggle, and celebrate with us as we pass over the mountains. We’ve been a part of 3 groups properly, and each one has had it’s ups and downs.

We’re in between groups again now and trying to decide what God has in store for us in these next few months or years. The difficult decision right now is whether God wants us in a group together with Kaden or apart and each taking their turn watching him for an evening. I don’t have a good answer for this question, but it does bring up another question that I’d live to hear your thoughts on.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of being in a group together?

One of the biggest benefits I see of being in a group together is that we are growing to know more about God and eachother’s spirituality at the same time.

On the contrary it means we are keeping an eye on Kaden and so it makes it harder to get the most out of each study.

The other thing is that I feel we are both more open when the group is divided into only males or females.

I would love to have the one-on-one time with Kaden, but would hate to not see much of Kassy an additional might of the week.

As you can see this isn’t an east decision but we’ve decided to spend some more time in prayer seeking God’s voice and looking for opportunities where He is at work around us. I know the answer will come soon.

Let me know the things that have weighed on you when making similar decisions.