I almost never do these things, but I cound’t resist this one. I knew this a long time ago, but this test really spells it out:
As expected, I’m a science/math/technology/computer nerd. Not too into sci-fi or comics, although I dabble. I really don’t like History much, although I enjoy good books (mostly fiction though), and I’m not too terribly dorky or awkward. Yeah, that sounds about right.
If the rest of these videos are anything like the first one I watched, I’m going to be a busy man for the next few days. Why do I even need TV anymore. Now, granted it is summer re-runs, but we haven’t even seriously turned on the television in I don’t even know how long. To make it worse, we recently moved the TV back downstairs into our main living room and so it’s much more accessible, but still nothing. Sure we’ve watched some movies, and I finished playing Halo 2, but that’s been about it.
When the fall lineup kicks off, I’m sure there’ll be some more stuff I’m interested in watching, but for now, I’m officially tuned out. Of course, Halo 3 drops in just a few short weeks, so I guess I just have my seasons.
This is in response to a friends blog post (http://joshriebock.com/blog/?p=10) on the role of the Church in our lives, and whether or not that need is being met.
It’s funny…I’m on the bubble right now on this. I’m not about to leave my church by any means, but I’m struggling with my role in one of the myriad subsets of our church’s community. You see, I attend a larger church than I did growing up, and so at this church there are many subcultures. You know the 20somethings, the children’s ministry teams, etc. I straddle the border between a couple different groups and sit on the periphery of others and I wonder if that’s where I’m supposed to be.
All of these subgroups have a variant on the overall culture of our church. But, and this is important, they’re open, honest, & relevant. They are important to me, and I know this, deep down. I’m just searching for my niche. I’m searching for the core (small) group that will know me…the real me.
I think I’m beginning to find it thanks to the great folks around me, most importantly my incredible wife, Kassy. So thanks ya’ll, and stay tuned. I have a feeling it’s about to get exciting!
Not sure what just yet, but my mood has been off since the weekend. Could just need sleep, not really sure. Right now I’ve been spending quite a bit of time praying for direction from God. I know he was guiding us towards the new job, but what I can’t figure out is how I’m supposed to hold down a job, be present with my family, seek God’s will through prayer and Bible study, and have time for anything else (like serving in the youth ministry again, or keeping up with the technology news, or “honing my craft” :).
I guess that’s probably at least part of what it is that’s been gnawing at me. I know that there’s just so much that I could be doing, and I’m not, and I guess part of me is trying to figure out how to fit those things in again, or if they’re even supposed to be fit in at all. I don’t know what I expected out of this, but it has helped me to hear the thoughts bouncing around in my brain, so I guess that’s a positive thing.
For now that’ll have to do, I’ve got to get some sleep…
Tonight, for the first night since Saturday, the day “Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows” arrived I’ll be in bed before midnight. Not much before midnight mind you, but still, it’s progress. In previous years when I received the latest installment of the Potter franchise I would be known to read until the ultra-wee hours of the morning and cram as much in as possible over the weekend it dropped. This year has been a bit different of course, what with the new baby & new job. I’m not quite through with the book yet, but I have definitely crossed the 50% threshold, and there was never any choice of turning back. I’ve added Harry Potter to my now reading list, with the full intention that I will probably finish the book by the end of the week.
For a quick update on the new job, things couldn’t be better. I’ve been given some time to come up to speed on their version control, build, and other processes, meanwhile having a project that would give me the ability to inspect a large amount of code, and change relatively little. I feel pretty comfortable with the tool now, and I’m looking forward to some more challenging work. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is code freeze, so I’ll be pushing a bit tomorrow afternoon to make sure one last, very small tweak (changing some user permissions), makes the cut, but shouldn’t have to burn the midnight oil by any means. That is a far cry from every other release I’ve worked over the past year, and from what I can make of the process the testing and move to production should be similarly controlled and orderly.
Leaving a stable job, and setting out into uncharted waters is quite daunting. After four years of (more or less) the same commute, turning the other direction onto the highway yesterday morning seemed as if I was defiantly choosing to go somewhere besides work. As I walked up to the entrance, it felt like I had taken a day off and was going to run an errand, a doctors visit, or something of the like. It’s been strange to learn new build, & deployment processes, when I had known the others so well. It feels odd to be in a position where I need others to help me do the most basic of things, when I had been on the other side of the wall for so terribly long. To be fair, it’s only been two days, and the truth of the matter is this feels great. It’s all at once disconcerting and exhilirating. I’m learning so much and there’s still so much left to learn.
I’ve told many people in person, but a week ago today I gave my two week notice that I’ll be leaving National Instruments. I’ll miss NI as I’ve had a very good time these past four years there. I have learned a lot about programming, but I have learned even more about business and I look forward to learning even more at my new job.
Later this month I’ll be starting as a Senior Java Developer at Bazaarvoice, a small startup in the advertising industry. They are headquartered here in Austin. Actually their current office is even closer to my house than NI is. I’m excited about the opportunities. I’ll be getting to learn several new technology stacks to go along with Java, specificially Spring and Hibernate. Additionally, I’ll be working with several programmers who are clearly very skilled and practiced, and I have a lot I feel I can learn from them. Additionally, I have several friends who are already working at Bazaarvoice, and it will be very fun to reconnect with them in this new environment.
I had a baby, that’s mine. Well technically Kassy had the baby, but still I’ve had a lot to do. We’ve posted lots of photos of the little guy, hopefully some more soon. I’ve even edited two videos of him. That was a ton of fun, I can’t wait to do another. This post is more or less to get back on the bandwagon again.
I’ve recently realized that I’ve become a fanboy again. I had forgotten just exactly how much of a Nintendo freak I was as a kid, I suppose. Anyway, I’ve really been enjoying the Wii, I recently traded in both “WarioWare: Smooth Moves” and “Excite Truck” for “Super Paper Mario.”
This game has a great appeal. I hadn’t played, truly played that is, a Mario platform game since “Super Mario Bros. 3″. This game still has all of the fun action/puzzle elements you’d expect, and a lot more substance than the original games. I’ve completed the “main story”, aka “beat the game,” and yet I still find myself enjoying the hunt for treasure, and additional Pixls.
Paper Mario’s ability to flip into 3D is a fun asset, and a valuable ally in the game, as there are constantly things in yourway that flipping to 3D makes it very easy to get around. The story had some interesting characters, and fun plot twists, and they do a great job of having you exercise each of the four main characters fairly regularly, as well as most of the Pixls as well.
Most of all the game is very simple. It’s easy to pick up and paly for only a few minutes, and then be done. Now that I’ve more or less completed the game, I’m hoping to pick back up “Oblivion,” although with the impending release of Halo 3, and eventually Starcraft 2, I don’t know if I’m going to get too much futher into “Oblivion” to be honest. I never finished the central storyline in that one. I guess it’s time I laid it to rest.
Something I haven’t told too many people, but for some reason feel compelled to mention today, is that I suffer from a anxiety induced disorder called Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I won’t bore you with the symptoms, or the myriad of things on my mind that cause the anxiety. No, this breath is about finding a way to relax, even in the middle of a storm. It seems I’m presently being strongly urged to find a way to relax.
A few weeks ago the youth minister, a good friend of mine, challenged each of the volunteers in the ministry to choose an area to grow in. He provided a short list of areas that will be important for new volunteers to study as they begin to commit their lives and time to the ministry. After a quick perusal of the list I noticed one set of coursework titled, “Establishing Boundaries and Avoiding Burnout.” That sounded very intriguing, especially as I have often felt overwhelmed by the myriad of things needing to get done in the ministry. Hint #1.
Kassy & I started Bradley classes this week, and as one of our homework elements we’re supposed to spend 10 minutes relaxing each day alone, and another 10 minutes practicing relaxation techniques together. Obviously, this would ideally help with labor and delivery, but it’s really just a good idea anyway. It’s entirely too easy for us to develop a routine of busy-ness that leaves no time to unwind. Hint #2.
Tonight I read this article about relaxing the body, heart, mind, and soul.
Physical rest
I’ll admit I do a pretty good job of relaxing my body. Possibly too many nights when I get home I do my best to have some time with my feet up, and nothing to do, much to the neglect of housework or time with Kassy that may be needed. I’m very picky about getting my eight hours sleep each night, and thankfully my job is flexible enough to allow this.
Heart rest
Since coming to Austin, I have spent quite a bit of time missing the quality of friendships I had when I was in college. If not for Kassy, it would have been nearly impossible to stay this far from friends and family, but I have not allowed my heart to relax in the faith that God will provide the things I need, the people I need, to sustain my heart. Jesus was very clear that we can lean on him when we feel beat down (Matthew 11:28), and trying to develop deep, core friendships can very much beat you down.
Soul rest
I know that God calls us to simply “be still, and know Him,” but I can’t think of the last time I actually spent even just a few minutes doing that. The author describe soul rest as relaxing in the belief that God will be there for each of the details of our lives, and in my mind that leads directly into mind rest.
Mind rest
Mind rest is probably one of the areas I fall most short. I rarely let my mind relax from the details of life, love, career, home ownership, service, and the other multitude of responsibilities. I spend more time listing out the details of those areas to keep them under my control, instead of relaxing in the trust that God will keep my mind at peace when I am fixed on him (Isaiah 26:3).
Well, in case you haven’t heard from me personally, Kassy & I are having a baby in April. We started this new site (lifeatadistance.com) to help keep family informed of the progress, and other fun stuff that’s going on in our lives. We’ve been trying to bootstrap that new site, and as such I’ve been pretty lousy at posting here. In fact, I’m not sure if I really should even maintain a private blog separate from the family one, but the truth is I feel there’s still probably value in my personal opinions, and I’m fairly certain that there are plenty of people who don’t care about them, so to that end, I’m back.
Although there’s probably plenty I could talk about, for now, I wanted to say a bit about the new peripheral in our entertainment center. After all of the Christmas rush settled down a bit I picked up a Nintendo Wii, and have not been disappointed. The multiplayer games are a lot of fun, especially WarioWare: Smooth Moves & Wii Sports, but I’ve actually been having a lot of fun playing Excite Truck in my spare time. I unlocked Super Excite mode last night (after getting an S grade on each of the races in bronze, silver, gold, and platinum Excite mode races). Tonight, I’m working a bit late, but I’m still hoping to make some more progress on the Super Excite circuit, and maybe up my bowling average a bit more as well.
Well, it’s getting late, and I really need to grab some dinner.
