Check this out: RSS

I'm going to start doing something new here and because I'm a paragon of creative energy I'm going to call it "check this out."  I think I'm a little (or a lot) geekier than most of you reading this, so I run across things you may not but still might like.  One theoretically useful thing I'll do here is pass along stuff I think you may appreciate or find useful.  Here's the first thing.

RSS Feeds.  There's a lot of info out there on the intarweb and it can be tough to keep up with it.  You've probably run across a site you liked before, bookmarked it, kept up with it for a few days, weeks, or maybe even months, and then forgot about it.  RSS brings that to an end.  Most sites (worth reading, and many not worth reading) publish RSS feeds.  What's that?

It takes the info they're posting on their site and feeds it to you without you having to visit the site.  The best way to take advantage of RSS feeds is, in my experience, an online site like Google Reader.  There are other competitors but I've found Google Reader to be easy to use and it has useful features like the ability to search your feeds, so if you just remember a phrase from some post you read a while ago that you wish you still had, you can type that in and it will search your feeds.  You should also see on the right sidebar of my site here there's a box labeled "Stuff I Liked Reading."  I have Google Reader setup so I can click something when I see a post I like and it appears over there for all of you to check out.

With RSS you can log on to one site and read things from all the different sites you've subscribed to, from News to Sports to Tech stuff to whatever.  Now you can know when a site is updated without having to take a little tour of the web every time you want to keep up with stuff.  I'd keep explaining it but that's basically the point, and someone put together a totally awesome YouTube video (what is this, some kinda tube?) that explains each step of getting RSS up and running for you.  Check it out here: 

Check this out: Q10 Writing Freeware

If you're anything like me, you like to write and sometimes feel inspired to do so on the computer, but have difficulty focusing.  I've found it's often the little things that help.  So check out Q10, this awesome little piece of freeware.  It's nothing fancy but it might help you get to writing.  It's full-screen, gives you live stats like word count, has a customizable look, portable, has a timer/alarm, and more.  By default it makes little typewriter-click noises when you type.  You could turn that feature off, but why would you?  Every press of the button is so rewarding.  Anyway, check it out.

This may also help those of you participating in Nanowrimo, which starts today!

A couple quotes

One of the books I'm reading right now is Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life by David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, a book I have previously praised.  It's a collection of short thoughts that distill the truths from GTD.  I'm enjoying it so far and it's helping encourage me to do stuff. 

Today while the oil in my car was getting changed I came across a couple quotes I thought were awesome and I figured I'd share them with you.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

"Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon." - Susan Ertz

Good stuff.

It could always get worse

You know you've hit rock bottom when...

Ugh

Well Cal, at least you aren't keeping our hopes up for the Rose Bowl anymore.  I still have faith in Tedford, but man this season has been disappointing.  Enjoy the Obscurity Bowl, Bears.

November is National Novel Writing Month

Also known as Nanowrimo for those in the know.  There's probably a fair amount of the population that would like to consider themselves writers but never get around to writing much of anything.  I would also probably be included in said group...the lack of regular posting around here seems to pretty obviously indicate that.  It's basically a fake deadline thing to encourage you to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  That would be almost 2,000 words a day.  And November has Thanksgiving in it.  I'm thinking of using the month to crank out some sort of creative writing endeavor.  Maybe you could too.

My Dad is Crazy

 

 

This is him jumping off the highest bungee platform in the world on the Macau Tower.  He did this yesterday, at the age of 52, while on a business trip in China.  He sure knows how to take advantage of his spare time.  Sweet mother.

Come on Bears

Cal went into yesterday's game against unranked Oregon State ranked number 2 in the nation.  LSU, the first place team, lost their game.  This meant that if Cal could beat their opponent they'd be number 1 in the nation, something that hasn't happened for a very long time.  Apparently once the news of LSU's loss was announced to the fans in Berkeley during the 3rd Quarter of Cal's game they cheered and began to chant "We're Number One!"  Clearly these fans in Berkeley have no idea what they're doing.  Cal lost of course.

Now they're #10, a few spots behind Oregon, who they beat last week.  As a Cal fan I had a sneaking suspicion they didn't deserve the #2 rank but they should be ahead of Oregon.  They beat Oregon at Oregon's stadium, and though they lost this week they had their backup QB in due to a Longshore injury.

Dreams of a National Championship bid were probably foolish anyway, but I had them ever so briefly.  It seems like yesterday Cal's only win of the season came against a then-crappy Rutgers.  It's great to just see them competing, though once I see my teams competing I want to see them actually win.  An outright terrible team isn't as frustrating as a team not living up to its potential.  If Cal wins out they can still make the Rose Bowl, so there's always hope for that. 

Jonah

A few weeks ago at the Crossing we talked about Jonah.  I was encouraged to see so many kids there, and while it was difficult to get them to quiet down at times it was a good night overall.  We talked about how we split ourselves up into groups and some of the good and bad things about it.  In order to talk about this I decided to take the kids on a quick tour of Jonah and his story.

As a kid I remember being told the story of Jonah and the whale as an encouragement to have no fear and follow God whatever he would want me to do because He would make sure things went the way they should.  Those are good lessons to be sure, but they have little to do with the story of Jonah.

Jonah's reason for trying to run away from and disobey God's order to warn the Ninevites of their impending doom wasn't motivated by fear of failure or a sense of personal inadequacy.  Instead it was motivated by his hatred of the Ninevites.  He knew that God would forgive them if they repented and fled because he wanted them to die, not because he himself didn't want to die.  I think too often we (including me) don't actually try to see what a particular passage or story is about and instead put our own meaning on top of them.  How much of what God has said in Scripture is glossed over and misinterpreted because of our laziness?  And how many people do we prop up as heroes that don't belong there? 

Jonah was a bitter,  angry, hateful, racist man.  While some would say such adjectives accurately describe people who currently claim to follow God, paying attention to the story will show it's about God's mercy and forgiveness.  Even this so-called vengeful smite-happy Old Testament God was extending grace and mercy.  A careful reading of the Old and New Testaments will also show the assumed dichotomy between OT Vengeful/NT Loving doesn't exist.

It's been a year?!

Today is Belle's first birthday.  Part of me thinks time has flown by, but there were also some nights that would never end and very long days in the past year.  A year ago at this very moment I was driving back to the hospital to see Janelle and Belle because I wasn't allowed to stay with them after Belle was born since Janelle had to share a room with another new mother.

Well I was going to type some sort of reflective post but it seems Belle has decided it is time to wake up so it's time to go.  Instead I will leave you with this incredibly cute picture of Belle with her cousin at the park, and suggest you head over to the flickr page to look at the latest batch I uploaded.  There are some pretty great ones in there.

Player hurts himself arguing with ump

I liked Milton Bradley as an Oakland Athletic.  He showed no real signs of the hot temper that has hurt him throughout his career.  He was a little injury prone but played well when he was on the field, and he gave us some memorable moments.  Once he was traded to the Padres, however, he let fly with lots of criticisms about the A's and my Milton love decreased.  Apparently yesterday he hurt himself arguing with the umpire.  This is funny because of Bradley's proclivity to get injured but also because he made this comment, after having to be repeatedly restrained from trying to attack the umpire (note the italicized portions):

"It's terrible. And now, because of him, my knee's hurt," said Bradley, a second-half catalyst for the Padres who was in his third game back from an injury that sidelined him for nearly two weeks. "If this costs me my season because of that, he needs to be reprimanded. I'm taking some action. I'm not going to stand pat and accept this because I didn't do nothing wrong."

Are you kidding me?  What's even stupider is that the Padres seem to be backing him up on this, blaming the umpires for goading him into blowing up.  Good to see personal responsibility is alive and well.

Fantasy Football

I generally enjoy Fantasy Football. As a competitive person I like finding different ways to compete, and as a football fan I like the way Fantasy Football gives me a stake in various games I otherwise would just have to enjoy because they're football. On this second Sunday of regular season football, however, I'm beginning to think Nate, Mikey, and Ben are better off for not being in a league. It's fun...but it makes it more difficult to just appreciate football for what it is. It increases my frustration and stress levels. So I think next year it might be wiser for me to opt out of Fantasy Football. Here I will say it publicly: Nate, you were right.

News Alert

In case you were wondering, which you probably weren't, and this is probably not exactly world-shattering news to you...but Panera Bread's coffee is terrible.  I'd rather have a Starbuck's brewed coffee than this colored water.  Blech.

So Many Weapons

So Cal won their season opener last night, 45-31 against Tennessee.  Last year they were punked by the Vols in their opener but this year they got some retribution.  A win at home (this year) isn't as impressive as a win in Knoxville would've been, but it'll do.  I wasn't able to watch the game live but I listened to it on the radio and today I watched most of it on my DVR.  Cal sure was exciting to watch.  I think Tedford called too many little plays like screens and draws but overall they played really well and are exciting to watch.  DeSean Jackson was incredible as always, Justin Forsett looks to be quite able to fill in the hole left by Marshawn Lynch, the offensive line was usually dominant, Longshore led well, and the receiving corps is pretty strong.  If anything I'd say the defense was a bit sketchy and the Bears almost let the game slip away after being up by 17 in the 3rd Quarter...but it was a good win and I hope it's a sign of things to come.