Here’s a simple Hebrew medley I want to teach the King’s Court Choir at CPC. I recorded a quick video with my guitar—actually, with my daughter’s cheapo short-neck—so they can hear how the song goes. Continue reading “A Hebrew Medley (video): Ayts Chaim/Hashivenu”
A Well-Run Household
Today, I have a guest post from humorist Kevin Cummings, who graciously is allowing me to poke, stab, put him under a microscope, and otherwise enhance his discomfort in an upcoming interview at bethestory.com, all to promote his new book, Happily Domesticated.
(So you can see what he gets out of it. The pleasure I get out of it should be equally as obvious.)
This piece was originally published on November 9, 2007, and I reprint it here, because I so thoroughly sympathize. (God yes do I sympathize!) (With the fact that no one listens to him either, not with the cat.) You can catch the audio version here.
-TimK
A Well-Run Household
You see them on TV all the time; houses which are nicer, cleaner, and more attractive than yours the same way a runway model is more appealing than any member of the 1972 East German Women’s Swim Team. The camera lovingly pans around showing scenes of impossible beauty like an elegant kitchen filled with matching dish ware, a living room in which the furniture does not appear to have been purchased at a trailer-park tag sale, and (most incredibly of all) a bathroom in which the towels not only coordinate but are hung neatly on gleaming towel bars instead of being heaped on the floor. When you see a house like that you’ve just to ask yourself, What do those homeowners have that I don’t have?
The answer is simple.
A small army of production personnel including three professional designers and an uptight director known in the television industry as “Hansel the Fussy.” Before the cameras are even permitted on the property, the house is completely remade from top to bottom. Continue reading “A Well-Run Household”
Computer Upgrades Cost Lives
© 2007 David Baker CC BY-ND 2.0
Or at least they cost life. That is, they suck time from my life, because they seriously disrupt my life, and keep me from getting much of anything done, including writing blog posts. One of my Facebook friends even asked me how I was doing, I had disappeared for so long!
So, my dad was nice enough to loan me his MacBook Pro—which I am now using—while mine is getting fixed. That is, under repair.
This all happened to happen around the Yom Kippur weekend. And here’s how it went down.
Saturday night, I did a complete backup of my MBP’s hard drive. Fortunately, I keep backups anyhow, so it didn’t take as long as it would have from scratch. Unfortunately, I had never restored a MBP from one of these backups before, and so I didn’t know what to expect, or even exactly what to do. I spent the entire afternoon Sunday trying to restore my disk image onto my dad’s MBP. Couldn’t remember how to mount the backup’s image file, and I thought I couldn’t do it from the appropriate interface. Couldn’t remember why I backed up into an image file in the first place. Spent hours copying files out of the image file, then ended up not using the copies. Finally figured out what I should have been doing from the start, and set the restore process going.
Many hours later… Continue reading “Computer Upgrades Cost Lives”
The Psychology of Worship Music
Isn’t it amazing, with the amount of time we as Christians spend in worship, and especially singing in worship, that we understand so little about it.
This thought strikes me now, just a couple nights away from the next “In the Deep” (Saturday night, at which I’ll be subbing on bass, because their usual bassist is getting married). “In the Deep” is a biweekly, interdenominational praise and worship concert. Concert after concert through the autumn and winter, crowds gather from all over the area to soak in the candlelit ambience, to fill the Newton, MA sanctuary with over an hour of passionate worship in song, and then to gather downstairs for snacks and fellowship.
[Update: The event is no longer held there.]
What Luxury Do You Wish For?
photo by "dragonflysky" on Flickr; © 2007 CC BY-NC 2.0
I have simple tastes. I could survive on soup and salad, and an occasional hot dog, and be happy. I need a roof over my head, companionship, and an Internet connection (because that’s business).
Nonetheless—to answer Jamie Ridler’s Wishcasting Wednesday question, “What luxury do you wish for?”—there are a few things I really enjoy that I’ve given up or scaled back on during the recession. And now that things are turning around and looking up again, I hope to enjoy these again. Continue reading “What Luxury Do You Wish For?”
Looking for Smart Software Developers
Aaron Edwards is a-Job Huntin’! (© 2006 Aaron Edwards CC BY-NC 2.0)
A lot of companies were looking for Drupal and WordPress consultants this week, and you know what that means: another batch of funny job ads! No, really, I’m really excited about this week’s funny job ads, and I think you’ll agree. Because who doesn’t just LOVE funny job ads?!
Like this real-life job ad from CraigsList, which I swear is completely true, which is looking for “Smart Software Developers,” as opposed to the stupid variety. (And if you’re not a smart software developer, I’m sure they might still accept your application, as long as you’re at least a technical rockstar.) Continue reading “Looking for Smart Software Developers”
YA Audio-novel Giveaway
Just a quick note:
Laura Whitcomb is giving away a prize each month on her blog throughout the school year. The first giveaway is a CD audio-novel, A Certain Slant of Light. I myself read the paperback some time ago—see my A Certain Slant of Light review. The one-line version: “When the dead-unresolved meet the dead-inside. 5/5 stars.” I recommend the book wholeheartedly.
-TimK
How Many of These Games Can You Identify?
I was reminiscing on YouTube on my Commodore 64, the third computer I ever had. The first was a Sinclaire ZX81, with 1KB RAM, no sound, and black-and-white video. Then we upgraded that with a 16KB RAM pack.
Then my parents upgraded me the following Christmas to a Commodore VIC-20, which had a whole 4KB RAM, sound, and color graphics. At some point, we also got an 8KB RAM expansion cartridge, and I remember programming it in assembly code, using the Machine Code Monitor cartridge to debug my programs.
The following year, we got a Commodore 64, which had a whole 64KB RAM—more than any other computer at the time—and new sound and graphics chips that were trés kewl. The Commodore 64 is unique in my memory, because I not only remember programming it, I also remember playing games on it, including a number of the games featured in this video: Continue reading “How Many of These Games Can You Identify?”
The 9/11 Wedding Pictures
… because they were taken 16 years ago today.
The Missus & I are proud members of the 9/11 Club, those whose wedding falls on September 11. Of course, people are still getting married on 9/11. Numerous couples, I’m sure, got married today, September 11, 2009. (Just ask Google. He’ll back me up on this, I think.)
And to all of them, I have only one thing to say: “Mazel Tov!”
I might post more pictures next week, because I have to scan them first from the actual photos. (Remember those?)
Today, while I was waiting to have blood drawn, some folk singer on TV was singing a woeful song—I’m sure it was supposed to be woeful—about how she couldn’t forget this day, because it changed her life forever.
Look at these pictures! This is why when I heard that song, I smiled—instinctively—and thought, Yeah. It sure did change my life forever. Continue reading “The 9/11 Wedding Pictures”