Author: jason

Home Video Advice

Home Video Advice

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It’s Father’s Day weekend, and I find myself home alone, doing some backup maintenance on our home videos. I’m loving watching some of these old videos, some almost 17 years old. It’s beyond description getting to see the faces of family that are no longer with us — my Dad, Angela’s grandparents — and to get to hear their voices again. These videos are priceless to me. I wish we had more, especially of my Dad, so let me pass on this advice:

When you’re at a family gathering (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, birthdays, whatever) and you find yourself taking videos, make sure you get “the crowd”. There may be someone blowing out candles or opening a present, but scan the room. Get video of parents, grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, nephews, nieces, friends, party crashers. Get them speaking. One way or another, there’s going to come a day when you won’t be able to see those people again. You’re going to want see them — you’re going to want to hear their voices — and those videos are going to be the closest you’re going to get to speaking to that person again on this earth. Trust me. You’ll be glad you “wasted” the space.

Marcion and Getting Unhitched from the Old Testament

Marcion and Getting Unhitched from the Old Testament

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This sure does sound familiar. It seems a lot of people today refuse to believe the God of the Old Testament, but refusing to believe doesn’t it make it not so. What’s old may be new again, but it’s still wrong. 🙂

Great post by DeYoung. Go read the whole thing.

Marcion’s theological errors (and there were many) came from one main root: he refused to believe that the God of the Old Testament was the same as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Marcion simply could not believe in a God full of wrath and justice. So he threw away the Old Testament and took for his Bible a truncated version of Luke’s Gospel and selectively edited versions of Paul’s epistles. When all the cutting and pasting was finished, Marcion had the Christianity he wanted: a God of goodness and nothing else; a message of inspiring moral uplift; a Bible that does away with the uncomfortable bits about God’s wrath and hell. Marcionism was antinomian, idealistic about human potential, and skittish about dogma and rules.

Source: Marcion and Getting Unhitched from the Old Testament

New Blog Site

New Blog Site

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It’s been a really long time since my last post. I have a new site, and new momentum to get back into “regular” blogging. Here’s hoping. 😛

The violence of football

The violence of football

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In a recent interview with The New Republic, President Obama decried the violence of football, saying, “I’m a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I’d have to think long and hard before I let him play football. And I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence.”

So let me summarize: Boys playing football? Maybe not. Women in combat. No problem.

A day of professional triumph and personal tragedy

A day of professional triumph and personal tragedy

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Today is a significant day for me for a couple of reasons. Professionally, today marks three years since we released GlassFish 3 and Java EE 6. Most of you probably don’t care much about that. Today also marks another three year anniversary of a more personal nature. It was today in 2009 that my dad was rushed to the hospital for what turns out to be the last time. I’ve written several times in various places about my dealing with my dad’s death; I don’t want to rehash that here. What I do want to do, though, is share a song.

Over the past few years, I’ve come across several songs that have helped deal with grief, express thoughts, etc. One in particular, is “Even If” by Kutless. I think the chorus sums things up about as nicely as can be done:

Even if the healing doesn’t come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone
You are God You are good
Forever faithful One
Even if the healing
Even if the healing doesn’t come

Here are the rest of the lyrics, followed by the video.

Sometimes all we have to hold on to
Is what we know is true of who You are
So when the heartache hits like a hurricane
That could never change who You are
And we trust in who You are

Even if the healing doesn’t come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone
You are God You are good
Forever faithful One
Even if the healing
Even if the healing doesn’t come

Lord we know your ways are not our ways
So we set our faith in who You are
Even though You reign high above us
You tenderly love us
We know Your heart
And we rest in who You are

You’re still the Great and Mighty One
We trust You always
You’re working all things for our good
We’ll sing your praise

You are God and we will bless You
As the Good and Faithful One
You are God and we will bless You
Even if the healing doesn’t come
Even if the healing doesn’t come
What Can Brown Do for You?

What Can Brown Do for You?

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I recently ordered an item from an online store, a multiport, wireless router. I was pretty excited about getting it, so I was closely watching the tracking status on UPS’ site. Upon checking the status, I saw that it was delivered. Surprised as I’d been home all morning but pleased, I looked outside to find…nothing. I looked behind every bush, column, trash can, etc. The package simply wasn’t there.

Unsure where to start, I first tweeted my predicament:

@UPS says a package is on my porch, but it’s not. I wished they’d ring or knock & not just silently drop things off. Been home all morning

Before I could dig up a number to call, UPS responded:

@jasondlee Oh no! Let’s follow up to find out where it is. Please e-mail your track # + phone # to twitter@ups.com. ^ST @ups

Fast and friendly! I sent the email and in an hour or so, I got a call from the local UPS office. I explained the situation to her, and she said that she talked to the driver who confirmed he dropped it off, but she’d talk to him again and have him come back by.

A little while later, a UPS truck pulled up. When I met the driver on my porch, his first words were, “I screwed up”, which, to be honest, was pretty cool that he’d be that honest. As it turns out, he dropped it off on the wrong street. The home owner had already taken the package in, and wasn’t answering the door, so he left a note. As disappointed as I was at the delay, the driver ‘fessed up and was trying to make it right, which is about all I can ask, I guess. It’s an easy mistake to make.

This morning, the same driver pulled up and delivered my package. He apologized for the mix up and went on his way. My story, then, does have a happy ending. I’ve used UPS for many years now, and I’ve always been very happy with them. This is the first time I’ve ever had this sort of issue with them, and, once they were made aware of the situation, they were very quick and proactive in making it right, even promising to replace the item should it not be recovered. Due to a few bad apples tossing packages, etc., they often get a lot of bad press, so I think it’s important to share this to show that they do care and do a great job on the whole. I know I’m happy with them. 🙂

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

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I have a bunch of random, sometimes half-baked thoughts rattling around that space between my ears. Rather than taking the time to write a separate entry for each of them, I'm just going to dump my thoughts here in one big, meandering post.

  • I have very little sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street crowd.  They may have some valid points here and there — there IS a lot of "corporate greed" scattered around, I guess — but their point kind of gets lost amidst all the public defecation and rapes.  Furthermore, it's pretty ironic that in a protest of corporate greed, you see a lot of personal greed in them demanding more of rich people's money for projects the protestors deem appropriate. That’s some pretty thick irony.
  • Speaking of OWS, the media seems to look at them much differently than the Tea Party. It’s an absolute certainty that I missed a TP story or two — I really don’t follow them much. However, I’d bet Mitt’s $10K that if something truly outlandish happened at a TP rally, the press would still be talking about. However, real crimes happen at OWS rallies, and, well, those people aren’t part of the movement, so there’s really nothing to talk about. If you’d like a more visual display of the differences between the two groups, Brandon Dutcher shared a nice graphic. No, no bias in the media at all.
  • What are those people thinking blocking the ports? “um…people are making vast amounts of wealth and stuff and uh like…we’re gonna stop that!” You really can’t say anti-capitalist any more clearly than that. As Neil Cavuto points out, it’s more than the uber-evil Goldman Sachs using those ports. Some of us just want our Christmas gifts. And as to those people not crossing the picket lines, they were told not to, I would guess, out of fears for safety, at least in part. There’s a long history of people getting hurt trying to cross picket lines. I would also venture to guess that those same people not crossing the line aren’t getting paid because they didn’t cross the line. I could be wrong, and it might vary from one company to the next, but I’d not be surprised. Way to help out the “99%”.
  • Jim Geraghty had a nice response to Obama saying that it may take more than president to fix the economy: “If it’s going to take more than one president, why don’t we get the next one started as quickly as possible?” AMEN. 🙂
  • I was asked a few weeks ago who I liked in the GOP primaries. I didn’t have an answer then, and I still don’t. I kind of like Herman Cain, but, real or not, those allegations probably made him unelectable. Newt bothers me a bit, as does Romney, as they both seem far too willing to promote more liberal agendas until the political winds change, then work against them. Bachmann… meh. Perry? I dunno. I like what I’ve seen of his record, I guess. Ron Paul’s foreign policy ideas scare me, though I like some of his fiscal ideas. The other candidates probably aren’t even worth mentioning. I really don’t know who I’ll vote for, but, to steal and paraphrase…someone, the GOP could run Elmer Fudd and I’d vote for him. I’m really not a fan of the anybody-but approach to voting, but…
  • Why are Mitt Romney’s or Michelle Bachmann’s religious beliefs important, but President Obama’s are not?
  • If the President really is smart, why won’t he release his transcripts? My guess is that they’re probably vacationing in Kenya with Kerry’s medical records.
  • It seems like TIME Magazine has just quit trying. This year’s “‘Person’ of the Year” is “The Protestor”. Remember when “You” were the PotY? Why can’t they just pick a real person? “Ugh…I dunno Bob. Who SHOULD we pick? Tell you what: let’s just pick something random and vague and call it a day.” “Sounds good, Jim. Now, who’s got that next suck up piece on the president?”
  • I find all this Higgs boson talk pretty fascinating. How they can “see” something that tiny is way beyond me.
  • I’d love a more energy-efficient light bulb, but CFLs contain mercury, making a broken bulb pretty major, and LEDs are too expensive to install in large numbers. So until they make one that’s both affordable and non-deadly, incandescents win the day in my house.
  • The time perception of children is pretty funny. I got to see Noah’s “15 hour” Christmas program at school this morning.
  • Nothing else comes to mind, and it’s time to eat lunch. And get back to work. 🙂
RIP, Bob Barry, Sr.

RIP, Bob Barry, Sr.

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Probably everyone who follows Oklahoma collegiate sports has probably heard that former Voice of the Sooners Bob Barry, Sr. passed away today. I really don’t have anything to add to the memories and thoughts of Bob. I will say I always enjoyed listening to him call the games. His enthusiasm and love for the game came through clearly over the radio. I would, though, like to highlight my favorite memory-of-Bob quote that the national press seems to be skipping over. Current OU Announcer Toby Rowland had this to say (emphasis added):

“I never saw Bob have a bad day. He loved life. And he loved his job. Even after 50 years of broadcasting he would show up at the stadium like a kid in a candy store. His play by play style was unmistakable, but it is his gentle, kind and fun-loving spirit that I will always remember. His advice and words of wisdom will forever be cherished in my heart. This is a tremendously sad day, but I rejoice that Heaven just got a Legend.“

Nicely put. 🙂