On Labor day, Monday, September 1, Chick-fil-a will be giving away free chicken strips to anyone that comes in wearing something that supports their favorite football team. See this page for more details.

Labels: food

You all probably know that Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, To Catch a Dragon, etc., gave the benediction at the Democratic National Convention. Well, he recently posted on his blog the email correspondence between him and Sen. Obama and Mrs. Obama.

That guy is amazingly clever. I laughed out loud when I he wrote to Michelle Obama and of his pre-prayer activity said "I am just going to listen to my headphones beforehand, like Michael Phelps."

Is that guy funny, or what?

Labels: blogosphere, politics

Last week, I bought an external hard drive to backup my iMac and MacBook.

My iMac is running Tiger. So, I don't have Time Machine. So, I used the software that came with the drive, WD Anywhere Backup, to backup my iMac. Now all of the videos, music, and most importantly, photos on my iMac are backed up on the external drive.

Step two was to share the external drive connected to the iMac and backup the MacBook to it. I had read online how this was possible. They suggested doing this over a wired connection for the initial backup, but after that, the backups could be performed wirelessly. So, I got both the iMac and the MacBook connected to the router.

The MacBook is running Leopard. So, I planned to use Time Machine to back it up. However, Time Machine does not show the external hard drive as a possible destination drive for the backup. The drive does not show up in Finder either, though it is shared.

What I am reading leads me to believe that Leopard does not recognize it because the drive is connected to a machine running Tiger via FireWire.

Has anyone ever had any thing like this happen? I would like to avoid spending $100 on Leopard for my iMac if possible. Any help would be appreciated.

Thoughts?

Labels: backup, imac, leopard, mac, macbook, tiger

NOTE: This is pretty long, but it is a deep look into the chaos that goes on in my head. If do manage to read it all, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Last night Mandy asked me something like: "Do you think it's possible that you think about your body too much?" My initial response was something like: "Yeah, probably." Since that short exchange, I've been thinking about why I am concerned about my weight/body fat.

Last night, I announced that I had lost 15 pounds and accomplished my goal of trying to get down to 210 pounds. Some people responded with congratulatory remarks, others asked what my secret was, and someone even asked what motivated me to try to lose weight. To the motivation question, I responded by explaining that part of my personality is that I like to compare my results to others. The StrengthsFinder test calls this competition. Then, I told them about the Ragamuffin Top Challenge.

It was about half an hour after my announcement that Mandy asked me the aforementioned question. I think that her asking could possibly be at least in part because she is tired of hearing about it. If that's true, I don't hold it against her. Even my wife gets tired of hearing about it at times. And beyond that, I even get tired of it sometimes.

Most people might get down if the people around them are not supporting them when they are trying to lose weight, but when I hear my wife say something like, "You don't even need to lose weight," I half-way agree with her. So, I don't get mad/hurt/disappointed or any of those things.

See, most of the time when you are trying to lose weight, people don't question you, but in my case, I started my weight loss challenge in better shape than most people. I was close to being heavier than I had ever been, but even at 225, I was probably only carrying ~12% body fat. So, when someone would say, "You don't need to lose weight," my response would be, "Yeah, you're probably right. I don't NEED to, but I WANT to."

So, all of that was to get to the main point of this post. I am trying to figure out WHY I want to lose weight/body fat.

There's always the easy answer... health. I think this plays a role in why I want to lose weight, but I don't think that health alone is enough of a motivating factor. If it were, I probably would do more to improve my health overall and not just lose weight.

Then, there is that competition thing I mentioned before. I think this is the biggest factor, but not in the way it is described in the StrengthsFinder theme of competition. I thought at first that I was motivated by comparing myself to others, and I would be lying if I said that it was a non-factor. There is a component of comparing myself to others, but I don't think it is the driving force.

When I tried to think of who I would be comparing myself with, I couldn't come up with a good answer. I thought about my friends, co-workers and other people around me, but I don't think I am really competing with them. Not many of them are trying to lose weight, and the ones that I know of that are trying to shed some pounds do not have my same body type. So, comparing myself to them would be like comparing apples to oranges.

Then, I thought that I could be comparing myself to other athletes, e.g. Michael Phelps and Yang Wei, per my last RMTC video. However, I don't think that I'm motivated by comparing myself to them. Long term, if I keep up my weight loss and working out, I do think that I could end up with a physique similar to an Olympic swimmer, but that is not really a stated goal. Also, to claim to be competing with Olympic athletes would be a bit silly given that they exercise for a living.

You may ask, if I'm not competing with my peers and I'm not competing with other athletes, how is competition the biggest factor in my motivation to lose weight loss? It may come across as complicated, but in my head, the explanation is simple. I am competing with myself. More aptly, there is an internal competition and the number on the scale is the scoreboard. I'll try to explain.

You know in the cartoons where you see the character and he is trying to make a decision and on one shoulder he has the devil and on the other shoulder he has the angel. My struggle is similar to this.

There are at least two competing voices in my head. One voice is reminding me how much I like to drink sweet tea and how much I like to eat stuff like hot wings and ice cream. My mouth is watering now just thinking about those things. Another voice in my head is the proponent of good health.

When it comes to a decision about what to eat or whether or not to exercise, voice number one usually says, "Com'on. Just eat it. You know it tastes good, and you don't need to lose weight anyway" or "Do you really feel like going to the gym? You don't need to exercise." Then, there is voice number two that plays to my competitive nature saying, "Really, are you going listen to him? Are you going to let him win? What good will it do you to drink that? Or. eat that?"

Sometimes voice number one wins, but recently voice number two has been winning out. Thus, I have been losing weight.

I don't think that this internal struggle is an uncommon one. Probably everyone who is trying to lose weight goes through this. I just think that the competitive part of my personality plays in heavily here. So much so, that now that I have met my goal, I don't want to quit.

I know this may make me out to be borderline schizophrenic, but I just thought I would let you in on what I've been thinking since last night.

Labels: health, weight loss

The folks at NOOMA have put out another video, and they are again doing a free preview on Facebook. It should be available until 1PM on Wednesday, but I would go now and check it out. You can go here to see it.

I think I have seen all of the NOOMA videos and this one is near the top, if not the best one.

Here's what they have to say about it...

We didn’t have anything to do with our birth. We are all here because some woman somewhere gave us life. Her pain, her effort, for our life. And when a mother gives like that to a child, she is showing us what God is like. But sometimes this part of God’s nature is overlooked. A lot of us are comfortable with male imagery for God. But what about female imagery for God? Is God limited to a gender? Or does God transcend and yet include what we know as male and female? Maybe if we were more aware of the feminine imagery for God we would have a better understanding of who God is and what God is like.

Let it be known that my mother and the mother of my children are by far the best two women on the planet. They don't make words to describe how much I love them.

Labels: church, family, nooma, video

Joye Mullis just started up a blog called Signs of Life. Go check her out and show her some love.

Who else has recently joined the blog world that we should all know about?

Labels: blogosphere

Labels: health, video, weight loss

I just saw the above photo on a friend's flickr photostream. I had heard that Rainbow Sandals come with a warranty. So, I looked it up to see if it were possible for her to return her sandals instead of throwing them away.

It looks like she won't be able to return them, but the return policy was humerous. So, I thought I would share it here.

RAINBOW® SANDALS will NOT Repair or Replace your sandals if they become defective as a result of any circumstances not involved in the manufacturing.

For Example:

- Bottom or Top Sole Wearing Through to Soft Colored Insert
- Motorcycle Kick-Pedal Gouges, etc.
- Skateboard Abuse
- Chewed Strap from Dog
- Ripped Rubber from Walking on Curbs, Jagged Rocks, and Coral
- Cuts, Slashes, Burns, etc.
- Torn Straps
- Excessive Abuse
- Cracked Rubber / Materials

Have you ever tried to return a pair of sandals with kick-pedal gouges?

Labels: indiscriminate

If you didn't get it from the last post, we're having another baby.

Labels: baby, family, video

Not long after our son, Palmer was born, I was talking with an older friend, who happens to be the father of four children. I was talking to him about the way things were going at our house since Palmer had been born.

I told him how having a baby was not nearly as earth shattering as I had anticipated. There was definitely a lot more to consider when trying to leave the house. There had definitely been an increase in the amount of stuff in our house. As well as a decrease in the amount of sleep, but overall, things were not all that different. If Kim had something she wanted to do, she could leave Palmer at home with me, and vice versa.

I'll never forget his response. It went something like this...

Yeah. Having one kid is a breeze. There are two of you and one of him. You can double team him. The more difficult thing is when you add a second kid. Then, you have to play man-to-man defense. Then, it is all over when they out number you. You are playing zone at all times and there are always holes in the defense.

Well, Kim and I are starting to practice our man-to-man defense in preparation for next year's March Madness. I know it's early, but we feel like we will need all the practice we can get in because Palmer's punching bag, i.e. our second child, is due to enter the chaos that is our lives in mid-March 2009.

Answers to some questions you might have...

• 9 weeks.
• Decent, more nauseous than last time.
• 22 months.
• Nah, that's what we wanted.
• It could happen.
• Most likely.

Questions you may have asked...

• How far along is Kim?
• How is Kim feeling doing?
• How far apart will your kids be?
• Wow, that's pretty close together, isn't it?
• Will you name this kid Sidney if NC State wins the ACC Tournament on the day it's born?
• Are you guys crazy?

Ready or not, here we go.

Labels: baby, family

Phil Wickham is giving away his latest CD, Singalong, for free on his web site. I'm admittedly not a huge fan of "contemporary christian" music, but this doesn't come close to the lame category I put most of the stuff you hear on K-Love.

Here's what he has to say about it...

This record has been something that I have wanted to do for a long time and finally on May 9th this year, I was able to do a show in Portland, Oregon with just me and a guitar and record it. The album artwork is simply the faces that were sent in to my blog from people that either attended the show or watched the show as it was broadcast on my blog.

I encourage you all to go download the album. It's free. What do you have to lose?

If you attend Visio Dei, I think you will really enjoy the album (assuming you enjoy the music there). The band there sings several of Senor Wickham's songs.

If you download the album, come back and let us know what you think.

Labels: church, music

Some friends of mine have been working to fight human trafficking for a couple years now. They have a group that meets regularly here in Raleigh. I found out today that they also have a newly created blog where you can keep up to date with what they are doing to participate in the fight.

Please go check them out. If this is something you are passionate about, you can do more than just read their blog.

One practical step you can take is to help bring the movie Call and Response to your city. Below is a trailer for the movie, but on the web site, they have a form for how you can 'Act'. If you fill out the form, which includes your zip code, you will be helping bring the movie to your city. Once they receive 1,000 entries from a city, they will set up a screening there. So, 'Act' now.

Here's the trailer...

Labels: activism, human trafficking, video

I just finished making dinner. It only took me about 10 minutes to make and it is delicious. So, I thought I would share one of our family's favorite recipes. This would have been great to have when I was single. So, maybe some of you single guys can take notes and feed your self something other than frozen pizzas and take-out. You can buy all the ingredients at the grocery store for pretty cheap, too, which for me is part of the appeal.

Two Step Chili

Here's what you need..

• 1 lb. Ground Beef
  (The recipe really calls for 3/4 lb., but more meat makes it more manly.)


• 1 TBSP Chili Powder
  (That's the big one. If you don't have measuring spoons, you can use one from the drawer for this.)


• 1 Can (14.5 Ounce) Del Monte Zesty Chunky Tomatoes Chili Style
  (Seriously, that's what it says on the can.)


• 2 Cans (8 Ounce) Del Monte Tomato Sauce
  (No. I do not work for Del Monte.)


• 1 Can (15 Ounce) Kidney Beans - Drained
  (If you don't drain them, it ruins the chili.)

Here's what you do...

• Brown the meat with the Chili Powder
  (That means throw the meat in a pan, pour the chili powder on top, and stir until the meat turns brown. Oh, yeah, be sure to turn on the stove top, or it will take a real long time for the meat to turn brown, and you will not want to eat it then. Trust me.)


• Drain the meat.
  (Pour the meat from the pan into a strainer/colander. If you don't have a strainer, stack a bunch of paper towels up on a plate and pour the meat onto the paper towels.)


• Open up all the cans and pour the contents of the cans and the meat into the pan.
  (Be sure to stir it all together.)


• Heat it on medium for about five minutes.
  (I know, you could just put in on High for like 3 minutes, but then the stuff would splatter all over the stove top. Once you find that special lady, she won't care about the two minutes you saved. She'll appreciate the lack of mess more. So, it's probably better to create a good habit now.)

That's it. You're done. I usually eat it with some shredded cheese. You can add sour cream if you're into that type of thing and crackers are a good addition. If you don't have any crackers, Fritos are a good substitute.

So, I hope that helps out at least one of you people out there in the wide, wide world of webs.

Do you have a simple go to recipe?

Labels: food

Tonight, we crashed a house warming party for a new neighbor. Well, actually he is Daniel and Mandy's new neighbor, but he's still pretty close to our house.

We met Lodge for the first time last year at the Lavin's Christmas party. All I remembered was that he played kickball and made a video about VMWare that won a contest. I wasn't sure to expect at his party that we were crashing, but it turned out to be awesome with a capital awesome.

There was some good food, some beer, and lots of interesting people. We ate. We watched a movie outside. And, we got to enjoy a concert by Ben and Lodge. Two of the best songs were Enchilada and On Purpose.

As great as the entertainment was, the people were even better. The Lavins and the Morrises were there, who we already knew, but I met several new people.

Here's a list of the new people I met:

• Allen Emory, who until recently was the president of the Triangle Mac Users Group. You can follow him on Twitter @LQQK


• Kaci and Katie of acroentertainment.com. It turns out that Kaci went to high scholl with my sister, Capri.


• Walden of engineeredpoetry.com.


• Jess, who is a specialist at the Apple Store at Crabtree Valley Mall. She doesn't have a blog and doesn't twitter, but you can be her friend on Facebook.


• Paul Miller of varietyartsblog.com.


• Brian of theweborganic.net. He is the star of the VMWare video. You can follow him on twitter @bmbouter.

It was a great night of networking.

Labels: indiscriminate