Didn’t you know? Late nights are the thing…
going to bed after a couple of hours of op sys refactoring and music making
rise and shine at 8; class at 9
that makes four nights in a row of 6 hours of sleep
Blog - Page 10
Sanctity of Life
I made a brief reference to Sanctity of Life Sunday in my post last night. Stan has provided an interesting perspective on the topic that places Christ at the center of the issue. Check it out if you’ve got a little bit of time.
Selections from Philippians 3
My pastor spoke this morning from Philippians 3. Because it’s almost midnight and I’m feeling pretty tired, I’ll just quote some of the verses I thought to be espeically challenging or thought provoking. You can download an MP3 of the sermon from my church‘s web site.
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Snow!
Well, folks, on Friday night, we finally got the snow I’ve been waiting for the last month or so. David and I went over to Wheaton College and hung out with our sister and built a big snowball, had some snowball fights and ate ice cream. David is most definitely one tough cookie, as he single handedly took out a college student in about a half a second for trying to destroy our snowball.
Pictures are on Facebook.
MC68HC11 Assembly Notes
When programming on the Motorola 68HC11 processor, keep in mind that the following command does not work:
ADDD ADR1
The ADDD op code wants 16 bits but ADR1 gives only 8.
It took Ryan and I about an hour to figure out that this was preventing our Operating System from performing A/D conversions correctly.
My Weekend
So I’ve wanted to post on here for a few days and boast about my score of 160 that I earned when bowling with a bunch of friends on Friday. I know it’s pretty meager compared to the top score of 300, but I was quite pleased with my accomplishment, as it is likely the highest score I have ever gotten. I think the coolest part of it all was the three strikes in the 10th frame.
Anyway, I would write about my weekend in more detail but don’t feel like doing a whole lot of writing at the moment and some of the glamour of has faded away in the busyness of this week. If you want to see pictures from bowling and hanging out afterward and then Shih man’s birthday on Sunday, see my Facebook page. I’ve decided that’s a better, easier, and cooler place to upload pictures than my web site because those to whom the pictures pertain will see them. Recent comments have proven that those who read my blog are generally not the people I see the most and photograph on a regular basis.
The Little Honda that Could
Well, the Little Honda that Could no longer can. The Japanese space ship is sunk. In case you’re out of the loop and those phrases mean nothing to you, they refer to my car. The mechanic ran some engine sealant stuff through the coolant system and it appeared to fix the issue with the burning antifreeze, but by the time my parents picked up the car and drove it home, it was blowing billowy clouds of white smoke out the exhaust once again. The car still drives, albeit not quite as it should. I imagine that if the leak gets bigger again, the car will become susceptible to stalling. Because I haven’t had a mechanic tear apart the engine, I don’t know exactly what the issue is. Likely, it’s a blown head gasket or a crack in the heads. I haven’t quite decided what I am going to do. My dad wants to buy the car off me and take it to a mechanic he knows to see exactly what is up. Scott doesn’t think that’s worth it. In any case, I pretty much need a new car. So, if you’ve got one for sale, make me an offer and if I like it, I’ll consider it.
Seasoned Speech
I read Colossians 4 this morning and verses 5 and 6 especially stuck out at me.
2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
My first thought regarded the frequency at which I let myself get carried away when I’m upset and let those with whom I’m upset know about it. For example, I have seldom been the most pleasant voice on the telephone to telemarketers or ignorant customer service representatives who have little knowledge about the problem I am trying to resolve. My mom frequently reminds me that we are Christ’s ambassadors to the world, whether they know it or not, and as such, our attitudes toward them should reflect this. Our words should be spoken “with grace, seasoned with salt.” How often I fail at that.
Looking at the context of verses 2-3 might suggest to some people that this grace and salt-seasoned speech is commanded only when sharing the gospel with others (see also Ephesians 4:15). If we are to love our “neighbor(s) as” ourselves (Luke 10:27) and part of love is patience (1 Corinthians 13:4), then it seems that seasoning with grace and salt all our words spoken with members the world is really not so far from what God, through Paul was communicating to us.
MSOE Nerd
So according to server logs, I have received two hits to my web site from person(s) who did a search on the terms MSOE nerd.
Am I that much of a nerd, that the keywords MSOE nerd rightly bring a searcher to my web site? I sure hope not!
Apparently a search for Scott Vetter, Brandon Feil, Kevin Pflugs, Chris Jakubik, and Sarah Bosshart will get you to my site, too. Does that make them nerds also?
On a side note, I just noticed Google’s logo is written in Braille to celebrate Louis Braille’s birthday. If blind users are browsing the site (can they do that?), do they rub their fingers against the Braille logo to read that it says Google? Obviously not. Regardless, I think it’s kinda cool. Google is good at coming up with unique stuff that no one else seems to think of. I recall reading on their corporate web site when looking at internship opportunities that though people have said that more efficient search algorithms could not be developed, Google has come up with some. Pretty exciting stuff. I hope I can work there this summer. I still haven’t heard anything back yet besides the automated “we will contact you after reviewing your resume if we think you are a potential match” message.
I think I’ll get off the topic of computers before I prove my MSOE nerdiness.
Gone South
So it seems our world is going downhill. My sister admitted last night that her roommate’s country music is growing on her. You know what they say about the slippery slope of such behavior…once you take one step, you just keep falling deeper and deeper into your mistake.
Now I will have lost two close people to this disease – Stan and my very own sister. Who is next? Any takers?
Please wake me up from my nightmare.
You know … at least Stan has a good excuse. If I fell in love with some woman who absolutely could not live without country music, I would perhaps change my attitude toward it … a little. But until that day, I am a free man and I’m going to take full advantage of it.
