Have a nice day, eh?
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Wednesday, April 04, 2007 Kitchen reno Key things to note.... THE DISHWASHER. !! Here are a few before and after photos:
AFTER:
BEFORE (guy in photos was my house inspector when I bought the place):
AFTER:
Betty and I are pretty pleased with how it turned out! Tuesday, January 23, 2007 Brooklyn Museum Bett and I went to the Brooklyn Museum this past Saturday to check out the Annie Leibovitz exhibit. Since this weekend was the last weekend for the exhibit, the lines were INSANE. We parked in the lot, walked through the back and BAM - HUGE line to pay for tickets. We're talking... a 45 minute wait. After buying tickets, yet another line was waiting for us at the elevators. Another 45 minute wait. After getting to the 5th floor? Yep, another line. This last line was more interesting as there was some American art to look at. We saw some O'Keeffe paintings and this one painting that was inspired by Olympia, a Manet that we saw at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. While in line, we had to walk through this larger exhibition - works from sculptor Ron Mueck. Wow. We stayed behind the roped line (obviously, since we had waited about 2 hrs by this point and there were only about 2 more minutes left) for the Leibovitz exhibit, but really after walking through that room, I couldn't wait to check out these sculptures. It's interesting, as we were walking through the main entrance, they had 4 Rodin sculptures for us to examine. Betty and I didn't really look at them too closely (who expects quality pieces like that in the foyer??) but we did remember what we saw at the Rodin museum in Paris. Some amazing work by an artist with a phenomenal sense of the human body. Mueck's work is much, much different, but you definitely get that sense as well. Betty and I agreed that while the Leibovitz exhibit was interesting, the Mueck exhibit really captured our attention Anyway, the exhibit is here till Feb 4th. Highly recommended if you are curious. Check it out! posted by Allan | 1/23/2007 10:37:00 AM | 1 comment Friday, January 19, 2007 Interesting. A friend of Betty's forwarded her this from the pastor of Joy Christian Fellowship in NJ. God and Gambling It's an interesting argument that the Pastor is making. Thoughts anyone? My main argument against the way in which this article was written is as follows: "The issue I have with this article is how matter of fact he is being in terms of what is okay and what is not okay. People don't need a new law or "updated bible for the times" for real heart change, they need Christ himself. This pastor doesn't seem to be concerned with the saving work of Christ but rather how to instill new guidelines for his congregation to follow. That's the stance of legalism... and we know that legalism doesn't save. " But Wai points out that this guy is a pastor and his job is to guide his flock in their best interest. Which is a great point. so... thoughts? Oh, incidentally here's Ch 20 of the Westminster Confession of Faith... I'm not using it as arguments for or against what is being said in the article. Just as reference! Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience.I. The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law; and in their being delivered from thos present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin, from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation; as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love, and a willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the law; but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was subjected; and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of. II. God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his Word, or beside it in matters of faith on worship. So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is ts betray true liberty of conscience; and the requiring an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also. III. They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is, that, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. IV. And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another; they who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God. And for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation; or to the power of godliness; or such erroneous opinions or practices as, either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the Church: they may be lawfully called to account, and proceeded against by the censures of the Church, and by the power of the Civil Magistrate. posted by Allan | 1/19/2007 04:19:00 PM | 0 commentsWednesday, January 17, 2007 Bad Coaching the pats/chargers game... all boiled down to one offensive set score 21-21 4 mins left, charger ball at their own 29 I'm like. Oh, I saw this last week. eagles-giants. Chargers won this one, good try, Pats! All they need to do feed the ball to LT... he marches up the field and they kick in a field goal, leaving 0 time for the pats right? He's the MVP of the whole league. Teams have stacked 8 in the box against him and haven't stopped him. To that point in the game he's run 22 times for 118 yards, 1 touchdown. averaging like 5.3 yards a carry. THEY CANT STOP HIM, right?? first play, LT to the right. 5 yards (of course, that's his stinking average) 2nd and 5... incomplete pass. TIME OUT 3rd and 5... incomplete pass. punt Absolutely retarded. AND WHAT WAS UP WITH RIED NOT GOING FOR IT ON 4th and 15???? posted by Allan | 1/17/2007 01:54:00 PM | 0 comments Thursday, September 07, 2006 Free Derek Web! Derek Webb of Caedmon's Call fame is giving away his latest album free online. Clicky here. I'm listening to it now... pretty great so far! Lyrics sample: There are two great lies that I've heard: The day you eat a fruit of that tree, you will not surely die. And that Jesus Christ was a white middle class republican and if you want to be saved you have to learn to be like Him. So my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country or a man my first allegiance is not to democracy, or blood... it's to a King and a Kingdom! posted by Allan | 9/07/2006 08:43:00 AM | 2 comments Thursday, August 24, 2006 Pluto no longer a planet.. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and.....? Pluto has been demoted to 'dwarf planet' status, along with the recent discoveries of UB313, "Xena" and Ceres... 
posted by Allan |
8/24/2006 10:07:00 AM |
1 comment
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 Amazin  My wife got some tickets to last night's Mets game through her workplace. Little did we know it would be the BEST. GAME. EV3R! Bett and I were late, so we JUST missed the delgado HR in the bottom of the 2nd. 1-0 Then we saw pujols hit a 3 run shot in the 3rd (doh!) 1-3 Next inning, pujols with the bases loaded? some more ouch time... 1-7 Same inning, Mets are up, Beltran with the bases loaded? weak ground out to third... Delgado steps to the plate, works the count to 3-1... I said to Betty, Gary and Lisa: "this is the pitch we're waiting for!!" 5-7 In the ensuing innings, the Mets eek out a run, and the next time Pujols threatens with runners on 1st and 2nd, they get him to hit into a 6-4-3 double play. beautiful. The Cards have this center fielder named Encarnacion. That got betty and I singing... "Encarnacioooonnnn Encarnacioo oo oo ooo on! I'd break my vows no no no no no no way jose... unless you want to then we'd break our vows together..." 6-7 Bottom of the ninth, top of the order, Reyes grounds out to 2nd... Lo Duca singles to center. Carlos Beltran, 0-4 for the night, comes up to the plate.... wham. walk off home run. Awesome. 8-7 Game Highlights: -Pujols. he was the cardinal's entire offense. -the Mets threw Belliard out at home. (same inning as the Pujols grand slam) -the Delgado grand slam (400th career HR) -the Pujols 6-4-3 double play -Beltran's (Mr. 1-5 on the night) walk off home run. -Watching a baseball game with my wife and friends. It was a great time! posted by Allan | 8/23/2006 08:51:00 AM | 2 comments Thursday, June 01, 2006 This is interesting. The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up. Here's mine. posted by Allan | 6/01/2006 10:18:00 AM | 3 comments Tuesday, February 28, 2006 Redeemer in the NY Times? Maybe this will get some Times readers interest in checking it out... let's pray! Preaching the Word and Quoting the Voice February 26, 2006 By MICHAEL LUO In the twilight of the biggest snowstorm in New York City's history, the pews of a rented Baptist church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan were packed for the Rev. Timothy J. Keller's fourth sermon of the day. The 600 or so who braved the snow for the evening service got what they had come to expect — a compelling discourse by Dr. Keller, this time on Jesus' healing of the paralytic, that quoted such varied sources as C. S. Lewis, The Village Voice and the George MacDonald fairy tale "The Princess and the Goblin." It was the kind of cogent, literary sermon that has helped turn Dr. Keller, a former seminary professor whose only previous pulpit experience was at a small blue-collar church in rural Virginia, into the pastor many call Manhattan's leading evangelist. Over the last 16 years, Dr. Keller's church, Redeemer Presbyterian, has swelled to 4,400 attendees, mostly young professionals and artists who do not fit the prototypical evangelical mold, spread out across four different services on Sundays. Although Dr. Keller, 55, is hardly a household name among believers outside New York — in part because he has avoided the Christian speaking circuit — his renown is growing in pastoral circles and in the movement to establish or "plant" new churches, a trend among evangelicals these days. Pastors from around the world are beginning to come in a steady stream to New York City to glean what they can from Dr. Keller and Redeemer. Their goal is to learn how to create similarly effective churches in cosmopolitan cities like New York, which exert outsize influence on the prevailing culture but have traditionally been neglected by evangelicals in favor of the suburbs. "We're not giving them a turnkey template," said Dr. Keller. "What we're saying is, 'There's lots of overlaps between our big city and your big city. Some of these things you will use. Some of these you will discard. Some of these you will adapt.' " Believing new churches are the best way to produce new Christians, evangelicals are making a major push to start new churches around the world, said Edmund Gibbs, a professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary outside Los Angeles. But only recently have some evangelicals begun to turn their focus to urban centers. Dr. Keller "has grasped the strategic significance of the city, of the urban culture and the need to engage that very diverse culture at every level," he said. "Our culture is urban-driven." In New York City, Redeemer has become the central training ground for anyone planning to start a church in the metropolitan area, whether among Guyanese immigrants in Queens or streetwise youths in the Bronx. Since 2000, when it established its own training center for "church planters," as they are called in evangelical parlance, Redeemer has helped start more than 50 churches in the city, from faith traditions and denominations as diverse as Assemblies of God, Lutheran and Southern Baptist. In addition, it has helped found 17 "daughter churches" of its own Presbyterian denomination in communities like Williamsburg and Park Slope, Brooklyn; Astoria, Queens; and Hoboken, N.J. Meanwhile, so-called city-center churches modeled on Redeemer — also attracting audiences of professionals and creative types — have sprung up in places like Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Berlin, London and Amsterdam. The churches emulate much of Redeemer's approach, including its attitude of embracing the city and its focus on the Christian message of grace and redemption, which Dr. Keller argues has been muddled in many churches. The Rev. Stephen Um, whose church in Boston, Citylife, began four years ago and now attracts about 500 people every Sunday, said he and other pastors had embraced Dr. Keller's emphasis on delving into the prevailing culture almost as much as into the biblical text. Along these lines, Dr. Um is just as likely to cite a postmodern philosopher like Richard Rorty or Michel Foucault in his sermons, as he is, say, Paul's Letter to the Philippians. "This is Tim's thing," said Dr. Um. "He said, 'You need to enter into a person's worldview, challenge that worldview and retell the story based on the Gospel.' The problem is evangelicals have always started with challenging the worldview. We don't have any credibility." Redeemer meets in three facilities: the Ethical Culture Society and the First Baptist Church on the Upper West Side, and Hunter College on the Upper East Side. Unlike most suburban megachurches, much of Redeemer is remarkably traditional — there is no loud rock band or flashy video. What is not traditional is Dr. Keller's skill in speaking the language of his urbane audience. On the day of the snowstorm, Dr. Keller tackled a passage from the Gospel of Mark in which the friends of a paralyzed man carry him to Jesus. At least initially, however, Jesus does not heal the man but offers him a puzzling line about his sins being forgiven. Part of the point, said Dr. Keller, is people do not realize that their deepest desires often do not match up with their deepest needs. "We're asking God to get us over that little hump so we can save ourselves," he said. "It doesn't occur to us that we're looking for something besides Jesus to save us." Observing Dr. Keller's professorial pose on stage, it is easy to understand his appeal. While he hardly shrinks from difficult Christian truths, he sounds different from many of the shrill evangelical voices in the public sphere. "A big part is he preaches on such an intellectual level," said Suzanne Perron, 37, a fashion designer who is one of many who had stopped going to church before she discovered Redeemer several years ago. "You can go to Redeemer and you can not be a Christian and listen to that sermon and be completely engaged." Dr. Keller shies away from the label evangelical, which is often used to describe theologically conservative Protestant Christians like him, because of the political and fundamentalist connotations that now come with it. He prefers the term orthodox instead, because he believes in the importance of personal conversion or being "born again," and the full authority of the Bible. An important lesson that Dr. Keller said he had tried to convey to other pastors is that the hard sell rarely works in the city. Becoming a Christian in a place like New York, he said, is more often the product not of one decision but of many little decisions. "One decision might be Christianity is more relevant than I think," he said. "Or, here's two Christians that I don't think are idiots." It was the Rev. Terry Gyger, an official with the church-planting arm of the Presbyterian Church in America, an Atlanta-based evangelical denomination, who persuaded Dr. Keller to come to the city to start a church in the late 1980's. At that point, Dr. Keller was a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary and the part-time head of the Presbyterian Church's mercy ministries. His only previous pastoral experience was at a Presbyterian church in Hopewell, Va., a struggling factory town. Under Dr. Keller, the congregation grew from 90 to roughly 300 in nine years, but that was in the Bible Belt, of course, not New York City. "I just saw in him the raw ingredients," Mr. Gyger said. "I felt he had the inquisitiveness. He had the intellectual capital. He was very articulate, even though he had not had a lot of preaching experience in the big pulpits of our denomination." Even so, Dr. Keller was offered the post only after two other candidates turned it down. Within a year of its founding in 1989, however, Redeemer had grown from 50 people to more than 400. By the end of 1992, the church had swelled to more than 1,000 people. Since then, it has continued to grow steadily, all while renting space in several locations. Sept. 11 proved to be a defining moment for the church. On the Sunday after the terrorist attack, more than 5,000 people showed up. So many people packed the church's Sunday morning service that Dr. Keller called another service on the spot, and 700 people came back to attend. While attendance returned to normal in other churches after several weeks, Redeemer kept attracting about 800 more people a week than it had drawn before the attack. "For the next five years, I would talk to people about when they joined the church, and they said right after 9/11," Dr. Keller said. After the attack, the church also began to increase its training for those working to found churches. His church's main goal, Dr. Keller said, is to teach pastors how to truly love the city, rather than fear its worldly influences. Unlike many evangelicals, Dr. Keller advocates an indirect approach to change. "If you seek power before service, you'll neither get power, nor serve," he said. "If you seek to serve people more than to gain power, you will not only serve people, you will gain influence. That's very much the way Jesus did it." As a result, one of Redeemer's hallmarks has always been its focus on charity, something it emphasizes in its training of urban pastors. It operates a program called Hope for New York that arranges volunteer opportunities for people from Redeemer with 35 different partner organizations. Last year, 3,300 people from the church volunteered their time. A looming question for Redeemer, though, is how much of what Dr. Keller and his team have built can be maintained when he ultimately exits the stage. When he was out for several months in the summer of 2002 while undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, attendance dipped noticeably. For now, the faithful of Redeemer do not have to contemplate that situation. Dr. Keller continues to preach nearly every Sunday, dashing back and forth to its different rented facilities and putting in unrelenting 80-hour work weeks. On the night of the snowstorm, Dr. Keller closed his monologue with a moving riff on Jesus' love in spite of humanity's flaws, and a quote from C. S. Lewis, one of his favorite writers: "The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and his compulsion is our liberation." And then he prayed for his congregation and his city. posted by Allan | 2/28/2006 10:49:00 AM | 1 comment Wednesday, February 22, 2006 100 Gold Coins Five pirates have obtained 100 gold coins and have to divide up the loot. The pirates are all extremely intelligent, treacherous and selfish (especially the captain). The captain always proposes a distribution of the loot. All pirates vote on the proposal, and if half the crew or more go "Aye", the loot is divided as proposed, as no pirate would be willing to take on the captain without superior force on their side. If the captain fails to obtain support of at least half his crew (which includes himself), he faces a mutiny, and all pirates will turn against him and make him walk the plank. The pirates start over again with the next senior pirate as captain. What is the maximum number of coins the captain can keep without risking his life? posted by Allan | 2/22/2006 02:27:00 PM | 3 comments |
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