December 31, 2008

1040 Miles

from Chris @ My Two Cents

That’s the goal: 1040 miles run in 2009. Mark Perry, my friend and the assistant pastor at Westerville Bible Church near Columbus, pulled it off in 2008 (Nice job, Mark!), inspiring me to give it a try. It’s not shockingly difficult: just 20 miles a week. But it’s 20 miles every week, and it’s a [...]

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A nice way to end 2008…

from Dan Forrest @ ForrestWorks

…Beckenhorst Press will be publishing my new arrangement of The First Noel, this spring. I wrote it over the last couple weeks, as the Christmas season was in full swing. It’ll come out later this spring, for use next Christmas.
Now, this new year, I’ll be getting to work on my Te Deum…
Happy New Year!

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a daughter is born

from Will Gray @ explorations

You may be wondering why I haven’t posted anything since 17 December. There’s a good reason. My daughter, Eden Isla Gray, was born on Wednesday the 17th. One ounce shy of nine pounds. 21 1/2 inches long. Head full of…

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2008 in Review

from Jordan M. Poss @ Jordan M. Poss: Blog, Ltd.
This has been an amazing year. I may as well make the requisite comment about not being able to believe it’s over, so there—I can’t believe 2008 is over, and that it’s over so soon. New Year’s Day 2008 I worked an auction and packed for a ski trip before falling to sleep in my room in Georgia, and now here I sit in my apartment in Clemson, awaiting the beginning of a new year and new semester.
Something that has especially helped me bring the year’s events into focus is my diary—this is the first year in which I’ve kept one. I bought the Moleskine daily diary in Trier last summer and I’ve managed to write an entry, no matter how brief, for every day of this year. Looking back, it’s amazing just how much things have changed. I have a job, I’ve finished my first semester of grad school (theoretically the first 25% of grad school), I completed my novel, started revision, got my own apartment and—mostly—paid my own way, and, most importantly, I have Amy.
Before I veer off into my own abundant sentimentality, I’ll end this prologue and introduce my year-in-review. In it I’ll include a few of the major events in my life and, at risk of trivializing my actual life, some of my favorite films and books from the past year.
—Major Events—
January 2-10—Trip with Dad, Greg and Joel Peters to Colorado
January 22—First solo date with Amy
February 14—Completed No Snakes in Iceland
March 3—Interview for grad school at Clemson University
March 21—Amy and I “make it official”
April 4—Receive offer of assistantship at Clemson
May 2-3—Trip to Greenville for Meredith’s graduation
July 9—Sign a lease on my apartment
August 17—First night spent in the apartment
August 20—First day of classes
October 31—Halloween party at my apartment
December 12—Final exam, the end of my first semester
December 15—Christmas party at my apartment
—Musical Discoveries—
Muse, especially the albums Black Holes and Revelations and Absolution (special thanks to Chiafos)
Sixpence None the Richer (special thanks to Amy)
Megaherz
—Workout Stuff—
In January I was struggling with weights in the upper 190s, getting one rep of 200 lbs. every once in a while but mostly maxing out around 185 or 190 lbs. As of my last workout, I routinely bench two sets of ten at 185 , one set of five at 215 , and can usually get two reps of 225, sometimes three. I also branched out—thanks in part to Clemson’s amazing gym—to a lot of other exercises. Not the kind of shocking progress you see on TV, but I have to say I’m happy with the slowly-realized results of hard work and patience. Here’s hoping I can keep it up in the new year.
—Favorite Films—
To my astonishment, I’ve seen so few films this year that a top ten list would be almost self-defeating, since among the ten would be films that I wouldn’t normally include in any kind of recommendation to anyone. So rather than list the usual ten, I’ll just name the five favorite (not necessarily best) films I’ve seen this year and give a brief run-down why.
The Dark Knight—Combines all the best qualities of Batman Begins and the Michael Mann films Christopher Nolan strove to emulate—real-world psychological complexity, a densely-woven plot, hard-hitting action, and great performances. Throw in some probing moral quandaries and you’ve got a great motion picture.
There Will be Blood—It’s a shame this had to go up against No Country for Old Men at the Oscars, since my love of Cormac McCarthy threw me down on one side of a call too close to make.
Iron Man—Great characters, thrilling action, and some really hilarious one-liners make this one of the most purely entertaining films in a long time. Some of its thunder—as a superhero movie, anyway—may have been stolen by The Dark Knight, but Iron Man is one for the ages.
Dark City—A real head-scratcher that becomes more complex with every viewing. Special thanks to Bean for introducing me to this one.
Zodiac—Dense, realistic, meticulously-recreated—quite possibly the best true-crime film ever committed to celluloid (or, in this case, HD video). Advertised as some kind of serial killer thriller, Zodiac is much more a series of character studies—of the investigators, the reporters, and, of course, the killer himself—and a procedural.
Honorable Mention: Get Smart—this movie is hilarious, one of the few genuinely funny comedies released in a long time.
—Ten Favorite Books (nonfiction)—
Carnage and Culture, by Victor Davis Hanson
City of God, by St. Augustine
The Killing of History, by Keith Windschuttle
A History of Warfare, by John Keegan
The Worst Journey in the World, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

The Reason for God, by Timothy Keller
Christianity’s Dangerous Idea, by Alister McGrath
The Double Helix, by James Watson
History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides
The Persian Expedition, by Xenophon
—Ten Favorite Books (fiction, poetry, etc.)—
Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis
Das Nibelungenlied, as translated by Burton Raffel
Godric, by Frederick Buechner
Killing Rommel, by Stephen Pressfield
Cities of the Plain, by Cormac McCarthy
Lancelot, by Chrétien de Troyes, as translated by Burton Raffel
King Solomon’s Mines, by H. Rider Haggard
Shiloh, by Shelby Foote
From Russia with Love, by Ian Fleming
I’ll also include an honorable mention for The Terror, by Dan Simmons, a 950-page novel that I began this week and haven’t been able to put down. I won’t finish it in time to include it as a “best read” of 2008, but—barring a really lame ending—it’ll definitely be in the top ten for 2009. Check it out.
And that’s about it. I hope you’ve all had a great year and that the next one will be even better.
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Windows 7 Gestures

from matt @ RandomThoughts

I’ve been playing with Beta 1 (build 7000) of the up and coming Windows 7 from Microsoft and discovered a new feature today that I haven’t seen documented on other sites or Microsoft docs either. If you grab a window and quickly “jiggle” it back and forth a couple times, all other windows behind it [...]

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New Year’s links

from Barbara H. @ Stray Thoughts

Rob at ivman has a great list of “New Year’s resolutions you can keep,” such as, “Procrastinate more. Starting tomorrow” and “Don’t jump off a cliff just because everyone else did.” If you need some attainable goals…or just want a good chuckle…check them out.
A couple of years ago I posted New Year’s Resolutions for your [...]

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31 Days of Joy Scheduled to Begin January 1

from Jeri @ BASSENCO's Blog on the Lillypad 2

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Twitter Skills = Girl Skills?

from nullvariable @ Nullvariable

Saw this ad today.

Really? I had no idea! I’d better work really hard on my Twitter skills! But seriously, it makes me sad that someone is paying money for an ad like this. It makes me even sadder that people are probably clicking on it. With marketing like this its no wonder we tune out [...]

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December 30, 2008

Repost: Planning to read the Bible more this year?

from Barbara H. @ Stray Thoughts

I was going to post on the reading the Bible in the New Year as often people set that as a goal at the beginning of the year. But as I looked at some previous posts on the topic, this one from January of this year said about everything I would want to say, so [...]

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As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God [del.icio.us]

from lincoln.mullen @ The Backward Glance

"Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good." From the London Times.

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