Jennifer and I made a trip to Penzey's spices yesterday and it is fantastic. Of course we are currently stocked to the gills with spices (does anyone else have a half pound of cumin seeds sitting around?) but it has great spices at totally reasonable prices.
They have one in Dallas too, so we will be frequenting it in the future for all of our needs.
www.penzeys.com
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Ode to the crock pot!
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/04/172-crock-pot-love-letter.html
What to do at work when there is nothing to do?
Okay so I am at work, nothing to do. Anyone got good ideas? Right now, blogging, also surfing the web, and playing halo (though that does require other people to be in my same situation...)
Maybe I could go run errands? That seems a bit dishonest to me. But I am salaried for my work, not for my time. There is an expectation of work, but I can work from home too.
So should I stay or should I go?
Maybe I could go run errands? That seems a bit dishonest to me. But I am salaried for my work, not for my time. There is an expectation of work, but I can work from home too.
So should I stay or should I go?
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Great take on the universe's bigness
I was just reading the Desiring God blog and found what I found to be a very Biblical and profound (though somewhat obvious) take on the extreme magnitude of the universe.
Basically it boils down to this: the heavens were created to give an impression of how huge our God is. And that is huge. We can see 14 billion light years in any direction which is 82,298,997,340,000,000,000,000 miles. And that's just what we can see. I promise you it's bigger. And probably bigger than you can imagine. To get some sense of this try this earth to sun ratio (though it does not compare to the hydrogen atom page).
Anyways all of that is to say the universe is huge which is humbling and awe inspiring. I really don't think we will ever get bored in heaven any more than we will on earth. Because in heaven, we will explore the one who created the heavens. Which will take forever, thankfully.
Basically it boils down to this: the heavens were created to give an impression of how huge our God is. And that is huge. We can see 14 billion light years in any direction which is 82,298,997,340,000,000,000,000 miles. And that's just what we can see. I promise you it's bigger. And probably bigger than you can imagine. To get some sense of this try this earth to sun ratio (though it does not compare to the hydrogen atom page).
Anyways all of that is to say the universe is huge which is humbling and awe inspiring. I really don't think we will ever get bored in heaven any more than we will on earth. Because in heaven, we will explore the one who created the heavens. Which will take forever, thankfully.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Big government
So I guess this is more of a rant than anything else, but it is probably my biggest concern in American politics right now.
I know America has issues. Big ones. Healthcare, a war on the other side of the world, a sagging economy, and a slow steady fall from the top of the world heap. And it seems like we need something to get us back on track. We are clamoring for a leader, someone who will take the reigns back from what may be the worst presidency in history.
But really what should that leader look like?
This current administration has actually been more like a regime. It has been flatly denying the system of checks and balances from writing signing statements, to claiming authority over international treaties, to tinkering with the attorneys and just flouting court decisions. They have broken laws over and over again, done things Americans despise and generally lost all of our international good will.
How in the world did they do this? Seriously, don't we live in a representative democracy with extensive checks and balances to prevent this from happening? I thought we could check the president when he gets a bit out of control. He has the lowest approval rating...ever and has for a while. And the power doesn't seem to be decreasing.
So what should we do in response? Well we should elect someone else into office who is just smarter than Bush and isn't as evil and who can undo all of the bad things he has done and do good things instead, right? If the president is so strong can't the next one fix everything? We know whoever will be next has too be better than Bush.
However, lets also remember the other side of Bush. He has had the highest approval rating of any president...even right when he did the things that so many hate him for now. So it doesn't seem to matter how much we like or trust our president, it can go wrong.
The problem is not just picking the right man for the job; it's picking the right job for the man. My concern right now is that Americans think that the way we should fix everything is by electing another equally powerful president to fix the problems, but the problem is itself the power of the executive. We need a weaker executive, and I don't think that is what democrats want right now. I think both Obama and Clinton want to fix the US by being as powerful as Bush but doing everything 'right.'
I really don't think this an issue of good or bad intentions on behalf of either of the two. They both want to help the US, and I do honestly believe that. Obama because he believes in something bigger than himself and Hillary because she wants to prove she is bigger than she is. But the best intentions don't matter unless they are really getting at the problem. And the problem is not just the direction, but also the power that is able to move us that way.
We need to get back to a government that is balanced, a little bit more 'free market' (i.e. really what is the best for the people not for sub-group 13B) and hopefully a little bit smaller.
I am genuinely afraid that if the next administration does not move towards a smaller leaner government, then maybe not them but at some point 10 or 20 years down the line, we will be in much more significant trouble.
After over 200 years of ground-breaking politics (democracy that doesn't involve the guillotine , human rights activism (end of slavery (got it on the second try) actually addressing racism (not perfectly), open-ness (we've impeached people), peace (okay one civil war, but that was about point 2) and prosperity (biggest power that was not one at any point 200 years ago or before and also brought the computer, capitalism, regular home ownership and the microwave) -- I fear for the US. We may be our own undoing (people on top always are).
I end with the common phrase 'Power corrupts...
I know America has issues. Big ones. Healthcare, a war on the other side of the world, a sagging economy, and a slow steady fall from the top of the world heap. And it seems like we need something to get us back on track. We are clamoring for a leader, someone who will take the reigns back from what may be the worst presidency in history.
But really what should that leader look like?
This current administration has actually been more like a regime. It has been flatly denying the system of checks and balances from writing signing statements, to claiming authority over international treaties, to tinkering with the attorneys and just flouting court decisions. They have broken laws over and over again, done things Americans despise and generally lost all of our international good will.
How in the world did they do this? Seriously, don't we live in a representative democracy with extensive checks and balances to prevent this from happening? I thought we could check the president when he gets a bit out of control. He has the lowest approval rating...ever and has for a while. And the power doesn't seem to be decreasing.
So what should we do in response? Well we should elect someone else into office who is just smarter than Bush and isn't as evil and who can undo all of the bad things he has done and do good things instead, right? If the president is so strong can't the next one fix everything? We know whoever will be next has too be better than Bush.
However, lets also remember the other side of Bush. He has had the highest approval rating of any president...even right when he did the things that so many hate him for now. So it doesn't seem to matter how much we like or trust our president, it can go wrong.
The problem is not just picking the right man for the job; it's picking the right job for the man. My concern right now is that Americans think that the way we should fix everything is by electing another equally powerful president to fix the problems, but the problem is itself the power of the executive. We need a weaker executive, and I don't think that is what democrats want right now. I think both Obama and Clinton want to fix the US by being as powerful as Bush but doing everything 'right.'
I really don't think this an issue of good or bad intentions on behalf of either of the two. They both want to help the US, and I do honestly believe that. Obama because he believes in something bigger than himself and Hillary because she wants to prove she is bigger than she is. But the best intentions don't matter unless they are really getting at the problem. And the problem is not just the direction, but also the power that is able to move us that way.
We need to get back to a government that is balanced, a little bit more 'free market' (i.e. really what is the best for the people not for sub-group 13B) and hopefully a little bit smaller.
I am genuinely afraid that if the next administration does not move towards a smaller leaner government, then maybe not them but at some point 10 or 20 years down the line, we will be in much more significant trouble.
After over 200 years of ground-breaking politics (democracy that doesn't involve the guillotine , human rights activism (end of slavery (got it on the second try) actually addressing racism (not perfectly), open-ness (we've impeached people), peace (okay one civil war, but that was about point 2) and prosperity (biggest power that was not one at any point 200 years ago or before and also brought the computer, capitalism, regular home ownership and the microwave) -- I fear for the US. We may be our own undoing (people on top always are).
I end with the common phrase 'Power corrupts...
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