Category: Signs Of Life

General thoughts, mostly blog updates

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State Of The Blog Address

This past November (2014) was the lowest month for page views I’ve had in more than two and a half years. I’ve had to look through my logs and see why, but I think I’ve finally figured it out: I hosted several photos here that I linked to from discussion forums (mostly computers, bikes, cars, music). These count as “hits” without people actually visiting the blog, which throws the numbers off quite a bit. Going through my 404 logs, I can see where people are still linking to photos I used, and in some cases, someone linked to it from somewhere I didn’t even know existed. This might be part of the cause. (Taking three weeks off to write a major article didn’t help, either!)

I need to go through and clean these loose links up. It will 1. help clean up the traffic stats, and 2. ease some of the load on the server.

There are also plenty more things I have in development, but they will have to wait until Christmas break, when I have time to devote to them. Hopefully you’ll think they will be worth the wait! I’m also going to be working on setting up a new website for musicians using Linux, which sadly, there are far too few of (people using Linux, and websites for them).

I’ll also try to incorporate a Twitter feed in the sidebar, which I’ve tried previously, but dropped because 1. the embed code sucked, and 2. I didn’t use Twitter that much back then. Both have changed now, so I will give it another shot. I’ve had this website up and running going on TEN YEARS at this point, so there’s nowhere to go but upwards!

I got more in me. Let’s do this.

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The Ministry Of Criticism

As human beings, we are inclined to complain. The Israelites did it, even when God was providing for their every need, and had just delivered them from Egyptian captivity. It’s in our nature to complain, argue, be offended, and critical. I mean, really, we’ve pretty much perfected it.

Unfortunately, this type of behavior is completely unproductive. You would think that people would learn this eventually, but the truth is, we just shuffle it to another location.

NOTE: I’m talking specifically about people’s thoughts, and actions as far as they’re not physically harming or illegal. We can and should criticize criminal activity. But what I’m talking about here is the “grey area” stuff. You know: the Thought Police.

Let’s say I’m offended by bad drivers. (That’s a stretch, right? Lol) I feel guilty when I’m always criticizing bad drivers. It doesn’t fix anything, and only makes my mood worse. I’m still going to act accordingly, of course… I drive defensively because of it. Because I can’t control how others drive, even if it’s stupid and borderline illegal. I’ve done my fair share of stupid.

But the irritation has to come out somewhere. Our very natures are full of selfishness, which is the root of the problem. If we can’t let it out on other drivers, maybe we take it out on our kids. Or our spouses. Or random people who are too dumb to realize that the express checkout line is not the place to be asking questions about what items qualify for a certain discount. *Sigh.* Continue reading “The Ministry Of Criticism”

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The Homeschooling Dad’s Expectations

Some of you may be familiar with the fact that my wife and I homeschool our kids. As someone who was bored stiff in public school (and still struggles with “ADD” to this day) I was perfectly fine with our kids receiving individualized schooling and delight-directed learning. It seemed like such a natural idea to me, it made me wish I’d been able to do it when I was young. Alas, I managed to survive institutionalized learning, and in the process, I even learned a few things.

However, I’ve come to realize that most men aren’t like me, and don’t really understand the benefits of schooling their kids at home. Some of them are pretty hostile to the idea, in fact. At first, I was completely befuddled by this. I mean, why wouldn’t you?

But then I started seeing why, as I learned more about how other men saw things. I spent time reading story after story about men who didn’t have a clue about the basics of education, or why certain things work and others don’t. It’s not that they were stupid, they just assumed (incorrectly) a lot of things about how learning actually happens. When you throw that in with an over-inflated sense of discipline, you get a train wreck of confusion and misinformation.

So I’m writing this to help clear up some confusion, and possibly shed some light on the subject for those who either 1. don’t get it, or 2. are trying to get their spouses to get it. Continue reading “The Homeschooling Dad’s Expectations”

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Idiocracy Is Nigh Upon Us

There are a few things in today’s society that need explaining, for those who haven’t been around long enough to understand them.

  • The world isn’t fair. It’s never going to be fair.
  • Societal norm is not based on emotions.
  • You cannot change other people, you can only change yourself.
  • Reason and Logic don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on.
  • Trying to force the vast majority of people to accept what is obviously and observably not true is destined to fail.

I can only hope and pray with every fiber of my being that the world is not as messed up as the Social Justice Inquisition makes it out to be. I cringe to think what will happen once hypocrites and emotionally crippled people are calling the shots in this country. (disclaimer: it probably already is) Continue reading “Idiocracy Is Nigh Upon Us”

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Homeschooling The Delight-Directed Way

My wife and I homeschool our kids. I think it’s an awesome way for kids to reach their potential, and I wish I had been able to do it when I was young. There’s a lot of people leaning towards homeschooling now (thank you, Common Core…) but all of these new “home teachers” have questions on whether they’re doing it “right” or not.

My wife and I have gradually over the last few years gravitated towards something called “Delight Directed” learning. This is essentially what it sounds like: we use things the kids are already excited about to teach things they need to know. As it turns out, you can work math, science, history and language into just about anything if you look at it long enough. So far, it’s working very well.

But the question we get asked the most is “How can you let your kids learn whatever they want, and still have them be effectively learning what they need to know? What if they get out into the world and just fail miserably?”

Understandably, this is based on fear of failure, for you and your children. Nobody wants their kids to fail, and nobody wants to be a failure. However, the fear of delight-directed learning is both unfounded, and counterproductive. To bust the myth that kids need tons of structure to learn, we will need to dissect it piece-by-piece. Continue reading “Homeschooling The Delight-Directed Way”

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Ragamuffin

I just finished watching Ragamuffin: The Rich Mullins Story. I think, as I look back on it, I was most impacted by the spiritual hardships he endured. And as usual, it got me thinking.

It seems to me that the most creative, amazing, Godly people I know of got that way due to horrible hardships and trouble. I can’t think of one person who really impacted the world for God who was perfect. And it seems to me that the more people suffer through, the more creativity they have at their disposal.

When you hear someone play the blues, it’s easy to tell if they’ve lived through real hardships. It comes through in their playing. There’s a grit there, a sorrow, a hardness that you just can’t fake. Some of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard were written by people who were teetering on the brink of destruction. Their passion and hearts were poured out, even as their lives came crashing down around them. Because their lives were crashing down around them.

I’d like to say I’ve been through hardships. I suppose, compared to a lot of people, I have. I’ve cheated death more than once, and somehow God saw fit to save me from my own stupidity, or whatever it was, and give me another day to live and serve. Continue reading “Ragamuffin”

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Success And Failure: Rest And Laziness

I hate sleep. And much for the same reasons, I love coffee (and caffiene in general).

But try as I might, I can’t shake the fact that I need sleep. I need rest. And I’m not comfortable with that, really. I always feel like I’m missing out on something. I’m always thinking about some cool project, idea, story, song, or something I’d like to have time to work on. I feel empowered when I accomplish things, and God has gifted me with the ability to do some amzaing things. Like being a dad, a writer, a musician, an inventor, an avid cyclist, etc.

Lately, I’m beginning to believe that when God commanded man to rest on the Sabbath, it applied to more than just one day a week.

God knows we are made to be workers. We are innately capable of working tirelessly if the proper motivations are in place. For years, I was ridiculed and singled out by my school teachers for being “lazy” because I didn’t give a rip about history or math. Or homework. The truth was, as a genius-level child, I was bored to tears. I hated homework because I generally got the concepts and understood them fully in class. I didn’t want to practice something I already knew. I was ready to move on to something more exciting! I was the farthest thing from lazy, but they couldn’t understand that. Continue reading “Success And Failure: Rest And Laziness”

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In All Seriousness

I just can’t be serious all the time. I guess after years of blogging here, I’ve become accustomed to only writing about things that really irritate me, or things I’m really passionate about. This might lead one to believe I’m an angry stuffed-shirt curmudgeon who disapproves of everything.

But that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I’m actually a very laid-back, chilled kind of guy. Anybody who’s met me in person knows that… if I were any more laid back, I wouldn’t have a pulse.

And yet in my day-to-day life, I don’t get to discuss things like theology, economics, politics, music theory, programming, and so on. They’re just not common topics of conversation. This is a large reason why I blog about that stuff here. And of course, anybody here is welcome to discuss anything civilly. I relish those opportunities to think and talk about things besides Sportsball and Hunting (the two national passtimes of southern Louisiana). I have absolutely nothing against those things, but I also don’t really care about them, either.

I don’t want to seem indifferent about everything though. I don’t really hate a lot of things. Driving while texting/calling, yes… I despise that with the burning fire of a thousand suns. But I don’t hate people as much as I hate seeing the effects of what people do. Sometimes it gets depressing, honestly.

But not to fear! I haven’t lost my sense of humor. Maybe I need to post funny cat pics, cause you can never have too many of those, right?

DOg chasing dog FAIL GIF

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Who Do You Want To Be?

Recently, I stumbled across a sermon series by Bill Hybels, called “Simplify.” I listened to it, thinking all the while it was going to be full of useful advice on how to simplify our lives… pretty obvious, right? He talks about simplifying finances, simplifying your schedule, simplifying your job, and so forth. For the most part, I was right.

Except that in one of the messages, he says something to the effect of “Don’t ask what you should do; ask who do I want to become? And when you schedule your life around that idea, the rest will fall into place.”

I can’t really explain why, but that little question made me stop and think. What is it that I want to become? Why am I wasting time on doing things that have nothing to do with what I need to be? Why do I do those things? Continue reading “Who Do You Want To Be?”

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The First Rule Of Fight Club

For the last few months, I’ve been really torn about the exceedingly hostile culture towards Christians, specifically in Geeky circles. At first, I pretended to not notice it. The random, unrelated references to “Science” as a proper noun. The occasional comment about despising church. And then, I started seeing actual vitriol flung at people for simply asking questions. It progressed to the point where some people I respected were joining in the fray, participating in character assassination based solely on one facet of someone’s faith.

I thought rational people were supposed to ask questions! I was raised to question authority, and more and more, I’m seeing this being frowned upon by the very people who are supposed to be tolerant and open-minded. What this tells me is they’re not arguing for atheism because they want to prove it correct; they’re not even trying to disprove the existance of God. They’re arguing it for their own personal reasons. They are, quite simply, trying to get us to shut up so their own conscience can be quiet.

Atheism has become the very thing it despises… an authoritarian, prejudiced, intolerant religion. Continue reading “The First Rule Of Fight Club”