New Year’s Resolutions for 2010 — addendum

I would like to add a fairly significant resolution to my current list.

When I make up these lists, I try to address all of the areas of my life that are important to me (spiritual, physical, relational, etc), and discover ways that I can improve them. This year, I honestly couldn’t think of much related to my Spiritual growth. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve felt lacking in that area, but I couldn’t think of anything that really resonated. Memorizing Scripture is important, and I will work on this point. But just this evening, I realized what I’d like to focus on this year:

I will go to God first.

If I’m truly honest, the first person I turn to in any situation, good or bad, is me. After that, I go to different people based on the situation, but there are usually at least two people that I go to before I go to God.

It is important to go to my friends and family to talk through problems, seek out assistance and share celebrations and joys (as well as the sorrows and frustrations), and it is important to draw on the resources that I have personally to solve a problem, etc.

But the reason for this resolution is because I have the order wrong.

Jon Acuff, on his blog Stuff Christians Like, made a very profound observation the other day: God will never ask us to be God.

When stuff happens, good or bad, God is God. He is the first one I can turn to. He is the first one I should turn to. He is the first one I want to turn to.

It is a reminder that He is much bigger and more powerful than anything I am facing. And even if I don’t understand what is going on, or why, when I turn to Him, I remember that He knows, and that He is with me, regardless of the circumstance.

So that is my final resolution for 2010: in the good times and the bad, I will turn to God first.

What think you?

“The right thing is often as much a matter of timing as it is of the thing itself.”

Do you agree? Or disagree? In what situations would this be true? In what situations would this be decidedly false? Is there such a thing as something that’s right, but only some of the time?

Reset Button

Some interesting thoughts on video games — especially if you don’t play them.

video by Shamus Young

Love more strongly

“The answer is simple:  love more strongly.  Believe with more conviction.  Offer more grace.  Create an overflow of mercy and affection so strong that it washes away even the most stubborn of barriers.  Live every second of your life in the hope of salvation.  Pick up the shield of faith, wear the belt of truth, set your feet in the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace.”

-Lindsey from *! [emphatic asterisk]

E Ink

In high school, I did a project on Electronic Ink. I know that I did a reasonable amount of research, but I also remember that I retained very little of it. An article from “How Stuff Works” was the one information source that most clearly stuck with me. I was captivated by the concept, and I remember being the only person in my class and among my peer group that had any idea what it was and any sense of why it mattered.

Truth be told, though, it wasn’t the amount of paper that could be saved, nor the ease of bringing along books and newspapers while you traveled, nor its efficient battery life. I think I shared some of these ideas to try and get those around me excited and interested in this thing that so fascinated me. (And, in truth, the first point wasn’t strongly focused on at that time. Though recycling has been important for quite a long time—I was first introduced to the concept in my primary school years—conserving paper to “be green” only gained the breadth and intensity that it has today within the past few years.)

It was a concept that was fascinating to me, not because of the implications I shared, but because of what it was. I’ve always had two equal, but conflicting passions: the old and the new. In this case, this device promised to unite two of the things that inspired these passions: my love of books and my love of technology. I remember wondering to myself what it would be like to have an ebook, to flip through the pages, and read a novel and then, with hardly a button press, to watch the pages as they changed to display a novel that was entirely different. I remember I spent a lot of time, while I was researching this project, daydreaming about the construction and user interface of such a thing. Granted, I didn’t use those terms. But I imagined how the book would look and feel, what it should be able to do, and how the person reading it should be able to interact with it.

Anyway, that passion faded (as passions of this kind usually do: intense, while the mind is highly focused on the subject, and disappearing once the attention is diverted, or the desired amount of information is gained). But I’ve always felt a certain sense of ownership of it, having been one of the first and few of my generation to be completely engrossed by the idea before it was anywhere near production.

My dad recently purchased an eReader. I didn’t show all of the interest I would have 8-10 years ago. By this time, eReaders have become wrapped up in the debate over which employment of the technology is better (Amazon’s Kindle? Barnes & Nobles’ nook? The mysterious, rumoured Apple Tablet?). But a few days after its purchase, the fiance and I passed by my father as he was reading from his Sony eReader. Curious, as I tend to be over every new technology, we asked if we could have a look at it. Dad walked us through the device, starting by “turning the page”, and as soon as he did so, I suddenly recalled my project from high school and knew, without a doubt, that I was looking at the results of years of research and development; that I was seeing for the first time the very E Ink that I had raved about for that period of weeks while I was in high school. And watching again and again the way the ink changed as the page was “turned”, I felt an unaccountable degree of pride for a thing that, beyond touting it for a brief period of time nearly a decade ago, I had absolutely no involvement in.

I recalled that “How Stuff Works” article again this afternoon, and it took only a brief search for “e ink” on Google to turn it up.

It’s funny—I still find it fascinating, even all of these years later.

Here are a few points of interest from the article:

They predicted the electronic ink technology could be ready in 2003 or 2004. This press release indicates that their predictions were correct.

They predicted that users could store “up to 10 books” on a memory device in the spine of the book.

Their concept designs indicated an actual book, with pages that you would turn, each filled with electronic ink, and each charged by tiny plastic transistors inserted into the pages.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Chicken & Dumpling Casserole

I’ve mentioned this delicious dish before, but I don’t think I’ve devoted an entire post to it. I got this recipe from a friend of mine from school, and it has become a quick favourite with my family and fiance.

As with other recipes, we begin with the required ingredients.

Bisquick pancake/biscuit mix; skinless, boneless chicken breasts; milk; cream of chicken soup; onion (I normally use yellow, but they were out, so I tried white), celery, garlic, margarine, basil, pepper, salt and a pinch of sugar.

The first thing you’ll want to do is cook the chicken. I usually boil it. As the chicken I purchased was frozen, I needed to thaw it first (thus the plate– it went into the microwave).

Set a pot to boil and begin preparing the rest of your ingredients.

Dice your onion,

and your celery

(rinse them first),

and dump both into a bowl.

I like reusing tools (when safe to do so). Less cleaning after. So now that the cutting board is clear, prepare to finely dice your garlic. But first, take a picture of it, because you forgot to include it at the beginning.

If you chop off the end (where the clove was connected to the rest of it), the skin will peel off pretty easily. I used three cloves, but you can use what you’d feel comfortable with (at least use two!)

While you’re doing this, check the water. It should be boiling, meaning you can add the chicken.

It should boil for about 15 minutes. While that’s going on, finish the rest of your prep. Finely dice the garlic,

prepare the Bisquick mix (2 cups of Bisquick, 2/3 cup of milk, 2 tsp. basil),

and preheat your oven to 350˚F. Once the chicken is finished boiling, take a picture of your margarine since you forgot to include that in your first picture, too. You want to use about a quarter of a cup. That sounds like a lot.

It also looks like a lot. So add what you think is the proper amount. And then, as it melts, take back about half a spoonful. And then when you add the onion and celery, realize it was the correct amount and add it back in again.

Have a glass of milk. (Cooking is thirsty work!)

Then add the onion and celery to the frying pan. (If aren’t a fan of the zingy flavour of garlic, add that here, too. It’ll mellow when fried with the onion and celery. I happen to like the zing, so I’m going to add it a little later in the process.)

While those are frying up, dice the now cooked chicken.

Add the cream of chicken soup to the onions and celery. Once that is mixed together, add in the basil, pepper and salt (to taste), and here is where you add the garlic, if you like the zing. Once that’s mixed in, add a pinch (just a pinch!) of sugar to balance out the garlic. Just a pinch.

Mix that up, add the chicken and let it simmer for about a minute.

While it’s simmering, grease your 9″ x 13″ casserole dish. I’d actually suggest doing this earlier in the process (it simplifies things a little bit), but I forgot, so it’s happening now.

Add the sauce mixture to the pan.

Now add the Bisquick mixture on top.

And pop it in the oven. After 30 minutes, cover it with tinfoil and put it back in for a remaining 10.

And the final product!

Mmm, delicious!

Despite the fact that I’ve made this so that I’ll have lunch at work for the rest of the week, and I’d already eaten supper, I still couldn’t resist sneaking a small plateful before putting it in the fridge.

Make this meal. It is delicious. You will not regret it.

Great, Big, Beautiful

Check out my wedding blog here!

I separated them out so that those of you interested in the process can follow along, and those who aren’t won’t have to.

I’ll include a perma-link in the sidebar both here and at the wedding blog (at the top!) so that you can easily navigate back and forth between the two.

Enjoy!

Self-Discipline

Sometimes I catch myself staring at my blog, willing myself to write. In those situations, I usually don’t have anything to put to paper, and so I stare, and switch between blogs, and stare again. Sometimes I’ll open up a Word document or an email, but after a few half-hearted sentences, I will close them again.

The desire to put pen to paper (metaphorically and otherwise) has always been with me, even from before I could write, when I could barely hold a pen. Even now, I sometimes face a similar dilemma. I have the desire to write, but haven’t the words.

I think this happens for every person with every passion. There are some days where things just don’t click. No matter how hard you try, you can’t produce anything. No matter how hard you stare, words don’t come to the screen.

Passion, though, is as much a matter of discipline as it is of emotion. It is a fallacy to wait for inspiration. If, as humans, we waited to do things until we felt like it, our homes would be a lot messier, our finances in greater disarray, our health even lower on the priority scale and our spiritual lives in shambles.

What about those things that are in order, that we are disciplined about? Those are habits that we’ve formed, through discipline, that we’ve committed to maintain. We do them without thinking, whether we feel like it or not.

That isn’t to say that great works happen from hard work alone. I think the best works unite passion and discipline. But while inspiration comes and goes, we can always practice our crafts.

Even though it is only posts like this that come from feeling uninspired, it is still important to practice, so that when inspiration comes, you have developed habits and honed your skills to take advantage of it.

(a/n: Yes, I am saying do your chores/homework/devotions/taxes, even when you don’t feel like it.)

New Year’s Resolutions for 2010

I had very lofty goals that I wrote for last year, but never ended up posting them. I don’t think I succeeded in many of them, so I am returning to more humble ones. Perhaps if I succeed, I can again try my hand at the lofty ones. The new year is an important time of reflection. You can take time to review the past year and see where you’ve come from, and you can look towards the future and think about where you want to go. These goals are perhaps small, but they tend towards the character trait of self-discipline. And I am hoping to strengthen that foundation so that I can work on other goals that build off of these ones, both in this year and into 2011.

Here are my goals for this year:

I will write for at least 10 minutes every day.

As with any other skill, writing takes practice and diligence. I’ve really fallen off on this and have chosen to spend my time in other ways. But writing is something that I have always loved and highly value. I will devote time, either here, in my journal or in stories, to writing.

I will be diligent in the performance of my duties.

Whatever they are, whether chores, work, spiritual, to-do’s, or whatever else, I will complete tasks well, fully and in good time. It is easy to lose track of these kinds of things. Often, they are communicated in a brief conversation, or in a note scribbled on a snatch of paper. They are transient in nature, but it is important, especially when it is a commitment to someone else, or (and) when it is something important to me, that the tasks are completed quickly and within whatever deadline there may be assigned to them.

I will not do more than I can.

To go along with the “duties” goal above, I will not take on more than I can handle. My 2010 is looking very busy, and in order to fulfill my duties to the best of my ability, I need to make sure that what I take on doesn’t outweigh what I can fulfill.

I will squeak sooner.

There is the phrase that goes, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil.” I have always been reluctant to squeak. It feels too much like complaining. But squeaking is not simply complaining. It is identifying a problem, voicing it and requesting a solution. I tend to internalize, attempt to solve it on my own and, when that fails, squeak loudly, alarming friends and family. I will squeak sooner so that I can squeak less strongly.

I will read often.

And they will preferably be from the list of books that I’ve been meaning to read. Books like everything by Dickens, many things by C.S. Lewis, a second reading of Jane Eyre, finishing The Count of Monte Cristo, and many others. I would also like to sample from the favourites of friends. I have requested lists before, so I think I need to go back and re-examine those lists, see which ones I haven’t read and add them as appropriate.

I will, yes, exercise regularly.

I really have no excuse. Not only do we have plenty of room and many pieces of equipment, I also have a TV tucked into the corner of my room (and plenty of floor space), should I desire privacy. I am pleased to say that this goal isn’t because I desire to lose weight. I write this because I would like to increase my energy level and overall fitness.

I will memorize Scripture.

I’ve begun the habit of reading at least a chapter before bed and at least a chapter before rising in the morning, but it is important to me to nest what I read in my heart and mind. I’ve set goals before, but I think it’s important to not only memorize Scripture, but to continue to review it so that it doesn’t fade.

What are your resolutions for the new year?

Baxter

I purchased a car over the summer. It is little and adorable.

Shortly after coming into possession, I called up a dear friend.

“It needs a name,” I said. “A bee name.”

The engine is little. It sounds like buzzing whenever I accelerate.

“Baxter,” she said, almost immediately. (‘Baxter’, a bee name? Oh, a ‘b’ name!)

Thus, my little buzzing car was christened Baxter.

In the time since owning it, he has acquired a traveling companion: a Magellan GPS unit named Maggie (christened so by another friend while traveling to Ottawa).

Baxter has been to Ottawa, Waterloo and Toronto many times over in the past 6 months, racking up in excess of 14,000 km.

I’d been a little concerned about purchasing a car, fearing it might become an expensive lawn ornament, but clearly, it has been used often and well. I look forward to its continued usage.