As a child I faithfully watched most of the Kirk Episodes, with the exception of maybe the original pilot— which most people haven’t seen (and I have on tape).

In college, and for the next seven years I watched all of the Next Generation shows, then after moving to New Jersey and getting my first VCR, began taping them. I have all of Next Generation on tape, as well as most of Deep Space Nine, all of Voyager… I have almost all of the Original Series… I even have all of the movies on tape! I have numerous computer programs, books, indices, encyclepedias, Christmas decorations, gadgets, nose-pieces, Bjorn earings, you name it. I have a few Star Trek board games. I have Star Trek pencils, journals, figures, and more! I have a Star Trek mouse, shaped like a phasar pistol (unopened, never used). I have a beeping communicator pin. I have dozens of TV Guides, like new, which contain cover stories of Star Trek episodes. I have hundreds of Star Trek comics, in mint. The list really goes on and on.

I also have all of the Enterprise episodes (but in DivX form), on my computer.

So I think I’m qualified more than most people to judge Star Trek. I think I’m probably as much a fan as anyone else. For this reason, it really blows me away when people say they don’t like Enterprise. In my opinion, it’s probably the best Star Trek ever. The stories are the most belieable, the characters are three dimensional, and the actors, fantastic.

I love Enterprise, and yes, I want to marry it.

I wish I could join all of these fans in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, London, and Tel Aviv who are protesting the cancellation. This reminds me of what happened in 1967 when Star Trek was cancelled after two seasons. A husband and wife team rallied enough support that they brought it back for one more season (albeit, the worst season of Star Trek ever!)

The United Paramount Network canceled the show earlier this month at the end of its fourth season, which is set to conclude in May. If canceled, television would be left without a Star Trek show for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The campaign to save the show is headed by Trekkie Tim Brazeal. Brazeal, 42, is galvanizing thousands of fans worldwide to collect $32 million to pay for the cost of a fifth season of Star Trek: Enterprise.

I’m not sure how I’m going to get by without Star Trek in my life. Somebody beam me up!

~Jason

I can’t even bring myself to quote the story. HOW CAN A GOOD GOD ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN? Why God? Why is there so much evil in the world? Why, when Jesus has come to save us, do things like this still happen? Save us Lord. Don’t wait any longer! We are urgently waiting for your return— to come and end all suffering and evil.

Don’t wait any longer. Please come now.

Loud gasps were heard in the 125-member Newsong Church in Grove, Okla. when Pastor Steve Dyer handed out $14,000 in cash. Adults received $100 bills and children $50 bills, and the congregation has seven weeks to invest the money before returning it to the church to support missionary work (though the church isn’t keeping track of who received money).

[from ChurchMarketingSucks.com]

~Jason

It’s sorta weird, really. I mean, doesn’t everyone have a kind of perverse desire to read another person’s diary? We want to know what our friends are saying; what did they say about me? What’s important? What does this person love? What are they scared of?

I so enjoy reading my friends blogs. When everyone posts at once, though, it can get a little overwhelming to keep up. But I have about 20 or so personal blogs which I read. I manage them all with an online RSS reader called Bloglines (yeah, I’ve mentioned it before). There are people from Saskatchewan, New Jersey, Hamilton, even family in there. I like having a glimpse into their hearts— a chance to better know them.

But I guess mom and dad are pretty busy. I mean, like everyone, they’ve got their own lives to worry about, right? Who’s got time to keep up with son or daughter, or grandson, or grandaughter. Come on, people need healing.

Okay, maybe too much sarcasm. But I’ll direct the following comments at them anyway!

Thanks mom and dad for the great time. We did a little skating across the street in Melanie’s backyard. Then we took toboggans down the hill. We ate yummy pie (my favourite kind too, thanks mom!— mincemeat!) We had breakfast at the local grease joint (thanks for treating dad!) We saw nan at her new home. Then we went our for dinner at the Toucan in Kingston (the one I keep calling the Penguin).

On a down note, as a result of going, Joanne’s asthma is so terrible that she’s been in tears all day. And it cost $65 bucks for the gas to get there. It also cost $65 for the cheap motel we stayed in. Including food we dropped $172 down. Won’t do that again anytime soon.

Especially when all anyone needs to do to keep in touch is read a blog.

~Jason

We went to my folks for the weekend, where there are many allergens. We didn’t even sleep in the house, just visited there, then stayed in a Motel. We have decided we cannot go together to visit them anymore. Healing would be so COOL. Pleeaasse God.

~Jason

Whereas all robots to date have required individual motors to move every joint in the hip, knee, ankle, foot, arms, and waste, now robots walk more like humans. They lean forward, and let gravity carry them. They place their foot in front to stop a fall, and perambulate along, learning from experience.

In fact, these robots can walk on all kinds of uneven surfaces, because they learn from their mistakes. They learn to make corrections, to not over correct, to walk carefully when it’s slippery, to lift their foot higher in uneven terrain, much like a toddler learns to walk!

Is this cool or what?

This new experimental robot is in fact, aptly named “Toddler.” I want one.

~Jason

Patfield, a Grade 8 student at John Dryden Public School in Whitby, Ont., was touring the Governor General’s official residence with about 60 students on Tuesday when he spotted Clarkson and asked: “Is that the woman that spends the money on the Queen when she comes?”

…then…

…the 15-year-old high school student whose question about government spending resulted in his class’s tour being cut short… Following the Ottawa incident, Patfield was told he was to receive a three-day suspension. The school reversed that decision Thursday.

Imagine being suspended for asking hard questions of our political leaders? At least there was some back-pedalling:

[Adrienne] Clarkson defended the boy’s - and anybody’s - right to ask questions about how government money is spent.

“Of course in my opinion there is no inappropriate question, only inappropriate answers,” said the one-time journalist known for getting her questions answered.

“(The question) shows, at least, an interest in what’s happening in the office of the Governor General and I thought questions like that should be answered.”

I thought this was well said:

Parenting expert and author Barbara Coloroso said the incident is an example of “zero tolerance being zero thinking.”

What a sad comment on reality. Fortunately, the suspension was lifted, and everyone has apologized.

Beware of asking questions.

~Jason

I think the church has bought into this idea that if we make Jesus look cool we win. But what these fellows are trying to do is make themselves look cool, not Jesus. They’re looking at a culture that rejects the idea of Jesus, they say “But I want to be a Christian and I also want to be cool so I’ll try to make Jesus cool.” That’s about you, not Jesus. [reference]

Sometimes I think the ‘post-modern’ approach to sharing Christianity is more about being cool than letting the cross be offensive. I’m guilty of using that approach. I mean, come on… who really wants to be a nerd?

From the ‘Church Marketing Sucks’ web site.

~Jason

Not everyone is happy, but I like the idea of being able to watch television with my nine-year-old, and two-year-old, without fearing they’ll be exposed to something they shouldn’t be yet seeing.

It seems our culture’s voracious appetite for extreme images isn’t going to wane anytime soon. Whether it’s dead bodies, multilation, or sexual activity, it’s not making us a better, gentler, people. It’s fascinating to me how the US sometimes appears to be moving back toward morals and decency, while the rest of the world swings even further away.

In the end, I wonder who will be left standing?

~Jason

I’ve spent hours trying to get the thing to work and wasted 30 minutes going around in circles on the phone with tech support. No one knows anything about the unit, and I think I know why.

The HP web site is terrible too. I don’t know how these big corporations manage to make so much money. It was awful.

~jason

UPDATE: I found out it needed to be reset! It must be pre-owned, because it had the wrong network name and shared access key. Doing a hard-reset made it work at the office today. Still can’t connect at home though! I’m wondering now if my LinkSys Wireless Compact Flash card is messed up.

I have to say this may have been the best Valentine’s show ever. And to think we almost cancelled.

You see, most of what could go wrong, did go wrong. In the beginning, tickets weren’t selling, arrangements weren’t working, people were un-volunteering, we couldn’t find enough help— yet in the end, it came together better than I could ever have expected. Thanks to all who made this event such a success.

One of the most amazing things for me was how good the vocalists were this year. ESPECIALLY with Amy Forderer’s incredible dance moves and choreography, we were a hip looking crue. Thanks Amy!!

Peter, the bad cop, was a great help too. He rallied the troops, and helped keep order in chaos.

I could go on and on and on about all the people and what they did: Lights, Video, Sound, Makeup, Costumes, Decorators, Food Servers, Food Prep, Ticket Sales, Stage Design & Setup, Purchasers, Band, Advertising— Wow. Lots of people. THANKS!

The point of this party is to start conversations with people. We hope people ask questions like, “Why is a church doing this?” “What do we believe?” “Who are we?” “Why?” and more. 

I’ve heard conversations are already happenning. Awesome. God is at work.

~Jason

~Jason

He was picked in his grade four class as one of the kids to deliver a speech in front of the entire school. When I first heard the news, I was excited. There’s nothing like having your kid follow in your footsteps, to pop a couple of buttons. (I too was picked— in my grade five class. But I was nowhere near as good as Lucas was this morning).

As Joanne and I ran breathlessly down the hallway, babies in our arms, Joanne said, “wouldn’t it be awful if he’s already done his speech!?!” She wasn’t far off.  We were fifteen minutes late.

We opened the door and saw Lucas on stage, behind the podium, well into his first paragraph. We quickly entered at the back of the auditorium, afraid to distract him.

But he wasn’t phased at all. He stood tall, making excellent eye contact with the entire school. He looked like a twenty-five year old, turning his head from side to side, smiling, speaking— confident. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw my little baby Lukey, standing like an adult, looking so handsome. A vision of him as a young man, pastor of a church, flooded my thoughts. I don’t have words.

But Lucas did. He spun the tale of Blarney Castle as eloquently as if he had kissed the stone himself.

Lucas, you’re great.

~daddy

Tickets are almost sold out Saturday night, and there are three open tables Friday night. I hope they all sell!

Thanks to everyone who is working so hard on this!

~Jason

Then a few days after Seth’s Chicken Pox vaccination he broke out with Chicken Pox. So now he had two viruses in him: the Chicken Pox vaccination virus and the real Chicken Pox virus. He was even sicker.

Then as that started to clear up, Grace got Chicken Pox. A day later Lucas got Measles. Then Seth started getting headaches (we think they’re because of his lazy eye).

What a week. Joanne and I hardly sleep at night any more. My back is KILLING me. We’re all grumpier than usual.

Sounds a little weird, but I sometimes wonder if this isn’t a spiritual attack. I guess that means something good is about to happen.

I hope so!

~Jason

I love that all the Beatrix Potter books are out (my dad read these to me as a child, and I even have some of the ancient books!). I will read them to Seth soon too. (Lucas had his trip-down-memory-lane-punishment already).

But tonight I found a new book, called Pipe and Pouch. It’s a collection of poetry about smoking a pipe! Not for kiddy bedtime reading, but it makes me wish I could puff a pipe. Oh well, much too cold for that anyway. 

This poem is good.

~Jason

You know what I mean? Like, the PhotoBucket site, which lets you choose 20 pictures, one at a time, to upload to their site through a browser. What if it was possible to actually FTP to that HTTP page?

Hmm. That would take some Perl magic.

~Jason

“It may or may not be, but surely the matter [of Intelligent Design (ID)] can be debated on scientific grounds, responded to with argument instead of invective and stigma. Note the circularity: Critics of ID have long argued that the theory was unscientific because it had not been put forward in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Now that it has, they argue that it shouldn’t have been because it’s unscientific. They banish certain ideas from certain venues as if by holy writ, and brand heretics too…”

This is somewhat suprising to me. I thought scientists were more, um, scientific.

~Jason

Here’s what it does: it sends out a message to a group from your database (you decide who) asking them to confirm their contact information. They can click a link, then choose ‘Accept’ or ‘Correct.’

As soon as they view the record, this action is stored in a separate table so we know who actually got the email and bothered checking. Then if they accept the contact information, or correct it, this information is stored in the people table, as well as in the separate table, mentioned above.

This way we can easily ask all attendees, for example, to check their contact information before we print a new church directory. They can also choose to unsubscribe!

The script has a built in password system to ensure someone doesn’t change your information without your permission. Pretty cool.

~Jason

Put this RSS feed in your bloglines account to keep on top of announcements. Talk about painless, eh? Eventually I’ll add a category so you just see announcements for, say, seniors, or youth, or men’s community, etc.

~Jason