Middle America's Worldview

I came across a "look whos searching for you" site. I thought it looked interesting till I seen the results.




Yeah, like I am going to sign up for a application that can't count.

The kids seem to continue to enjoy Taekwondo. We went again last night and I enjoy watching them with the trainer and other kids. I am impressed with the teacher, he works well with the kids. I can't help notice which kids are there to learn and those there to simply to be there. I guess that is everywhere.

I am on-call again this week for work. Knock on wood.

The new church wasn't too bad. I received more out of the sunday school. This one seems to keep focused on the study, more so than our current one. I liked that.

The 'contempory' church service was different. The message was awesome. The young pastor was articulate in such a way to bring the message to meaning. The young band was the most different. Some of the songs I recognized from Air One, a radio station I primarily listen too. Others, I had never heard.

I think it was bit much for Kel. We will probably check out the more traditional service next Sunday.

The church breaks up a traditional service early (around 8:20) and the contempory service at 11. The message and teaching are the same, but the format (namely music) is different.

I have heard more and more churches are breaking out to 2 separate services on Sunday. The thought is to draw in different crowds or provide different times for those busy people. I find it interesting.

Another aspect I found of interest was the availible sunday school classes. Seems they have their regular classes, but also provide 6 week courses in different subjects of interest. The appear to have alot more availible in the teaching department.

I like the fact, if you miss a service, the recorded service is availible on CD or MP3 (welcome to the 20th century). Evidently you can also download them from itunes, all free of charge. They also have a pretty impressive website.

The current only questionable thing is the kids classes. I didn't hear from the kids much other than 'awesome'. I would like to know more of what they are teaching them, rather to think it's just a daycare.

I guess time will tell.


Here are some things I look for at a church.

1) Go at least 3 times to observe what is being teached
2) Is the church teaching the bible is the infallible truth
3) Is the church teaching Jesus is the only means of salvation
4) Where is the church on Evangelism
5) Does the church teach Jesus Christ is God in human flesh
6) Is the purpose of the church, glory to God
7) Do they teach ministry is by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit

check out this link called maps of war, showing all the empires over history. It lasts about 90 seconds, but well worth watching.

This tiny hex editor is a great tool to view the transactions.

I actually use this when trying to identify the control characters on some of the transactions.

I want a new church. I need some meat (regarding spiritual growth). However, I am in a dilemma. I like our current church, with the exception of the non-meat.

I would still like to do Team-Kids, since I feel obligated.

Kel remains obligated for Sunday School. Yet, no-one else seems to step up to assist her. They have ideas, but are unwilling to put those ideas in place. Seems most want others to do, rather than do themselves. I learned this a long time ago, the famous 80-20 rule. 20 percent do 80 percent of the work.

Anyway, how can I expect us to move forward and not feel guilty of our current obligations?

I would welcome ideas. Yes, I been praying about this for some time.

This week has been a crazy week. Seems a redundant statement, but it's already Thursday and I have been falling asleep before 10 p.m. every night. This is not usual for me.

I haven't blogged in awhile. This week, if I jump on the computer, it is to work. Once I start working, I don't get to stop, till I force myself at end day. Here lately, that's ran over to "my time" as well. So, when I pull myself away, I am tired of sitting in front of the PC and essentially don't want it anymore.

I think our daughter is getting a cold. She has been coughing the past couple of days. I been giving her Zyrtic, ect, but it doesn't appear to be working. I guess I will have to beef up the vitamens and cold medicines.

Since the kids wanted to try out Karate, that has limited our free evenings down to 2.

M-Karate
T- Free
W- Church
Th- Karate
F- Free

Activities are nice for the kids, but time consuming for parents. We have changed our son's speech therapies to occur during the noon time. This helps in respect of relieving our evenings, but also now takes our lunches. Sigh, I think we just replaced our evenings with something else. Oh well. Their only kids once.

I have 3 calls to return already, and freaking 13 projects running at once for work. This doesn't include those projects on hold, waiting for someone else.

Never enough time in the day.

The movie, 27 dresses, was cute (for a chick flick ). I was glad to see it wasn't the stereotypical woman finding her self-reliance, yet choosing to be with someone.

The characters actually had some depth. I thought Katherine Heigl played an excellent role. The movie centers around her and this girl can really act. I admit, I only seen her on some Greys Anatomy shows and 'Knocked up'. But in this movie, she was absolutely beautiful in some scenes. I hadn't realized how gorgeous she was.

Jane's cynical friend, played by Judy Greer, was just enough in the movie to make you giggle, but not overly done to roll your eyes at.

The very good looking sister is played by Malin Akerman. Her list of movies are not much, but she looked good in this film.

Yes, you pretty much know what's going to happen, due to the synopsis. That part is pretty cliche. Yet, the movie flows well, and they pull it off.

So for you guys out there rolling your eyes, when the wives ask to go to see it, go for it. There are some funny parts in it, and the story line is decent.

I think I will start a new Friday's download each Friday. All of the Friday's download will be freeware of usefull (or non-usefull) tools.

Today's Friday download will be PDF Creator.

PDFCreator is a free tool to create PDF files from nearly any Windows application.
Key Features:

Create PDFs from any program that is able to print
Security: Encrypt PDFs and protect them from being opened, printed etc.
Send generated files via eMail
Create more than just PDFs: PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS, EPS
AutoSave files to folders and filenames based on Tags like Username, Computername, Date, Time etc.
Merge multiple files into one PDF
Easy Install: Just say what you want and everything is installed
Terminal Server: PDFCreator also runs on Terminal Servers without problems
And the best: PDFCreator is free, even for commercial use! It is Open Source and released under the Terms of the GNU General Public License.

I had heard there was a quiz out there to show which president wantabee best aligns with your way of thinking. Thanks to Kel I was able to take it.

The site can be found at here. If you want to take it yourself.

However, in my opinion, what the candidates believe and what they can actually achieve can be a dichotomy. Still it's an interesting quiz.

Here are my results.

We have a local non-blockbuster rental place that has good deals on the rentals. Namely Monday nights are one dollar rentals (that includes new releases).

Another great thing is their TV series. They started to rent these full box series together, cheap. If the set contains 1-3 disc, it's 3.99 for 5 days. If the set is more than 3 disc, it's basically 5 bucks for 5 days. What makes it really nice is you get the full season, without having to rent individual disc for 2-3 bucks a pop.

Awhile back, I snagged the first season of "Heroes". I had never watched it, but heard plenty about it.

I was immediately hooked on the storyline.

Unfortunately, the store didn't have season two. However, perusing the net, I came across this find. It's the full season 2 of "Heroes" online.

Can you really believe this January has already hit mid-month? Didn't we just have New Years? Sigh.

I came across a cool free application to calculate your BMI. Not only does it provide your Body Mass Index, but informs you what your ideal weight should be. Can we say, lose 15 pounds?



You value your height and current weight. It calculates the rest.

A bit narrow victory for Clinton. During yesterday morning, nearly all the news were discussing a Obama victory. The early reporting of the polls would seem to have suggested that. However, by a narrow margin (39% to 37%), Clinton pulls it in at the last. A much needed, if nothing psychological, boost for the thought to be political mongul.

On the Republican side, it's Mccain over Romney (37% to 32%). A bit more than the Democratic side.

New Hampshire Democratic results
39% Clinton
37% Obama
17% Edwards

New Hampshire Republican results
37% McCain
32% Romney
11% Huckabee



South Carolina is next.
The Republican Primary is set for 1.19.08.
The Democratic Primary is set for 1.26.08.

I was surprised of the margin of Huckabee's winning last night. I feel the same way regarding Obama.

Republican outcome
34% Huckabee
25% Romney
13% Mccain
13% Thompson

Democratic outcome
38% Obama
30% Edwards
29% Clinton

I was actually expecting Romney to win. Especially since he poured in millions of dollars to win Iowa.

I wasn't really expecting Clinton to be so low, regarding who she is. I guess the media push for her didn't work. Also, looking at Obama with so little experience in politics to be so high in the polls, is a surprise to me as well.

Next is New Hampshire to choose their primaries on the eight.

I didn't watch the new much yesterday, but from what little I seen, it was mostly about the Presidential race in Iowa.

If you listen the the news, you would think it's already down to 4 candidates, 2 on each side.

For the Republicans, Mitt Romney vs Mike Huckabee.
For the Democrats, Barack Obamba vs Hillary Clinton.

Yet, a recent poll from Fox News shows Ron Paul winning Iowa. Not hearing much about him in the news.






Honestly, I haven't looked into Ron Paul. Yet, I know in a nearby Arkansas city, there were alot on the corners holding up signs for him recently.

I guess I will have to turn on the tv, now and then to see what becomes of Iowa.

As part of the new year, we (as the family in whole) agreed to eat healthier. My wife had purchased the book “Deceptively Delicious” to give it a whirl. We spent a full evening pureeing alot of vegetables.

This morning, I started off by making scrambled eggs with puree cauliflower I noticed there seemed to be more eggs than usual, due to the added 1/2 cup puree cauliflower. I will see how the kids like it. I have already tried it, and do taste the cauliflower in the eggs, yet I do not see any difference in the way the eggs look.

I scrambled 4 eggs with 1/2 cup puree cauliflower.

Find more recipes at Get Rid of Toxins.com.

I also have a bowl of organic trail mix on the table for snacks today.

My wife and I watched "The biggest loser for couples" last night. I admit, I never seen any of these shows before. However, I found it interesting. The stats regarding obesity were staggering (to me). One of the things I found interesting on the show was the discussion of detoxification with Water. They do not use herbs, products, ect. Rather drink, water, water, water. That and work your a$$ off. So, it's time to start hitting that water again. I will probably pee my brains out, but I guess that is what it will take. (wink)