Cool Site of the Day - Google Translator

Interesting piece on Google's research in translating texts. Basically, their system "learns" a language by comparing various translations of a text. A fairly simple concept, but I'm impressed.

Url: http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2005-05-22-n83.html

Financial State of the Church

Statistics put together by Randy Alcorn on the amount of wealth passing through the hands of American Christians, and where the money goes. I found it particularly interesting that per-member giving is lower now than in the Great Depression.

URL: http://www.epm.org/articles/generous_giving.html

Well my plans for today didn't turn out like I'd originally designed, so I decided to have a restful day of it and do absolutely nothing. Well, not quite nothing, but nothing planned at least. I still couldn't manage to sleep late, which kind of stinks since I didn't go to bed till after 2 again, but I had fun catching up on some cleaning and laundry this morning. I'm very rarely motivated to clean, but it feels really good not having that stack of junk mail on my desk anymore.

After some delicious leftovers from our "morale lunch" at work yesterday, I thought I'd traverse some more of Redmond's parks. I'd seen some delightful views driving up W Lake Sammamish right in the middle of the city that I'd been wanting to explore for some time. Marymoor's great, but it's more of an athletic field, doggie park than an enjoy-the-solitude park. I found a pretty bike trail that goes right along the river I followed for quite a ways. It was a little too crowded and civilized for my tastes though, so I thought I'd cross over and venture back down on the other side. It was definitely a bit more wild, if not quite as pretty.

After some time of tramping through grasses that were somewhat taller than me and thoroughly mudding my shoes, I neared the end of the little trail to find a three inch deep puddle between me and civilization. Oddly enough, there was a nice log crossing it, and as I decided that would be preferable over venturing back the way I'd come, I proceeded to spend a very long five minutes inching my way across the rather wobbly bridge. I'm afraid a good sense of balance is not one of my strong points, and I was most certain I would have very damp feet before I reached the other side, but somehow I made it. I've always read wobbly legs, but don't remember ever having experienced them until I got out on that log. Rather embarrassing when I remind myself it was only a puddle, even if it was a somewhat deep one. (And yes, I do realize I used wobbly twice in the same paragraph, but not even thesaurus.com could come up with a better alternative. Thankfully, the log and my knees were wobblying at the same frequency...)

Anyway, once across, I took this photo to commemorate my grand feat then celebrated with a smoothie and a book I bought for my mom and have to read before I take it to her next weekend.

Cool Site of the Day - Coding4Fun

Pretty nifty site Microsoft created to build a community of hobbyist programmers. It's fairly new, so not an overwelming about of content yet, but some interesting looking tutorials and webcasts on topics such as game dev or writing a tool to monitor your system. Haven't had time to look through it yet, but I like the idea behind it.

URL: http://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun/

Applications from Dancing

I couldn't resist...

1. When you get so busy doing your own thing, you can't feel God's lead any more.

2. You must trust Him each step of the way, knowing He'll make it all work out in the end.

3. You can't focus on past mistakes or what the future holds or you'll miss what He's leading you to do right now.

4. You must keep your focus on Him in the midst of all life's spins.

5. You can't anticipate what He's doing in your life and go off and do it yourself, but wait for His leading with each step.

Life is a song we must sing with our days
A poem with meaning more than words can say
A painting with colors no rainbow can tell
A lyric that rhymes either heaven or hell
We are living letters that doubt desecrates
We're the notes of the song of the chorus of faith
God shapes every second of our little lives
And minds every minute as the universe waits by.

- Michael Card

Rainy Day Thoughts

The windows at the top of the stairwell in the building where I work have a perfect rainy day view. On clear days, you can see Lake Sammamish and what I've been told is Mt. Baker, but on rainy days you just see the ghosts of tree tops peeking out through the fog.

Then there's this row of trees right beside my building that appear permanently bent under the wind. At least, they look much more windblown than they should have given the mild weather. Anyways, I love watching them as they remind me of watching thunderstorms when we stayed in a house on the beach in Mexico several years ago -
watching the sky turn yellow-green, the dark clouds rolling in with the low rumblings of thunder and the winds blowing so strong the palm trees flip wrong-side out. And then the rain coming down in such torrents you couldn't hear your own voice over the sound.

I think I'm suffering from thunderstorm withdrawal, but I'm praying for a good one when I fly back to Texas next weekend. Well, after my plane lands that is. :)

My Google

Suprise, suprise... google is developing a personalized homepage. I've been waiting for this one for awhile.

URL: http://www.google.com/ig

BBC Radio

I didn't realize the BBC has so many stations you can listen to online... now I can get my Celtic fix while I work. :) There's a number of their radio dramas available online as well, but I'm afraid listening to the latest episodes of Hitchhikers would not be conducive to a productive workday.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

Salsa Lessons Part 2

Just got back from my first private lesson in salsa, and have a couple points to work on this week.

For turns:
1. Practice spotting - keep your focus on your partner while you turn. This helps you stop when you're facing forwards again, as well as not getting quite so dizzy.
2. Keep arm at 90 degree angle, don't need to lift it over your head.
3. Use your shoulder to get momentum for the turn.
4. You can drag your trailing foot to slow down the turn prior to stopping.
5. I sure thought there was a fifth one, but it's already slipped my mind...

For style & latin rhythym:
1. For each step, put down the ball of your foot followed by the heel.
2. Practice hip movement by shifting weight - bend & straigten leg
3. Small steps!

Salsa Lessons

Having just returned from my second salsa dance party, I thought I would make note of several lessons I learned tonight in hopes of improving in these areas for next week.

1. Glide, don't bounce!
2. Don't anticipate moves, relax and follow the guy's lead.
3. Listen to the music and step in time with the little cow bell. Unfortunately, I still have a difficult time hearing the cow bell thing, but I'll work on that.
4. Keep elbows in, unless you want to give the guy a bloody nose.
5. Wearing extra layers of socks helps if your shoes are too big, even if it does look a little tacky.
6. It's better to look tacky than to deal with blisters.
7. Dancing in socks is not a good option if you hope to stay on your feet after a series of quick spins.
8. Long hair should be tied back while dancing salsa, preferably in a bun.
9. When a hand is free, keep it about hip height out to the side so the guy can find it when needed.
10. Don't extend arms any more than needed. The closer you keep them in, the quicker you can follow the guys lead. Arms should never be straight, unless you enjoy shoulder injuries.

It's amazing how many good dancers are willing to take the time to work with a beginner; I feel like I just had two hours of private lessons with half a dozen different teachers for $5. I'm afraid my knees are going to be hurting tomorrow though...

Hot Chocolate

To my great distress, the kitchen on my half of the fourth floor was out of Swiss Miss hot cocoa mix this morning; all that's left is some yucky-tasting sugar free stuff. Ergo to get my hot chocolate fix I went exploring through the kitchens one floor down where, to my great delight, I found a stash of International Coffee packets.

If you've never tried these, they are a rather expensive brand of very good coffee mixes that taste much more like flavored hot cocoa than coffee. I've only tried the Swiss Mocha version before, so I sampled the Swiss White Chocolate this morning. Not bad, but not nearly so good as the Swiss Mocha one...

Rainy Mornings

...are such a delightful way to start the week! Even though I have no window in my office, it's comforting to know it's raining outside.

My Greatest Fear

This is a more personal post than I would normally choose to write, but it's important enough I thought I should that I might hold myself accountable for what I learn.

As I was reading a couple of David's psalms last night, the thought occurred to me that Christ could return right now. This is not a new thought of course, but one of those things I don't think about often enough. But what really struck me this time were my initial feelings about it. I'm ashamed to think that if he were to return right now I would feel a measure of regret and embarrasment over what I've done (and not done) with my life.

And after those feelings, it occurred to me that my greatest fear is not being alone as I've always assumed, but that Christ would return and I would not be ready for Him. I mean, I am ready in the sense that I've accepted Him as Lord of my life, and I know where I'll be when I die, but I know I've wasted so much time and efforts on stuff that really doesn't matter.

We'd been discussing this same topic at a small group I attended last night - how passionate and driven an athlete is in pursuit of their goal, and how we should have that same passion and drive in following after Christ. While it's ok to enjoy life, it's essential to keep an eternal perspective.

I remember the days of old.
I ponder all your great works.
I think about what you have done.
I reach out for you.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.
Come quickly Lord and answer me,
for my depression deepens.
Don't turn away from me,
or I will die.
Let me hear of your unfailing love to me in the morning,
for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk,
for I have come to in prayer.
Psalm 143:5-8

Initial thoughts on dancing

This past Friday I had the last of my "introductory special" dance lessons. This was basically a very cheap package of four private lessons, a group lesson, and admittance to a weekly dance party that offers just enough to entice you into shelling out the big bucks for further instruction. I now know the fundamentals of the waltz, foxtrot, tango, rumba, cha-cha, salsa, west coast swing, east coast swing, nightclub two-step, and the lindy hop. That might sound impressive, but it really isn't once you realize each dance has essentially the same basic steps with different timings.

The hardest part for me so far is figuring out which dance my partner is doing without staring at his feet. Well, that and not bouncing. I've practiced walking with a pretend book balanced on my head, but once I start listening to the music my dance partners must continually remind me not to bounce up and down with each step. And in most dances, you're not supposed to pick your feet up off the floor, but gracefully glide. (Yet another reason dance shoes help!)

I recently added up that since my first lesson a week ago, I have danced for 9 hours, give or take 15 minutes. Much more fun than a stationary bike! :-)

Seattle Puzzle Hunt

Well, just returned from my first morale event since starting at Microsoft, with a Starbucks gift card and a nifty little Sherlock Holmes action figure to show for my team's winning efforts. (Ok, I couldn't resist a little bragging... :-)

We started off the afternoon with a (free!) pizza lunch, after which the entire mailbox team was carried off in ten stretch limos to flex our mental muscles as we raced around downtown Seattle solving clues. I think my favorite involved finding what the location of four books at the Seattle Central Library had in common. And yeah, that sounds like an easy enough puzzle when you're reading it, but this is one big library (some ten stories, not counting the administrative floor), so we sent a couple people to locate each book, then pooled our findings. We actually missed the answer they were looking for (all the books were in opposite corners) but our answer (the books were each on the end of the shelf) worked as well, so we got full points anyways (parenthesis are such fun!).

Altogether, it made for a most enjoyable afternoon, and it was really nice meeting some coworkers, as well as putting faces to some of the names I recognized from all the email flowing around here.

What I learned today...

1. The chocolate pudding from the Microsoft cafeteria has a fridge life of about three days.
2. Lots of whipped cream or cool whip can be used to make soured pudding taste better.
3. It is not a good idea to eat soured pudding, even if it doesn't taste that bad.

Adventures in Shoe Shopping

After work yesterday, I went shoe shopping by myself, for possibly the first time in my life. All the shoes I currently own where either gifts, hand me downs, or picked out by a friend. Well, nearly all... I have one pair of rather ugly brown shoes I bought because they reminded me of moccasins. (Ok, I'm sure there are probably other exceptions, but none I can think of at the moment.) And even so, most of my new shoes remain new perpetually as I generally prefer wearing the old ones and never get around to breaking them in.

But after my first two dance lessons, I found that if I'm actually going to learn this stuff, I need some real dance shoes. You know, ones that actually let your feet turn when the rest of you tries to. (I never understood those songs about blue suede shoes and putting your dancing shoes on until now, but apparently the composition of the sole actually does make a difference. Imagine that.)

Never having spent much time looking for shoes, the idea of buying a pair was naturally intimidating. Fortunately for me, I only found one store on this side of the lake that carries dance shoes, and they only have one style and color of dance shoe for beginning ballroom. (The cheaper ballroom shoes have leather soles, while the more expensive are suede.) It was still a little scary approaching a salesman and admitting to be looking for shoes, but at least I was spared any other decision besides shoe size and height of heel.

There was still the ordeal of actually trying on the shoes, something I find as pleasant as scrubbing those plates that go under the grills on the stove. New shoes never feel comfortable, and for me, it's all about the comfort. (Which is largely why I wear my favorite shoes until they are literally falling apart and well-meaning friends convince me into tossing them. Well, that and my fear of shoe salespeople.) But with such a limited selection and a strong determination to purchase a pair since I had made it thus far, I felt it only necessary to be somewhat convinced I had the right size, and hope the comfort will come after I've managed to break them in. (Unlike most of the other new shoes I've had, the dance lessons will force me to wear these enough to break them in, I hope.)

All this goes to say I am now the proud owner of a new (and rather expensive) pair of dance shoes.

The Meaning Behind It All

...is really quite uninteresting. That is, the meaning of this blog. Life itself finds meaning from and in our Creator, and apart from that would be quite meaningless as well. But I digress. As this will forever remain (until deleted, of course) my first attempt at blogging, I thought it should contain some insight into the why of my effort.

Blogs have been growing in popularity of late, so my natural tendency was to avoid them due to an ingrained fear of following the crowd. (I can thank my dad for that one.) But it's been a few years now, and blogs don't appear to be going away, so after some long-winded debates with myself I resolved to make use of the technology regardless of its widespread use.

I tend to think through issues by debating them with friends, and when no ears are available I'll argue them with myself. Afterall, I've spent enough time talking them over with my closest friends I can often guess how they would broach certain topics. I'm not sure why I think in this way, except I know I love playing devil's advocate and jumping from one side to the other, so ideally I eventually end up somewhere near the middle. (Depending on the issue of course, there are several exceptions where I intend to keep my rather strong views.)

Unfortunately, in moving to Washington I left my debating buddies behind. And now I've got so many thoughts running through my head with nobody to test them on, that it leaves me quite the confused chatterbox when I find a willing audience. I thought a blog might prove an interesting remedy; once I write down a thought, I can leave it there and only come back to it as I choose, allowing endless room for more thoughts to develop. Or so my theory goes...

I'm sure I'll think of more reasons as I go along, but this will give me enough of an excuse to get started. :-)