eMac Problems

We took our eMac into the store where we bought it for repairs under warranty. Of course... it came back doing exactly the same thing it had been doing before.

This time we'll be going to the Apple store and hopefully this will help.

Thanks Steve for keeping up with this mac geekery and for sending me the info.

Visited Ebenezer's

We're back from vacation. It was a great time. One of the cool things we did was visiting Ebenezer's coffee house in DC. For a while I've read Mark Batterson's e-votional blog. He is pastor of National Community Church. A couple of years ago the church decided to transform an old and very run down building into this great coffee house, the church's only building.

The church meets both at the coffee house and in movie theaters.

While we were there, I was blessed to get to spend some time with Mark. Very cool time.



Check out National Community Church at www.theaterchurch.com.

Going on vacation

We'll be in Virginia, DC and New York the next 10 days. I'm trying to get back to posting here much more often, but for these ten days I'll be pretty unplugged.

Meeting bloggers face to face

Thanks Flowerdust, Chris, Breathefire, Parke, Kris, Tom and Deb for the great conversation tonight. It's always fascinating to meet people in person after lots of online discussion.

Thanks Kris and Tom for your sneaky picking up the tab too.

Journaling

I was reading back through some old journals tonight. I used to write a lot about what was going on in my life, my job, and my family. I have probably 20 notebooks full from about 1992 through 2004. Since 2004 I've done little journaling except what I've done here on my blog. I guess some people have let blogging replace journaling in a notebook, but I think I'd like to regain the art of doing both. Blogging allows for community and idea sharing; journaling is intensely personal as you write your own words for your own reflection and for future remembrance/reference.

For a while after my kids were born I was journaling often... each day I'd write some about what the kids were up to, some about Debbie, and some about me. I think I may try (once again!!) to pick up journaling.

Do you or have you journaled much?

If so, has blogging replaced journalling for you or do you also still like to type/write thoughts just for your own eyes?

What will I do on Monday nights?

Tonight was the finally of The Apprentice on TV.

The final project was especially interesting to me.

Lee was the politician. He picked a team with low potential but people who loved him.
Sean was a smart businessman. He picked a smart, multi-talented team.

Lee's strategy might have worked except that his task was very difficult. No matter how much his team wanted him to win and no matter how hard they worked, Lee's team just did not have what it took to win. Sean was a better leader with a better team and he won.

This last project also had another interesting aspect. The project involved charity fundraiser events. Lee seemed to think that he could wing it on this task. I wonder if he thought it would be a cakewalk since he was working for just a leader of a charity. What he found was just the opposite. This woman who led the charity of Lee's project was tough. She was leading them instead of the other way around.

As Jim Collins says in his new small monograph to "Good to Great" regarding greatness in the social sector, those in social sector leadership have to be better leaders than those in business. This played out right before our eyes on the apprentice.

Incredible!

We planted a small garden this year mainly to show the kids (and see for ourselves) God's amazing creation blossom before our eyes. It's been a lot of fun.

I'm really making a big deal about this to the kids. I've been saying this little deal over and over and always getting an eye roll and an exasperated "Oh Dad"... but I think the kids are starting to get it. I've even caught Alex saying it...

"Hey kids... did you know that ALLLLLLLLLLLL the information for these plants to grow came from the TINNNNNY little seeds we planted? INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!"