swish #2 & other programs

yesterday i posted two of the three intros i had created for our fall retreat using swish. i just finished the third intro a few seconds ago and therefore thought i would post it here also.

here’s the intro:

as i have said earlier – i love swish. it is more than powerful enough for the things i need to do and yet simple enough that it doesn’t take me forever to create something.

since i’m talking about programs that i enjoy using i figure i’ll post a few of my favorite programs that are probably running on my desktop or laptop at this very moment:

  • swish – shockwave flash animation
  • adobe photoshop elements – photoshop lite – does most everything i need from layers to nef conversion for a 1/4 of the price of the real thing.
  • keynote – mac powerpoint – i use it on my laptop.
  • a href=”http://wbloggar.com/”>w.bloggar – blogging client – it’s free and it’s great. i just wish it was available for my mac.
  • mozilla firefox – the greatest browser around on windows or mac (though i do like safari on the mac also).
  • audacity – free mutlitrack digital recorder.
  • itunes – i was originally all about realplayer but buying an ipod swapped me over
[Listening to: Down Under – Men at Work – Contraband: The Best of Men at Work (3:41)]

haggard

i haven’t said anything about the whole ted haggard thing because of a couple of reasons; 1) it just doesn’t seem right to “hit a brother when he down” (especially when haggard was doing a good enough job on his own, 2) i’m not the biggest fan of monster/mega church pastors anyway so i’m not very unbaised about one of them “falling” (i love this quote from dan kimball concerning the difference between small and large church pastors – i’d rather be the slave than the king), and 3) there are plenty of other people who have already blogged whatever opinion you want to read and have probably done a much better job than i could possibly do. so i was going to leave the whole thing be until i read the letter that he asked to be read to his former church for their services earlier today. i was very impressed because he actually “took the fall” (or at least most of it) within his letter. he blamed nobody but himself and admitted that he lied and decieved them all. obviously, i still not thrilled about the situation but i did think the letter was a pretty good start.

SIDE NOTE – c.s. lewis is the man. i started listening to mere CHRISTianity while i run. it’s been a few years since i have read it. recently i have reread more of his fiction than his non-fiction. i had forgotten how much i love his non-fiction writing style.

SIDE SIDE NOTE – american dreamz is pretty dang funny.

SIDE SIDE SIDE NOTE – i ran 12.8 miles today (twice around the 6.4 mile lakes loop. ouch my legs hurt. i was planning on running my first half-marathon december 2 at the baton rouge beach 1/2 marathon. unfortunately, that’s also the weekend my family and i were planning on going and seeing some of our friends in fort woth, texas at the beautiful feet church. the first weekend of december they set up hayrides and drive around their neighborhood passing out gifts to all the kids there. i’ve been wanting to take my kids to “the feet” for years and mike myers (the pastor of “the feet”) says this is the best weekend to do it. so we’re going. i’ll just run the first light half marathon as my first.

HAGGARD UPDATE – after watching JESUS camp i pretty much think again ted haggard is a jerk.

my run for the day
distance – 12.8 miles
total time – 1:10:00
pace – 10:09/mile

the good and bad of my neighborhood

the family that treats together
as you know last night was halloween. i love halloween. i know some people don’t like halloween because they are scared it’s all about satanism, witchcraft, sex, rock-n-roll, and drugs. yet i say to them the word of the LORD “to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.” (titus 1:15). so to me halloween represents two things: 1) the day before all saint’s day, and 2) a day where kids and adults act stupid and get lots of candy.

so of course, my family and i dressed up and part took within the halloween celebrations of my neighborhood. it was great. we had families pulling kids on small hayrides with trailers and atv’s, people sitting outside to hand out candy while surrounded by fog machines and ghouls and much more. some parts of shenendoah were absolutely amazing. my only complaint is that my street was a loser of a street. there were a few of us that were “open for business” but not many on our road.

my favorite part of the evening came when i was walking around the neighborhood with noah and montana, our basset hound. while noah was “trick or treating” someone asked me “what type of dog is she?” since i was in my elvis costume i responded in my best elvis laced toe “ah, she ain’t nothing but a hound dog!” it made my night even better.

[Listening to: You Led Me to the Cross – Matt Redman – The Father’s Song (4:49)]