Thoughts and Reflections on Scripture
2002
January November DecemberDecember
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is such a great time of year! I love all of the various elements of Christmas, from carols to candy, presents to pastry... and I think my most favourite part of Christmas has become Christmas Eve. I've slowly figured out that Christmas day never feels quite as special as I expect it to. I never quite get that gift that solves life's problems and makes me feel deeply satisfied. It should be a lesson to me that life isn't meaningful in physical, but rather in spiritual terms.But waiting for it is fun, and the anticipation of the special day really grows Christmas Eve... so much so that as a child I laid awake at night boiling with excitement.
One other reason Christmas Eve is so special is because of the relationships that have developed at Church. Being with loved ones, singing carols, lighting candles, eating goodies-- it's almost all too good to be true.
The most important reason to be thankful at Christmas is so often forgotten: Jesus' birth marked the beginning of a new world. Not only has our culture, our art, our politics, our lifestyles been changed by him, but for many, an indescribable inward life-change has happened because he lived and died for us and for love. Thanks God for this sacrifice. I'll never be the same again, and I would never want to be the same again.
Merry Christmas to all!
~Jason
Tags:church_work ↑
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
Welcome to my Blog
It's about time this site became an outlet for me to express creativity not just through music/scripts/graphics/photography, but words too! I live at my computer, I might as well have a place to log my thoughts, ideas, time, etc.I'm not sure of what I'll write, it may mostly be diary type stuff, but interact with it as you wish.
↑
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
Site is in Transition
CrookedBush.com is being moved to a new server. I will not transfer the Scrabble game until everything is ready.In the meantime, use this site until everything is done.
↑
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
New Album in the Making
Actually, that's not true. There are about four albums in the making, but some of them are far from being completed. I've got a Celtic CD planned which is mostly instrumental, there are about 5 songs recorded on that, about 5 others written ready to go. I'm recording a CD of love ballads at Clay Roof Audio Productions, these are songs I wrote mostly before I met Joanne. :-| I'm recording a rock CD which is pretty progressive, at least for me, and that's got about 6 songs done. I'm also recording a Christian worship CD which has about five songs done... so you can see, it's kind of smorgasborgy, but in progress. :)Tags:music recording ↑
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
The Waltons
I've spent the afternoon today charting 'The Waltons.' It's amazing how much time stuff takes. I'm frustrated because I really wanted to get more Valentine's Charting done, but it's just not physically possible! UGH. Anyone want to help?
Tags:church_work ↑
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
Blogs
Well, I first heard about Blogs last week, and I've added them to getChurch.org, NotationMachine.com, and now here.Ray Laqua sent me some links and explained the idea to me, and now I'm lovin' it. I'm disappointed though, that more people don't post. Feel free to say something here, even edit my ideas. This is an open forum.
Tags:webdesign ↑
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
Netscape?
Hi RJ,People may be dismayed to find that I do not support Netscape, and have no plans to. I personally dislike Netscape and have decided that rather than do the extra work and work-arounds to make my site(s) compatible, I insist instead that everyone use the same browser.
Before I get hate mail, please understand that I know this is unreasonable, idealistic, naive, and a pain-in-the-ass. It's just the choice I have made. Sorry to those users who prefer to hate Microsoft.
Tags:webdesign ↑
Tuesday, December 24th, 2002
Latest Sites
I'm working on new web sites all the time, but forget to update my links list. Here's the latest sites which should be added. (Eventually I'll ditch the link list and just use this weBlog instead).JohnTHarvey.com (and JohnHarvey.net, JohnHarvey.ca) is a site I've designed for a very good friend of mine who is a cosmetic eye laser surgeon. He's also a terrific bass player. ;-)
I've just purchased four new domain names to add to my growing list: smartautoresponders.com,.net,.org, and .co.uk. And I got all four for $100! I anticipate this to be a really exciting step to draw more attention to my Auto FollowUp Autoresponder script. Keywords like autoresponder are HUGE.
ServiceBuilder and Intelliscript.net haven't been added to the link list yet, but you've probably already heard of them since they're anchored to from my home page.
Tags:webdesign ↑
Friday, December 6th, 2002
AutoFollowup Bug Fix
I just repaired a bug in Auto FollowUp which was keeping it from sending all the emails in the list when the purge box was unchecked. If you own Auto FollowUp, get the latest version at Intelliscript.net.Tags:webdesign perl_scripts autofollowup ↑
November
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
Don't have to Worry Now
Snowed like crazy on the weekend, so now my yard looks great! :)
~Jason
Tags:hobbies gardening ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
Star Trek
I love Star Trek! I'm watching Star Trek: Enterprise right now, and I have to say this is the best series in the Star Trek universe! If you haven't given it a shot, then do. It may take a while to get used to Scott Bakula (did I spell that correctly?) but he's great!Tags:hobbies favourite_shows Star_Trek ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
Not Sure About This Prime Directive Stuff
I wonder why the Prime Directive? It seems like it's a device to explain why we haven't been visited by Aliens: we're not ready. But do other life forms out there (if there are any) really care about that? Part of the underlying error in the prime directive is the belief that we as a species are getting better as time passes; that we are getting more peaceful, less destructive-- more able to live in harmony with one another. There's a sense that as we 'evolve' other already evolved life forms will have something in common with us, want to share with us. It also looks at knowledge as the ultimate good-- that it's better to know than it is to not know, but that's definitely not true. Are we any better because we know about nuclear physics?In some ways, I think peoples of the past, say 2000 years ago-- those people may have been better equiped to handle a visit from aliens than people today, or worse-- people from 100 years ago.
Tags:hobbies favourite_shows Star_Trek ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
Ugh, the Skunks
When I look at my back yard, or rather, OVER my back yard into the neighbors yard, I get this sinking feeling (maybe it's because she's elderly). But she's out there everyday with a shovel or rake or hoe; turning soil, cutting, clipping and mulching. Maybe the sinking feeling is because my yard is full of craters created by those grub hungry skunks.It's about time I started to act like a homeowner and fill in those holes. Ughh, something else to add to my list of things to do.
Tags:hobbies gardening ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
New Change To Crossword
Ok, I've finally added a feature to Crossword, and I think it's about time. The lists of simultaneous games was getting so long that I decided to approach it differently. I removed the radio button selectors to choose games and instead made it a drop down box. Check it out here.Tags:webdesign perl_scripts crossword ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
One other Thing
Something else: I created a feature in the post script which allows you to put a link on any page on your site with an action tag in it for responding to a page. So if you have a site with articles, put the link "Respond to this page" and allow users to interact with your document. It's a neat way of multiplying community and interactivity on your site.Try it out at getChurch.org.
Tags:webdesign perl_scripts up_and_coming ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
Blog Script
You like this blog script? I downloaded and installed a slightly modified version of Blosxom (don't really like that name) and wrote my own posting script. Blosxom reads directories and sub-directories looking for text files, checks their date, sorts them by category (directories) and most recent date. It's a small, very useful script-- though a little obtuse in the traditional CGI perl script sense and therefore hard to modify.When designing the posting script I wanted it to work seamlessly with Blosxom without having to change Blosxom, so that other Blosxom users could incorporate it into their sites. It works pretty well, with the only problem being when directory names have numbers in them. (This gets the date listing feature of Blosxom confused). I don't think I'll be able to work around that aside from outlawing number directories.
If you want the script, let me know. I think I'll give it away for free.
Tags:webdesign perl_scripts up_and_coming ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
AutoFollowup Is Changing
I've had a small breakthrough with AutoFollowUp, and I hope to release the latest version very soon. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't realise a file became unlocked when it is closed. It makes sense now, but I never thought of it, and I didn't want to leave a file open too long! Hopefully this will fix the problem someof you have been wondering about-- namely people getting multiple copies of the same email on VERY heavily trafficked sites (we're talking 10s of 1000s.) For the rest of us, the other bad thing that could happen is loss of data. (Sorry)And in the same news, the script will soon have the ability to check any email account for subscription/unsubscription requests!
Tags:webdesign perl_scripts up_and_coming ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
How Favourites Works
In response to this page, my favourites folder is actually an exact real-time mirror of my own favourites folder on my pc! Whatever computer I use, whether at home, at work, or on the road, my favourites are not only accessable via the web, they can by synced automatically with all machines. So my laptop, my desktop at home, and my desktop at work all have the same favourites folders! Cool!If you want to set up your system like this too, great! The script is only $10.00 and is used in combination with a free executable called 'FavSync'. Send me a note and I'll bring you up to speed and get you going.
Tags:webdesign perl_scripts ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
Got Two New Magazines
I picked up two new Model Railroader magazines yesterday. I am still hoping to someday build a massive layout, though I wonder how wise that is considering the little time I seem to have... anyone out there like model trains?Tags:hobbies model_trains ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
To Build or Not To Build
I've been really desiring to build a model railroad layout in my basement for about twenty years. Maybe longer. Now I finally have my own house (moved in August 1) and a gigantic basement that could hold the biggest railroad empire you could imagine, and I'm starting to have second thoughts. Should I build now, or am I too busy? Should I focus on painting the rest of our rooms, remodelling the bathroom and kitchen, and all those other tasks, or should I just start the empire and fulfill my childhood dreams? And what about kids? Should I wait to see if they're into it and want to build it with me, or should I start anyway. What do you think?Tags:hobbies model_trains ↑
Tuesday, November 19th, 2002
Model Train Open House
Today my son and I went all over Hamilton visiting some awesome model train layouts! Lucas even got to run trains on Craig Web's layout! What a blast. Too bad there wasn't more time in a day! :)Tags:hobbies model_trains ↑
January
Sunday, January 13th, 2002
Reading List 2001
Here's the list of books that I've read in 2001:
Leonard Sweet: Soul Tsunami, Aqua Church
Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
John Piper: Hunger for God
Jack London: Adventure
Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas
Re-Read: J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
Re-Read: C.S. Lewis: The Tales of Narnia
I also read about a dozen Sherlock Holmes novels.
Tags:books list ↑