WooHoo! ThinkPad 600E lives! T42 is a little shaky though

My ThinkPad 600E is alive and kicking! It's been elevated from paper weight to something better. Maybe a dedicated BitTorrent downloader? Now I just need to find some batteries and I'm set!

On a related note, my T42 which is from work is really wacky after coming back from our Oahu vacation. Sometimes the hard drive doesn't spin up when the machine starts, especially when it was set on a stack of papers hence was not level. On a level desk, it seems OK now. Oh well, at least the company got the 3 year extended warranty. Once that is up, which is next year, they make us get new laptops! If they still allow us to get ThinkPads next year, my next one will be a Core 2 Duo or better!

I wish we could get MacBook Pros at work :)

Update: June 6, After playing phone tag w/ IT dude, he thinks the main system board is bent.

Magneto's the Good Guy! (X-Men 3)

The really like Mike LaSalle's review of X3 in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Here are the best parts:

The pretensions take the form of the central metaphor that compares mutants to people of extraordinary, groundbreaking talent. That metaphor is bogus.
...
The metaphor here is the clash between special talent (the mutants) and conformity (everybody else). But it's one thing for people to react with hostility toward someone who writes an incendiary novel. It's quite another for people to react in this way toward someone who can set their heads on fire. The first reaction is intolerance. The second is simply the genuine recognition of a threat and the beginning of self-preservation. The vision at the heart of "X-Men" -- of a golden Utopia in which humans live side by side with mutants -- is absurd. It requires that mutants never get mad, ever, and that humans never even have to worry that they might. But hasn't anybody ever heard of road rage?
...
The existence of the cure upends an already shaky societal balance. Some mutants want the cure, mutant activists protest the cure, and the militant mutant, Magneto (McKellen) wants to start a war over it, seeing this as the beginning of his people's destruction. Xavier, the saintly founder of the X-Men, thinks all this intolerance is unnecessary, but if you actually stand back and examine the situation (which the movie never does), it's clear that Magneto and the anti-mutant extremists are right. After all, if Xavier's moderate course is right, why, after three movies, are there less than 10 X-Men? Obviously, his dream is not where the future is heading.

LK invited me to see it Friday night to see it w/ some buds, but couldn't make it for various considerations. If I'm lucky, this will be a DVD rental. If I'm unlucky, I'll catch it at 2AM on cable in a few years.

Evangelism

From the perspective of a church, we unfortunately tend to think about evangelism in the limited (and misguided) terms of what events can we do or what programs can we offer to attract non-Christians to our church. (I chose my words carefully there- read between the lines- what didn't I write?*[see bottom])

If we look not just at evangelism of the Gospel, but evangelism of anything, we find we never need to think about what events or programs to do to evangelize it! Evangelism is actually very organic and natural.

If one truly believes in something and that it is a good thing, perhaps a life-changing thing, he can not help but tell others about it. TV shows (LOST!), great restaurants (Chapeau!), shampoo, cookies, anything- it can be evangelized. One only needs to believe in it's goodness, even greatness.

In the gospels, we see many instances of people having an encounter with Christ and returning to their town or family to tell everyone about their changed life. (Oddly, Jesus sometimes instructed them not to tell anyone what happened.)

We probably don't necessarily need elaborate evangelism events or programs. (Nothing inherently wrong with those things either.) If we're experiencing a vibrant, true spiritual life in Christ, it will show in our lives (Galations 5:22-23) and we can't help but tell others about it. (Example, John 4)

Conversely, if we aren't sharing Christ with others, then it is likely we are not experiencing God. Revelation 3:15-16 refers to these as lukewarm. One thing I don't get is when leaders of a church like Laodicea want to "do more evangelism." Not that I doubt their compassion for the lost, but if Christians are lukewarm, aren't the new Christians going to be lukewarm as well? Shouldn't we be spurring each other on to be "hot", and not lukewarm nor cold, all the time? If everyone were "hot," I'd think we'd all be evangelizing all the time wherever we are!

BTW, when I link Scripture, I'm linking to the entire chapter by design to encourage you to read it in context :) Of course, if you read to this point and didn't click on the links, you wouldn't know the difference. ;) Also, I'm linking to the NET Bible from bible.org, both which I'll write about in the near future.

* Sometimes we even forget that evangelism is all about saving the lost, but rather we think it's just about getting people to come to our church.

"LOST" Entertainment Weekly Cover Article

EW.com has a cover story on "LOST." It's a pretty good read.

Some nice bits:

"''When they pitched the button, my first reaction was 'No f---ing way!' And I mean that in a good way,'' says ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson,..."

"'For me,'' he [Exec Producer Damon Lindelof] says, ''Lost is about meaning — and the search for meaning.''"

"Says Yunjin Kim, who plays Sun: ''When a character reaches some kind of redemption, perhaps it's time to start packing your bag.''"

>> This was true for: Boone (came to terms w/ his feelings for Shannon), Shannon ("redemption" via Sayid "believing" she saw Walt in the jungle), and Ana-Lucia (wanted to kill Henry Gale, but didn't)

...and finally:

"''The more I hear about disgruntled Americans who believe there never was an exit strategy for Iraq, the more I understand why they want to know that the story we're telling has a...well, an exit strategy,'' says Lindelof. ''If they can't get answers to mysteries in real life, they most definitely want answers on their TV sets on Wednesday nights. And they deserve them.''

What those answers will be remains to be seen. Fox, at least, is willing to say what one of them won't be. ''Nobody is going to wake up on this show and mysteriously end up somewhere else.'' Promise? ''That's a promise.''

Told of Fox's pledge, Lindelof betrays a mischievous smirk. ''Well, then,'' he says, ''I guess we're going to have to do that.''"

Those last quotes from Fox and Lindelof are ironic, since the series started off exactly like that: Jack woke up (on the show), and mysteriously ended up somewhere else- the island!

Star Wars Trilogy: Now in xTreme Ultra High Def w/ 32.3 Channel Sound

Lucasfilm announced that they will now release the original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD without the digital special effect enhancements from the 1997 theatrical re-release.

For the record, I have bought:

• Star Wars Trilogy (original versions) on LaserDisc from Columbia House ($1/each+shipping)
• Star Wars Trilogy (original versions) on LaserDisc, THX ($10/each from local store clearance)
• Star Wars Trilogy (special editions) on DVD, (~$25/set from online store)
• Ep 1, 2, 3 on DVD

I don't think I'm going to get this "new" old edition. It's not even Blu-Ray! Then again, even if it were (or will be), I don't think I'm going to get it. As an aside, there aren't that many movies which I already have on DVD which are worthy of the eventual upgrade to high-def disc- the LOTR Trilogy and the Pixar films are the 1st to come to mind.

The other thing is that the press release states that they heard the outcry from the fans demanding these editions. I don't believe that for one second. Lucas stated many times that he would not release the original versions of these films: a few years ago, they were released on VHS w/ THX cert. and they said,"This is your last chance to own the originals."

A similar thing happened for the DVD edition. Lucas said he wouldn't release them (special editions of the original trilogy) until the new movies were done and there'd be a super-box set. Of course, once they realized that they were about to miss out on the DVD $$$-train as high-def was on the horizon, they released it right away.

PlayStation 3

So Sony announced launch details for PlayStation 3. It will come in two versions for $499 and $599- the cheaper one is missing the flash card slots, HDMI port, WiFi and will have a 20Gb hard drive rather a 60Gb one.

For a game machine that is pretty darn expensive. I remember my PlayStation 2 was $250 at launch and I barely played it that much.

But for a high-def DVD player, the $599 one is CHEAP! Plus it's a game machine! At the November launch you're gonna see audio/videophiles competing to get 'em along side the full-grown (20-30 y.o.) kiddies. In comparison, my father's first DVD player was a top of the line Sony that had an MSRP of $1200!! (We knew someone who legitimately got it for us cheaper.)

Almost everyone is decrying the fact that "low-end" one is missing an HDMI port to transmit the video signal to your brand new HDTV. What's the big deal? I'm pretty sure the A/V Multi-Out port can output full HD component video anyways, and most studios have already said they will not downgrade the resolution for the analog connectors.

Anyways... if you're wondering, I don't think we're getting one anytime soon.

More Prayer & Devotions

Started waking up at 7AM to have my quiet time w/ God. It wasn't too hard after the 1st couple times. I used to do it at night after finishing the dishes and the kids were in bed. But from MasterLife, one of the reasons stated for having a quite time is to prepare us to bear spiritual fruit. It occurred to me that I probably need to be awake to bear spiritual fruit. Therefore it didn't make sense to have my quiet times (preparing to bear fruit) in the evening, usually right before bed, and then go to sleep! Seems pretty simple, but it was earth shattering to me.


On my ~1 hr commute, I'm usually listening to 680 KNBR "Thee Sports Leader." From now on, I'm going to pray a while before I hit the AM button.

Anyways, The Razor is really hard on the ears on the drive home. Thankfully, it's baseball season.

If could find my Old Testament on CD , I could probably burn through it pretty quickly.

I'd still listen to the Tony Bruno segment on Gary Radnich's show.

Summer Movies

It's May, so the summer blockbusters are imminent... looking good:

1. Superman Returns, the new trailer is pretty awesome.
   
2. Cars from Pixar, I wonder if mL is old enough to sit through it
3. M:i:III (mainly b/c Mr. "LOST" himself, J.J. Abrams, directed)
4. X-Men 3, only if the reviews are good

While folding the laundry the other night, and flipping channels on the toob, saw a promo piece on M:i:III which basically said, "Tom Cruise is so awesome!" Anyways, at least G got interested in the movie. (And not b/c of Mr. Scientology)

With kiddies now, it's hard to see any movies even at home, let alone at the theater. When the movie is a blockbuster that should be experienced on the big screen, I usually want to go on opening weekend. Of course, G always asks, "So when are we going to use those VIP passes?" ($6.50 tix, but have to wait 2 weeks after opening) *sigh* delayed gratification (mantra)

Last year, I was dieing to see Batman Begins. Weeks and weeks went by, and by the time we saw it the only decent screen/showtime was on IMAX. G got nauseus from the fight scenes.

First

This is my first blog post.