Look At The Orange

This past week I got home from work and it was just absolutely gorgeous outside, so I decided to go for a walk. I popped in my headphones, turned on some music and headed towards the pond/park in our neighborhood. There is something so relaxing about taking a stroll and enjoying God’s awesome creation! I had a great conversation with God during this walk and also had fun taking some pictures on my iPhone. I would love to have a better camera - photography is fun. Maybe you’ll enjoy some of my pictures from my walk…

I just found out about a nice, easy place for developers who want to post code on their blog to share with others.

I’m sure other platforms do it, but WordPress.com has a really nice, simple way of making it happen. It does all the syntax highlighting, shows line numbers, allows the reader to copy the code, print it and has support for 26 different languages.

To see an example of this, check out http://en.support.wordpress.com/code/posting-source-code/

Nice job WordPress!

Recently I have been reminded of the idea of going for the best, not just the good.

It really is a great problem to have, this problem I have…I have to many good opportunities. Seriously - this bible study, this book to read, this blog post to write, this community to be a part of, this church service to go to, this way to volunteer, this conference to go to, etc. So in a life of to many good opportunities, how do I live out a life of stewardship?

I think the answer  is do less.

Be less distracted, give everything I have to those few things. It sounds so good, but is so hard for me to do.

I’m working on it. Just told someone that I’m going to have to stop doing this one thing last weekend…progress.

How do you keep track of things you need to work on? I have yet to find something I think is perfect, but have tried many different tools. Most recently, I’ve just been using a notepad and pen. I write down the things I need to do and then highlight them and put the date next to it when it’s complete.

There’s no shortage of tools…

*Google Tasks  *Toodledo  *Things  *Evernote

…question is, which is most helpful, without being yet another time consumer/distraction?

How about you? What tool do you use? And what is the method you use in that tool?

Yesterday I went out and bought Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin. I am really excited to read this and have heard a lot of good things about it from people who have already read it.

Earlier today I was thinking about writing a post asking for your opinion between two pieces of web development software… Coda and Espresso. However, after spending the evening working with Espresso (have been using Coda trial for about 15 days) I decided that the source control options with Coda were enough to set it apart. Although it felt somewhat ridiculous trying to get subversion set up in Coda, I found out it was ridiculous just because it needed to be restarted a couple of times during the subversion setup process. Now that I have it all set up I am quite happy!

For now I’m hosting my subversion (not really sure if I’m even saying that right) on Unfuddle.com which seems pretty good…and it’s free, which is the perfect price.

So there ya have it…it’s Coda, Subversion & Unfuddle for me for the time being. Feel free to share your thoughts still…maybe you’ll persuade me to change.

Anybody use the project management software, ActiveCollab? It looks to me like the best thing out there, most features, most customizable, etc.

Any thoughts?

About a year ago, I met Steven Dilla and his wife, Emily. They are just the type of people you know you want to know…because they are going to accomplish amazing things. That’s the feeling I had when I met them, and of course they are proving me right!

Go check out their website… echoes of redemption and find out about the passion these guys have and what they are doing with their passion.

If nothing else, be in prayer for Steven, Emily & baby #1 on the way as they prepare to start a church in New York city…they will be well worth your investment of prayer.

In my post about the fast I am on, I mentioned that the fast was 1 of 10 things that I was challenged to focus on this year from Ed Young at Fellowship Church. As promised, they posted the list, so I wanted to share it with you. This is a great list that I definitely need to focus on this year!

1. I will take responsibility for respect
2. I will welcome and receive correction
3. I will deal with people honestly without hostility
4. I will look at, not through people
5. I will look my best because I represent the best
6. I will expect respect in all my relationships
7. I will incorporate power words in my life
8. I will make hospitality happen
9. I will live in prayer mode
10. I will fast to make it last

So today I had lunch. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty delicious. My parents and I went to lunch to celebrate my mom’s birthday and she chose to go to Pei Wei. As usual, I got the Lemon Pepper Vegetables & Tofu with fried rice. Yummy.

And now it’s about 5p and I am sitting at Starbucks with this cup of coffee…

Do you see how black it is? Oh my, very black. Usually I would prefer things like a Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino, Chai Tea Latte, or Hot Chocolate. So why would I buy something that I have never gotten before (black coffee)? That would be because of church today…

Today we started a series at Fellowship Church called Details. The main gist of the talk today was the fact that with the details (like manners) we can either reflect God or deflect him. The details really do matter. The devil is in the details as the saying goes, because he knows that the details can distract us the most. Ed had some awesome stuff to share and at the end he shared a list of 10 things that he wanted us to work on during this series (I’ll get the complete list later). The last item on the list was a fast. Yup, as a church we are fasting. It started today after lunch and will end on January 31. So, that’s the long story as to why I’m drinking black coffee instead of my preferred drinks.

Although it will take some getting used to black coffee instead of a chai tea latte, I really am excited about doing this. I think it will help me a ton to start off this new year intentionally focusing on my relationship with God.

You want to do it with me? I know of quite a few churches doing similar things right now and I think it’s awesome. If you aren’t doing something already, why not get rid of the distraction of food and fast for 21 days together. I think the result at the end will be amazing.

If you want more info on the fast I’m doing check it out here. You can also find tips and recipes as well as a daily spiritual focus, since that’s the point, to use the hunger pains and time as a tip to spend time with God. I’m looking forward to this and will let you know how the journey goes.