8/31/2010

Today is Finn's 3 month check-up. He's grown so much over the past few months it's hard to believe. He's starting to coo and smile a lot, and that makes both of us very happy. I believe God has great things in store for him, and I aim to help him discover and excel in this.

I'm reading through a devotional Curt Rabe gave me on our wedding day called "Pursuit of Joy" by Dr. Paul Kooistra. It's mainly a study on Philippians and how to attain joy through God. It's very good so far. Today, reading Ephesians 2:8-10, revealed that only by grace are we saved, and only by His death are we made worthy of this grace.

I'm still in the process of deciding whether or not to pursue a bachelors degree at some type of school. I trust God will give me direction in this and that any selfish reasons will be revealed so I may have a true meaning of my actions and decisions.

-BD

Hello

Nothing new going on. Back at work and about to start studying seriously for my CCNA, definitely need to get back in the habit of  studying for tests. Harvesting some tomatoes and reading a good bit of random things. Currently reading The Hound of the Baskervilles for which I'm a huge fan of so far. Finished the LotR trilogy a few weeks ago, which was also fantastic. Also read Time Management for System Administrators which was also a good read, if not a pretty close to GTD.

Slacked off a bit on the cycling....need to fix that.

Yesterday was Finn's 3 week b-day. Happy birthday Finn!

-bd

Harvest

Baby was born last Thursday. His name is Finn Edward Dean. He's the best baby in the whole wide world.

The garden is doing pretty well. So far we've harvested quite a few cucumbers, which are very very good. We've got some bell peppers and a couple of egg plants that should be ready in the middle of July. Tomatoes are chugging along, should be ready to pick by the end of July.

Finished reading the Lord of the Rings this week. I want to live in a Hobbit hole now.

That's all I've got.

-Brian

Bike Tension

Over the past 2 weeks I have ridden my bike to and from work on several days. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time but always came up with some dumb excuse not to do it or was just too afraid in general. I'm not really sure what I did to get over these mental hurdles, but I just decided to go for it and see what happened. So what happened? I brought my bike and a change of cloths to work last Tuesday. After work I changed, got on my bike, and went home. Uneventful. I was nervous as all get out, but for no particular reason. The act of riding my bike wasn't new. The environment wasn't particularly different, I've been ridding in traffic a lot recently. It was the idea that I was performing an activity that was labeled as something I've never done before and in a somewhat new environment that fed my fear. I feel that I get that way a lot. I put things in a mental box and build that box so large that it seems impossible to open. The things inside this "box" are unchanged,  just opening (doing) them are difficult because of how I perceive them. I know there are many other things in which I have this barrier with, so I'm trying to identify those things that I'm not doing because of an unfounded fear, or otherwise general anxiety and try to overcome that. Identifying those things might be tough though. Of course, this is fueled by the fact that I felt  absolutely great when I got home for the first time.

-Brian

Grass

Grass is starting to grow in the front yard and I'm super excited...pictures to come in due time.

I played Mass Effect (1) last weekend and was totally blown away. Probably one the best games I've ever played. Also probably one of the only RPGs (hybrid?) I've actually finished. I think I need to work on that some...

I haven't been reading as much as I've wanted to recently. I read Ron Paul's The Revolution and it was pretty good. I'm not huge fan of investing a lot of time into political research but I found it to be worth while. I feel that our natural opinions on politics should spring from our religious beliefs, as with all other opinions we hold, so I would be more inclined to spend more time studying the Bible rather than reading and analyzing various political stances. Granted, research into people we vote into offices is very important to make sure our principals are aligned, but even that shouldn't take a large amount of time. Accepting the fact that no one is perfect, especially those making decisions in offices, also mitigates the need for immense amounts of time spent analyzing politics.

Right now I'm reading through Francis Chan's Crazy Love. Not saying that I didn't take it seriously the first time I read it, but I probably didn't give it enough consideration. The general message of the book challenges me in a  lot of ways and I hope my attitude and ambitions can be influenced in a way that allows me to lessen my wants, needs, and desires for a level of comfort that could ensue a sense of apathy towards increasing my reliance on God. I think a lot of people get overly confident (my self included) in what they can seemingly provide for themselves which could open a door for a feeling of self-reliance that would then leads towards having less of a desire for God's influence in our lives.

That was pretty much me typing out loud and a self-reflection...

-Brian

Garden Pictures and Diagram

Here are some pictures taken today of the garden progress. The filled box has two rows of Spinach that we planted earlier this week, nothing has come up as of yet though. Also below is a diagram of our planting arrangement and a snapshot of the compost progress - it's coming a long nicely.[gallery link="file" columns="2"]

Click the pictures above again on the next page for the real thing...

School and Garden

I need not apologize for lack of update as I've been hard at work doing other things...Had I been lazy and not doing other things then a firm dose of discipline would be in order, but that's not the case, so on to the updates.

Over the past several weeks I've been studying and taking tests to complete a few certs that I've been wanting to finish. I took and passed MS 70-291 and the Network+ exam. These tests combined with previous ones I passed gave me the MCSA credential, which could be worthy of putting after my name in email communications or business cards. I don't  think that's necessary though...

These test have also given me the ability to exempt the classes needed to graduate from PTC with an associates in information systems. This makes me ecstatic because I've been enrolled at tech since 2004 (though not continuously)....I plan to continue my education at an institution of even higher learning. More to come on that.

Garden update....

Lot's going on here. I don't have pictures of everything yet, but I will be sure to post some this week.

The raised bed garden boxes have been built and two rows of Spinach have been planted in one of the beds. This plant requires direct, outdoor planting and should not be started indoors (like all our other plants).

Our squash has reached a milestone in maturity and has been transplanted from starter boxes to interim boxes it will grow in until it's ready to be planted in the raised beds. These things sprouted and grown rather quickly.

All the other plants have been growing at a normal rate. More to come on these.

That's all for now. I will post pictures of everything sometime this week.

-Brian Dean, MCSA