Work Hard, Play Harder

Weekend Thoughts

Yesterday, Jos and Heather flew to K Falls, then drove a rented car 90 miles east to Lakeview, OR to visit Jim.  Sounds like they're having a nice time, and getting to see a lot of the area down there.  In the meantime, Hayden and Nate both had friends spend the night.  I'm trying to decide how to spend the rest of the weekend, and debating whether to see a movie, or get outdoors and enjoy this beautiful weather.

I work downtown and caught Greg Oden just as his limo was leaving the Courthouse Square after his rally yesterday.  I love this guy!  The Blazers finally have a bright future.

Speaking of my day job, I don't talk about it much on this blog.. perhaps I'll start doing so more.  For those who don't know, here's a little bit about it..

I work for a company named Centerstance.  We focus on software consulting, which means that other companies hire us to build their software systems used to run the daily operations, and/or provide management with enhanced information.  My current assignment is with a large company (billion-plus sales) looking to completely re-build their point-of-sales system and supporting back-office systems as well.  This is a huge contract for Centerstance, and I've been fortunate to play a lead role moving this project forward.   Yes.. very good for my career.. yes, VERY stressful at times :\

There's much to write about regarding my day job, so I'll leave this post with some thinking I've been going through about a certain topic that might ring a bell with your life. 

Finding the balance between group effort and personal responsibility is crucial to the success of a project, and very difficult to do.  Too much group, and a project can suffer they same fate Marxism faced.  When everyone owns something, no one owns anything, and neglectful indifference can set in.  Everyone ends up suffering in the end when this is the reality.  However, too far the other way and you're in danger of losing a spirit of teamwork, synergy, and a possible leadership vacuum.  We've recently been faced with too much group, and what's resulted is a product that suffered from a lack of quality. We're working to mend this over the next few weeks.

Dark Energy

One of the primary tenants Believers point towards concerning God is His omnipresence.. His ability to be everywhere, all the time, all at once.  This concept is often met by great skepticism by Non-believers, and chalked up as more Christian fairytale and absurdity.

But what if a scientific-based claim could be made that points towards evidence of this?  Is that even possible?  I'm here to tell you that it's very much a possibility, and such evidence has recently come to light, putting the most hard-core, atheistic scientists in a quandary.

Do you feel like life seems to get a little faster each year of your life?  I certainly do.  The pace of life never slows, and always seems to be quickening.  I think this scientific understanding mentioned above is the culprit.

For many years, cosmological physicist (those who study the universe.. the "cosmos") have believed that the Big Bang theory that most of you are likely familiar with will, at some point in the distant future, slow down, and very likely start to implode.  They figured this would be due to the nature of gravity itself, slowly pressing the break-peddle down on the universal expansion that started the moment the universe was birthed into existence.

However, about 8 years ago, through a series of experiments that examined the  Type Ia version of Supernovas, a team of scientists made the remarkable discovery that, not only is the universe expanding, but it is actually accelerating!  That is, something is powering the universe to more rapidly expand. 

Through mathematical experimentation and observation, cosmologists have calculated that, in order for the newly discovered Dark Energy to exist, that it must comprise over 70% of everything that exists in this universe of ours.. the stars, planets, galaxies, EVERYTHING!  Think about that for a second.. this "stuff".. and I use that word precisely, because scientist don't have the faintest clue what this stuff actually is, is EVERYWHERE! 

Dark Energy DOES NOT follow any known laws of the physical universe.  One of the only things the scientists can be sure of is how prevalent it is, and that it MUST BE literally be "floating" around everywhere, due to it uniformity and density (or lack of).  That is, there isn't some of this Dark Energy over there, or over yonder, it must exist in a consistant way among every last corner of the known universe.  This stuff is all around you as you read the words on this page!

THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS!  All around you, I, and everyone else right now, and always, is an abundance of this mysterious force that is driving our world, our planet, our solar system, the Milky Way galaxy.. the entire known universe at a faster and faster pace!  This force cannot be directly detected, is made up of something completely foreign to the known physical world, is more powerful than any known type of energy or force, such as gravity, but nonetheless, can be indirectly detected by scientific instruments!

Folks, have we NOT just stumbled into the obvious.  God is said to be ubiquitous, omnipresent, EVERYWHERE, and now we have scientific proof that something.. this Dark Energy (a misnomer, made up by the scientists themselves, for they haven't the first clue what this "stuff" really is) is actually the presence of our Lord!  It all makes so much sense.  He's said to be everywhere, effecting everything, and now here is the first hint from the world of science that a force beyond comprehension is swirling all around us every moment of every day.  HALLELUJAH!! 

Tribes

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath--a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

I've been reading this long, but thoroughly enjoyable, thought provoking, and Hilarius piece by a fellow named Bill Whittle over at his blog, Eject! Eject! Eject!.

The piece is titled Tribes and speaks to the values people in America live by, and the courage required if we want our way of life to endure.

War of the worlds

Back in the mid 70's a Brit named Jeff Wayne created a musical version of the classic H.G. Wells story, The War of the Worlds.  Wayne's masterpiece has been a favorite of mine for years.  Recently a stage version was made, complete with orchestra, a full assortment of instruments, performers, unreal computer animation, and Richard Burton's head to provide the original narration (Burton died years ago).  I watched this performance last week at my brother's house and was BLOWN AWAY by it!!  Expect to hear more about Jeff Wayne's version of this classic tale, as I believe it will be coming to the big screen in the near future.

Here's a link to his site and Burton's introduction of the story:

http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/default.aspx