reflections on winter retreat

Let me start by saying that Winter Retreat was awesome!! I really enjoyed my time, and I'm really sad that it's over. I've been working nonstop on the video lately, so I'm taking this opportunity to stop, take a deep breath, and share my thoughts.

The food was atrocious. Forgive me for my snobbery in this matter, but I remember last year's food being much better. It wasn't just "fried-up American food", it was just plain gross. I really shouldn't complain about that though. It could have been much worse.

Tom did a great job speaking to us, and I didn't disagree with anything he said. Some of his statements were a little watery in a theological sense, but he was trying to come from a universal standpoint, and I applaud him for that because it's not an easy thing to do. I particularly enjoyed his discussion on the unity of the Church, and how vitally important it is for us to "make bridges, not walls" when it comes to our brothers and sisters in other denominations.

I should clarify something. I'm not a presbyterian. I go to a presbyterian church, but I don't really consider myself a presybterian. I prefer the title "truth-seeking Christian." Now, I do think that presbyterians have a more efficient church government, but I don't want to get into debate on that one. I also believe in infant baptism, but presbyterians aren't the only ones to do it. I tend to follow arguments that make more sense and have a stronger scriptural foundation. I think it's important to search and understand the Scriptures with an open mind, and the things I believe are simply things I have come across in Scriptures.

"Getting right" before God? This phrase was repeated several times throughout the retreat and has been in the past. To me, at least, that sounds a bit too much like self-purification, like we have to sanctify ourselves in order to present ourselves to God. I know, of course, that this is not what is intended, but it can easily be confused with something that is entirely false. Jesus presents our souls to God, the Bible describes him as our "intercessor." The gospel is always applicable to everything. The fact that we aren't good enough and are in desperate need of God is vital to our understanding of how we should carry out God's will. It's very important to remember that it is not we who elevate ourselves to God, but God who lowers himself to us, both spiritually (the manifestation of the Holy Spirit) and physically (the manifestation of Jesus Christ).

I felt like I grew during this time. God has filled me with a desire to serve and to do his will, which gives me great hope that he plans to accomplish wonderful things through me. Not only did God draw me closer to him, but to my friends and peers as well. I feel like I got to know everyone a little bit better.

In order to redeem myself for my past criticisms, I would like to say that Pastor Troy is one of the most gifted people I know. He really knows how to relate with us and speak in our language. I don't always agree with what he says, but I know that God is daily using him for His purpose. Mr. Q, you did an awesome job with the MCing for the Talent Show. Seriously, I don't know how anyone can top that. Mr. Davies did a wonderful job of organizing the trip. The only criticism I had with the schedule this year was that the ski/snowboarding was on the last day. I really think it's much better to have it on the first day. I was exhausted and ready to go home by the end of the week. I thought going first was a much better experience. That's just how I felt about it. Perhaps some of you agree. I'm sure there are other people I should thank, because whatever they did, they did it well; Winter Retreat was so great this year. Thanks everyone.

winter retreat pics

As promised, today I published most of my Winter Retreat pictures, for your viewing and copying pleasure. I only omitted pictures of scenery and most of the talent show pictures, because the lighting was atrocious and the lens had hundreds of spots on it, so they didn't come out. I had to make 2 pages, because they all wouldn't fit on one (45 pictures is the limit), so use the navigation on the top to see both pages (Winter Retreat '06 (1), Winter Retreat '06 (2))
The links to both pages are below:

http://homepage.mac.com/fredharrell/PhotoAlbum6.html

http://homepage.mac.com/fredharrell/PhotoAlbum7.html

Enjoy!

most boring post ever

This week we have finals, and I'm dreading them. Why are they right before Winter Retreat? It's agony, I tell you. It gives you hope and something to look forward to, but it's still agony. I've been studying English for the past few hours and don't really understand many of the questions she gave us on our study guide for our King Arthur series. No fun at all. Tests should be illegal.

Winter Retreat is going to be beyond fun this year. I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm number 43 in the list for snowboarding, so I'll be seeing some of you on the slopes. But it's on Friday this year, which I don't really like; we'll all be pooped by the end of the week, and ready to go home (even though it was a blast), but we'll have to stay behind and do a very fun, but exhausting activity to further agonize our underslept bodies. But I'm going to stop there with the complaining, because the fun will outweigh the exhaustion (hopefully). It really is a priviledge to be able to snowboard with your friends, and for such a good price too! Perhaps next year we'll go back to snowboarding beforehand. Or, you never know, I could be completely wrong on this one, and it could be that snowboarding afterwards is mucho mas awesome that I could have guessed. I hope the latter is true.

I don't really have much to talk about (shocking, I know), but I'm sure I'll have plenty to say after Winter Retreat. Good things to say, of course. I think I'm officially titling this my most boring post ever. Really, I just proofread it, and could hardly stay with it myself. Sorry about that, guys.

gizmo

Below is a button you can use to call me on my computer using a nifty little program called Gizmo. It's a program much like Skype (for those of you who are familiar with that) but with more features, and basically allows you to make free internet calls to other users, along with standard text IM capabilities. It's pretty fun to use, and you can even use it to call landlines for a small fee, 1.0 cents/minute (at first it's free, with new accounts). Using a local access number, people from land lines or mobile phones can call you for free.
I can definitely see this as a replacement for phones in the future. I'm sure handsets can be made to connect to the computer or internet connection itself in order to receive calls from other users. It would be great for land-based communications. Cheap, even free calls for everyone all the time! Now that's innovative technology.

iLife '06 RULES

If you haven't checked out the cool-ness of iLife '06, go to www.apple.com/ilife now and check it out. The setup they have for showcasing is pretty awesome too. I'm SO getting my paws on that when it hits the stores. I'm almost speechless it's so cool. I'm serious guys. It's SOO COOL!! I'm most pleased with the improvements to iDVD. The "Autofill dropzone" feature is an answer to prayer, and those of you who use iDVD on a regular basis know what I'm talking about. I also can't wait to see what they've done with all the audio improvements (many of you know that the sound in my videos is often imbalanced, so I'm hoping the improvement in that area is as good as they say it is).

i got a shuffle!

Yes, I have a 512 MB iPod Shuffle. I'm going to do a small review on it, (a) because it's pretty small and most of you know everything about it and (b) because some of you haven't, so I'll humor you.

Sadly, the seemingly imminent release or update of the iPod Shuffle was not announced today, contrary to most rumors. I visited the Macworld Expo today, from about 2:30 - 5:00. I have to be honest, it was pretty boring this year. Last year they were demoing Tiger and released the iPod shuffle and yada yada yada--the whole place was "aglow" with excitement. But this year, just some boring processor updates (significant, mind you, but boring). Not to mention the fact that nearly every other booth was selling IPOD CASES and IPOD CAR ADAPTERS and IPOD THIS and IPOD THAT. No fun:(. Last year was fun, because there were many companies with innovative technologies and interesting displays. This year it was one iPod accessory stand after another. There were some cool booths though, and the gaming section was pretty sweet (yes, Macs CAN do games, of course they were all PowerMac G5's, but they were playing some sweet games nonetheless). iWeb looks like an interesting feature, and I am thinking of getting it with the remaining balance on the Apple giftcard I haven't used yet, possibly to publish my very own blog that's completely customized and controlled by me.

Anyways, after unsuccessfully trying to pay for an iPod Shuffle at the Macally stand using my Apple gift card (really classy on my part), my dad and I grew discouraged and decided to leave. We then went to the Apple store at Stonestown, and I bought a Shuffle there using my gift card. But it doesn't stop there! There's more to the saga of John Mark's iPod Shuffle!

After coming home from a long, boring expo, I excitedly de-packaged the iPod and attempted to connect it to my eMac. PROBLEM. All of the ports on the eMac are located on the side, but they are all in an indentation that is "only so wide", and my iPod shuffle did not fit through it (this picture might give you a clearer understanding of what I'm talking about).

After a small temper tantrum, I decided to call Apple. Inside information for you eMac owners; think twice before buying one.
The lady on the phone "mmhmmed" after I finished, and I can tell she's encountered my problem before. She reminded me that there are usb ports on the Apple keyboard that I could use. She said it's impossible to connect it to the eMac, but that I could buy the stand for twenty bucks. The only catch when connecting it to the keyboard is that it won't charge through that. Thanks, I told her. I also said that my wall adapter is USB, so I could just use that to charge it. She affirmed my suggestion and said that it would work. In a good mood, I hung up.

So no, I can't charge my Shuffle through my eMac, but that's okay. I got some songs on there and it works just fine. Thank heavens the Apple keyboard has usb's on it (they are meant for connecting a mouse, so that only one usb slot is taken up).

As far as the actual iPod goes, I like it. It looks cool, it feels nice in my hand, and it's very lightweight and feels fine hanging around my neck with the lanyard thingy it came with. My primary use for the Shuffle will be to run with (my regular iPod is ok, but it skips from time to time and I have to hold it in my sweaty, nasty running hands, so that it's all sticky and gross when I pick it up to use it later. Plus it's no fun to have to hold on to something the whole time you're running. Called me spoiled if you want, I call it Macintosh;). The Shuffle is NOT for control freaks, because it has no screen. It's almost uncomfortable using it, or getting it to play at first, because there are hardly any indicators that it's alive. When I press play, I just have to trust that it's about to play something, instead of being able to watch it's progress on a screen. I'll get used to it, and I don't plan on having very many songs on it anyways (which is why I got 512 MB rather than 1 GB, who needs that much space on something that doesn't even have a screen for navigation? Storage purposes would be the only reason, or someone who is just really trying hard to get rid of all that "pesky money"). So I give it an A-, because I still haven't gotten used to no screen. Also because Stevie didn't make sure it was COMPATIBLE WITH HIS OWN COMPUTERS!!!! Geez. I'm still getting over that bit.

jingle ball pictures

It's a bit late for this, but I published a bunch of pictures from Jingle Ball. Most of them aren't that good, and many have some unsightly blemishes which means I need to clean the lens. There are a few good pictures in there though. Enjoy:)

http://homepage.mac.com/fredharrell/PhotoAlbum4.html

king kong

This is unlike me, but I am taking after Chris and writing a review about a movie I recently saw, King Kong. Now, I was wrong when I assumed Serenity was going to be a stupid movie because of the trailer. Serenity was excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone, because it has many different parallels, and even some theology for all you nerdy PK's.

Unfortunately, the same is not true of King Kong. The trailer showed this giant ape fighting a t-rex, and I'm afraid that's as good as it gets. The movie is filled with action, suspense, horror, and oversized creatures, but in the end amounts up to nothing. Let's face it, King Kong had no point to it at all. In the end, the ape just dies, and the lady is all sad, but in no way did it give me an emotional attachment to the beast. I was glad when they killed him, because that meant it was the end of the movie (it was over 3 hours long). It dragged on and on, as one by one each character was devoured or killed in some gruesome way. All so that they could capture the ape and take him to the city, where he would eventually be killed. Some parts just didn't make any sense.

Don't go see King Kong, unless someone pays for your ticket. Even then, I would advise you to spend that money elsewhere. Fun with Dick and Jane wasn't too great either. Funny, but just not that good. I've been disappointed by our movie selection this holiday season. The Chronicles of Narnia was pretty good, but just a bit boring (partly because I know the story so well and partly because it's a simple tale to begin with.)