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Do you need to ask?

You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight. As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause. Batman, the Dark Knight 75% Lara Croft 63% El Zorro 63% The Amazing Spider-Man 54% Neo, the "One" 50% Captain Jack Sparrow 46% James Bond, Agent 007 42% Maximus 42% Indiana Jones 38% The Terminator 29% William Wallace 25% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

this is so funny!

Niego WebComix

Link: http://www.gosubway.org/

Subway 0.2-rc1 is out. http://www.gosubway.org/

After much woe, I think I finally tracked down the status problems I was having with modpython_gateway.py (which is now available on my "misc" Trac site). It should now correctly handle redirects, 404's, and .css and .js content. I think it also fixed my earlier "delayed content" problem.

I hereby nominate mod_python's status API for the "One Obvious Way To Do It" booby prize. Having req.status, a return value/status, and the option to raise a status makes far too many combinations.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4489792.stm

If you who know me really well, you know that I love squirrels! I am fascinated by their graceful movements, their complex social interactions, and their personalities, among other things. Here is a news article that my girlfriend forwarded to me just a few minutes ago. Fascinating, I have NEVER heard of this happening, and I would be lying if I said this didn't make me love the little creatures even more!

click here

Last week I wrote about our material delivery in Puerto Peñasco. At the end of the post, I briefly alluded to the interaction with families during that part of the trip as the first time the families are assured their hopes of receiving a home would be realized. Then I chickened out by saying I would write more on that later. Well, I guess this is later.

In the lunchroom/wharehouse area of the Amor Ministries office is a large poster of a former trip participant in the embrace of a young Mexican child. If any of you have been around this ministry, been on mission trips with us, or received mailings from us, you have seen the photo. We use it a ton. In the upper right corner of this particular poster is added one of the Amor slogans, which reads, "Hope is a cement floor. Hope is four strong walls. Hope is a roof that doesn't leak." Altogether, it is a nice and evocative piece of advertising.

Unfortunately, I tend to be a scoffer. Not a scoffer in the extremely cynical, pessimistic, why try cuz your efforts are futile sense; but more the sarcastic, side comment to make someone laugh and shake their head at me kind of scoffer. Thus, as such scoffing goes, I would find myself standing near the poster making statements like, "If hope is four strong walls, then why do we build seven?" or, "If hope is a cement floor, why did we go with the parquet?" or better yet, "Hope must be a cement floor, 'cause linoleum is hopeless." Yes, I do realize none of these are as funny as they sound in my head. Nothing ever is.

Fortunately, my scoffings with regard to the poster have recently been laid aside. The two weeks we were in Peñasco did it for me. It started during material delivery and continued through the completion of the projects. For the first time in four years I allowed myself to see the physical change is people who are being blessed. When the trucks rolled up in front of the families and the first boards were taken down and placed in neat stacks on the ground in front of them, I could actually see people lifted from the inside-out. Behind tears I saw a spark. In sighs of relief I heard prayers of thanksgiving. We hadn't even started yet.

As the week rolled by and groups arrived and began construction, the changes were magnified and multiplied. One mother walked slowly around with a sad downcast face that all too well displayed the hardships of her life. When the group arrived to begin construction, one woman participant immediately noticed the pain in her face, approached her and gave her a big hug. By the last day, she could do nothing but smile and laugh. There was a quickness in her step that had not been there a few days before. She would readily jump in to help in the building of her new house. A softness began to show on her face. And there was something in her eyes....dare I say it was hope?

I don't think the actual definition of hope is anything as tangible as cement floors, strong walls, and a roof that doesn't leak. And I'm not going to look it up. I do think however (and by think I mean KNOW), that a mother who can sweep her floor and find something under the sand (besides more sand), who doesn't have to worry if her house will collapse in a strong wind, who knows her children will be dry in the next rainstorm, she can think about something else for a change.... maybe even the future.

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I have Poison Oak, again.

Six weeks after the last time I had it, I have it again. I have not cleaned the camping gear out of my trunk since my backpacking trip because I am scared some of it might have Poison Oak on it. I read that Poison Oak can stay dormant on objects for up to two years. My fears were realized yesterday when I found some Poison Oak on my arm. The only way I can think of how I got it was from rummaging through my trunk to find some climbing gear that I used last weekend.

I'm telling you, this stuff is persistent!

Something happened to me last night that kinda tripped me out a bit. I have been going to sleep really early lately, probably around 9 or so. Anyhow, yesterday right before I got into bed I was picking some stuff up in my room and walked over to turn off the light. As I reached for the light I took of my glasses and tossed them to the floor by my bed. As my glasses were falling through the air, I flipped the light switch.

So imagine focusing on something, and then having it disapper in thin air. This is how I would describe what happened inside my brain as the light suddenly disappeared while my glasses were still falling, effectively leaving my brain thinking the glasses were suspended in mid-air.

I don't know why this messed with my head, but I couldn't stop thinking about it, even when I woke up. Like something out of a suspense movie.

So I have been complaining about my camera dying on me a lot lately. It's been pretty depressing because I love taking photos. A couple days ago I was talking with one of my friends and found out that he just got a new camera (the one that I want). The more we talked the more we found out how much we are into photography and didn't have a clue that the other was also. It was fun. So last night we got together to play with some photos that he took of us bouldering on Sunday. Anyhow to make a short story not too boring, he brought out is old film camera, a Canon EOS Rebel G, and handed it to me. He is letting me borrow it, How awesome is that! I have never used a film camera before and have been wanting to play around with old school film photography for a while now. What perfect timing, my digital camera is dying, and Justin was gracious enough to lend me his film camera! SWEET!

Anyhow here it is! I am already having so much fun just reading the manual on how to use it!

Micah and I won the event last weekend. It was alot of fun, and the win was great. The attendance was lower than I was expecting, thus, so was the payout. But I won enough money to pay off some unpaid rent, and also pay back the person that loaned me $50 entry fee to play the event in the first place.

The tournament was at La Mirada Disc Golf Course. It is a very enjoyable 36 hole course. Micah and I shot 26 under par for 36 holes to take the win by 3 strokes. The payout was $400, $200 each.

I knew in the back of my mind that we had to win or I wouldn't be able to pay my rent, I waited until after the win was sealed to tell Micah this small fact. LOL.