McKinney Methodist

Answers to "What is web ministry?"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:11:00 +0000

Answers from Weaving a Web of Connections morning group breakouts :

What is web ministry?

-methoblog

-is technology plus community.

-f acebook & twitter & website & blogging all feeding to each other

-a portal of grace

-making disciples

-high-tech high touch discipleship

-24/7 access to spread the gospel

-evangelism a go-go

-circuit writers of the technological age

-marketing tool for a free product : grace

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:04:00 +0000

test post from Mac OS blogger widget

African groundnut soup

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:03:00 +0000

Prep :

3 c. onions, chopped

3 celery stalks, diced

2 bell peppers, diced

1 lime , juiced

3 limes, wedges

28 oz. canned tomatoes, diced

1 c. brown rice

1 tbsp oil

6 c. water

1 dash cayenne

2 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

1 tbso sugar

1/2 c. natural peanut butter

chopped cilantro

chopped scallions

ground peanuts

Cooking :

-In a large pot, saute onions & celery (10 mins)

-Add the bell peppers & saute (5 mins)

-Add the cayenne & curry powder.

-Add the rice, water, tomatoes & salt. Stir well.

-Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered (40 mins)

Finishing :

-Whisk in the peanut butter, lime juice, & sugar.

-Add water if soup is too thick.

-Season to taste.

-Serve topped with scallions, cilantro, peanuts, lime wedges

Test post

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:00:00 +0000

testing future scheduled posting. This should be posted around 5pm central today.

Sierpinski Valentine

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:48:00 +0000

I love it!

Sent to you by Matt via Google Reader:

Sierpinski Valentine

via xkcd.com on 2/12/09

Things you can do from here:

Subscribe to xkcd.com using Google Reader
Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Jimmy sings!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:26:00 +0000

What is John the Methodist up to now?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:59:00 +0000

While he claims to have found gainful, fulltime employment now that he's no longer pursuing life as a candidate for ministry, several recent newsposts have begun to lead me to believe otherwise.

The first of which, he posted himself :

http://locustsandhoney.blogspot.com/2009/02/civil-defense-in-land-of-undead.html

After leaving Austin, TX, signs indicate he went north, to Indiana :

http://i.gizmodo.com/5145386/velociraptors-now-hunting-drivers-on-indiana-roads

And from there, westward to Colorado Springs, CO :

http://i.gizmodo.com/5146206/today-is-a-good-day-to-rob-convenience-stores-with-a-batleth

I see this as a cry for help. Can we please reach out together to help John before his multi-state sci-fi criminal overlord spree takes him to California?

"More Brains Needed"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:13:00 +0000

"BBC reports that more people need to donate their brains to medical research if cures for diseases like dementia are to be found and are urging healthy people as well as those with brain disorders to become donors.

More Brains Needed

In an unsuprising move, this initiative is being supported by the SPCZ (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Zombies )

Borborygmi

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:07:00 +0000

The plural of borborygmus.

An Experiment in Improving UM Social Media Exposure

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:47:00 +0000

Kevin Watson at deeplycommitted has started an experiment to see how much social capital Methodist bloggers have. This experiment was prompted by the feeling among some Methodist bloggers that United Methodism does not always do as good of a job as it could at getting the Wesleyan message out there, particularly on-line. So, he wants to see how many views a YouTube video can get if Methodist bloggers work together to promote it. The experiment is to see how many hits the video will receive in two weeks.

If you want to participate you can: First, watch the video below. Second, copy and paste this entire post into a new post on your blog and post it. Third, remind people about this experiment in one week.

Based on the results of the experiment, Kevin will get in touch with the folks at Discipleship Resources and let them know the ways in which Methodist bloggers are often an underused resource.

Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ISKTrScpzQ

h/t to Joseph

"India's Enron"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:21:00 +0000

I've worked in call centers for 10 years now. I came across this article this morning. All I can say is "Ouch"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:29:00 +0000

This is a test post. There should be a gorilla.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:03:00 +0000

Happy Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:05:00 +0000

Today my wife and I are celebrating 9 wonderful years of marriage together. We went and saw Slumdog Millionaire (AWESOME movie) and are now eating at a japanese hibachi. Here's to starting year 10!

Not quite 1984...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:54:00 +0000

...but still a great year :

http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_of_Science_Fiction_Fantasy_And_Horror_Films_USA/1983

11th Grade

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:44:00 +0000

yeargh.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:04:00 +0000

After spending 2 hours fighting rush hour traffic & holiday shoppers (who made the commute home worse), I made it home without harm, despite the rain-slicked roads and poor visibility. For that, I am grateful.

However,
For the red Chevy pickup truck that cut me off,
For the 3 cars that decided to tailgate me,
For the multitude of drivers who couldn't decide which lane they wanted to be in,

I must ask forgiveness, for I uttered a multitude of silent profanities against you inside the warmth of the cabin of my car.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Passes Away

via io9

Oh,yeah, that's it.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:19:00 +0000

Now I rememeber.

I like the song a whole lot, my wife likes Leonard Cohen quite a bit. I enjoyed the article, and while I already knew that he had spent a good stretch of time at the Zen monastery, I enjoyed his comment about married life :

“I’ve never been married, but I’ve lived a married life. It hardly matters. I remember Roshi saying to the monks, ‘You lead hard lives, you rise early, you spend hours on stone floors, but if you want to try something really hard, try marriage. That is the true monastery. Try the monastery of marriage.”

Not sure how cool or interesting it is in retrospect, but I thought so at the time.

Obligatory Wikipedia entry on the song.
Also a link to a BBC article on various covers.

Other covers of the song :

Leonard Cohen's (only fair, he wrote it)

Rufus Wainwright (my favorite version, and the first I heard) :

4 guys from Northern Europe (who's names I can't spell or pronounce. One of them was the winner of World Idol (beat Kelly Clarkson)) :

Also, the fact that a gospel-themed version of a song written by a Jewish Zen Buddhist monk* should appear on british TV during the Christmas season is either ironically funny, or appropriately fitting, or both.

*okay, to be fair,that's stretching it a bit, he wrote it long before he became a monk...

Ah, well.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Last night, before going to bed, I had thought of something really cool and interesting to blog about this morning. Now, I find that I've completely forgotten what it was supposed to be. Maybe I dreamt it. Ah, well.

Everything changes.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:04:00 +0000

My boss & friend, Kevin, is leaving in a week, to start work at another company. I have worked with Kevin for (almost) 10 years now. I've been working in the call center industry for (almost) 10 years now. When I dropped out of college to start working as as an agent, answering phones, Kevin was my very first team manager. I eventually had other team managers, and was, along the way, promoted to mentor, intranet administrator, client advocate, and to team manager myself. Kevin had left my department to go to become a forecast analyst in WorkForce Management (another department within call centers). A position became open in that department, Kevin recommended me, I interviewed, and got the job. I worked as his peer, with him training me, until he was eventually promoted to manager, and then I worked for him. We both ended up moving to our current company, through a mutual friend, giving our two week's notice at the old company on the same day. Kevin took a 3-day weekend, and I a 2, so I started here 1 day earlier than him; I would joke that this now made me his "senior". A while back, our company was growing, and the director of our department had the opportunity to add some managers, and Kevin was appointed as the manager over myself, as well as some others. Sometime after that, our company went through a series of layoffs, mostly affecting executives, directors, and management. Our director was one of those affected (he has since found employement again), and Kevin was appointed as the interim director. Kevin is now going to work for the company that we had both previously left, but now as a director, and with greatly expanded roles and responsibilities. I know that he his very intelligent, driven, skilled, and capable, both for the analytical work that we do, and for the leadership role that he will be taking on.

I have worked very closely with him, for close to a decade now, and have had many opporunities to break bread (eat lunch) and share faith with him (he is a Baptist, and I am a Methodist). We work well together (we were referred to, by others, as Peanut Butter and Jelly, on more than one occasion), and even have similar temperaments (he is ISTJ, and I am INTJ, if you're into that sort of thing). Whenever one of us had a hard problem with a formula in excel, or needed someone to bounce ideas off of, we were usually the first one that the other would go to ( "Are you free for a consultation?").

I am excited for my friend as he embarks on a new phase in his career, and I will miss our daily interactions, but I am ultimately grateful to God for the experience and friendship that we've been allowed to share.

In Memoriam

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:44:00 +0000

For Kathleen.

Because others have said & shared in their own, and better ways, I found today how I might contribute. After noting that she already had her own Wikipedia entry, I have updated a couple of other places there that were lacking. Noting that Wikipedia has a tendency to occasionally be in flux, I took screenshots.

GIMP stuff.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:02:00 +0000

A couple of images I created using GIMP 2. Learning paths and the fill tool.

Sierpinksi gasket transformation using alternating white/grey/black

Approximation of a golden spiral :

Correlations between zombies and Republicans

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:06:00 +0000

“The question is, why?” asked Annalee Newitz, editor of io9.com, a pop culture Web site.
One answer: These gore-flecked flicks are really competing parables about class warfare.
“Democrats, who want to redistribute wealth to 'Main Street,' fear the Wall Street vampires who bleed the nation dry,” Newitz argued, noting that Dracula and his ilk arose from the aristocracy. “Republicans fear a revolt of the poor and disenfranchised, dressed in rags and coming to the White House to eat their brains.”

Sign-On San Diego via Slashdot

Slashdot mentions we should thank John for such greats as Mars Attacks and ID4.

Socialists are best represented by lycanthropes, and the Libertarians are most closely tied to any sort of horror from space.

Break & lunch-time activity today (retro geometry class coolness)

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Akins) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:22:00 +0000

During my break this morning, and my lunch, I sat at my desk.

Using :
1) a blank sheet of paper
2) a compass
3) a straight-edge (which happened to be a ruler, but I didn't use it to measure anything)
4) a mechanical pencil
5) a little bit of knowledge from wikipedia

I did these things :
1) made my own graph paper (1 sheet)
2) created an approximation of a Golden Spiral.

I learned these things :
1) Either I bought a lousy compass, or I'm too heavy-handed for it. It kept "losing" it's setting. I'm going to replace it with one with a wheel lock.
2) It's easy to make graph paper on your own . However, it is HARD : for it to come out with all the points aligned, orthagonal, and evenly spaced. Little errors, made during the first couple of steps, compound over time, and with interest.