So Veronica and Pastor Barry has this guy redo our logo (matt from DigitalSnot.com) . . . and it’s very cool !  We not only got the logo, we got it as a layered Photoshop file and we got the logo infront of all these cool still and animated backgrounds . . . all for a very good price.  Pastor Barry did a sketch of his logo concept, and matt took that and did a full up logo for us ! 

 I’d post some of the backgrounds and animations but . . . I dont have time right at the moment.  But here is a sample of the logo !

Thanks Matt !

This weekend the church hosted the Church Life Resources conference.  This is a conference (put on by Church Life Resources group no less) for Pastors and leadership of church’s to help them . . . well to help them see what programs / ministries are (and are not) working well in their church.  Basically they spend the first few hours learning about, and filling out, a questioner about the top 15 things a church needs to run well (like preaching, worship, small groups, evangelism, leadership, management, facilities, etc).  It’s more complicated then that, as they spend more then an hour explaining it . . . but the gist is that they fill this thing out (their leadership fills it out as well) and they get an overall composite score for each of the 15 areas.  This helps them see what they need to work on, what areas need attention . . . and what areas are already doing well.

  Read more

You absolutely must read this article HERE . . . .

In case you dont get this refrence, in Half Life 1 you play as Gordon Freeman (a scientist at the top secret Black Mesa Research Facility) who travels to work one day and inadvertently causes a ‘resonance cascade’ . . . thus tearing a hole in space time that allows aliens from another world (another dimension ?) to come through and start attacking us (as aliens often do). 

Look at the wiki page to get a more detailed picture if you’re interested . . . HERE

First, the fish tank.  I finally took some pictures of the tank that I got more then a month ago.  I think that I put the tank in a bad place in the living room because the couches are 90 degrees to it (facing the TV set on the wall to the right) . . . but I didn’t want to put it next to the TV / Entertainment center because I wasn’t sure about putting all that weight on the one spot of the floor of the apartment.

Anywho, the right side of the tank is missing any kind of decoration because I haven’t found anything I like yet.  I want something like a big(ish) castle or something with gecko-roman columns . . . like Atlantis sunk in the tank lol. 

In other news, I’ve decided that we need to change the color / pattern of the back wall monthly.  Last month was a very geometric / sharp edged / masculine breakup pattern . . . green pattern with purple background.  So this month, wanting to avoid fall colors since they will take up the next two months, I decided to go with a green background and a paisley pattern. 

I know it’s very busy.  But many of the backgrounds that I downloaded for use in worship / Pastors notes have a sketched / scribble / paisley aspect to them.  And it’s more feminine then last month (many ladies told me last month that the pattern was very linear).  The pictures are blurry, sorry, and one looks more saturated then the other . . . but you get the idea.  I may make the paisley pattern a deep orange and see how that looks on the green . . . just to take away from the bright white of the pattern.

I know, it is very busy.  But I’m still learning stuff here.  Also, the green isn’t as deep as I wanted and the focal point of the lamps in my ellipses are off (so the pattern has a glow about it that washes out the green even more).  But I think it’s a step in the right direction.

Last, but not least, you should check out Camron Ware’s web site and blog.  He does some amazing stuff with architectural projection (that’s pointing a projector at a wall and projecting some cool designs on them to make for a more immersive service).  His latest post shows a church that he worked with that uses fabric and some color mixing LED banks in the ceiling to truly create an immersive space.  Check it out

Once again I am mastering the Sunday audio to CD . . . which means that it’s time for a LINK DUMP !

Today’s edition is very exciting as the world may end !  Oh yes ! 

     You may have heard about the new super collider (the Large Hadron Collider) that is a 17 mile loop spanning across the border of a couple of countries.  People have been worried about this thing for years.  What I find interesting is the conflicting information that’s out there about it.  One of the main worries about the Collider is that, as a result of some of the exparaments, very tiny black holes will appear.  We’re talking about very VERY tiny black holes that evaporate in less then a second.  However, since we have not exparamentally produced these black holes before . . . some people are worried that they wont evaporate but will continue to grow . . . which would obviousley be bad for the planet as a whole.

      Most scientists agree that the chances of this happenning are very VERY tiny.  But what I find interesting is how many of the people involved with the project dont even mention the fact that it WILL, in fact, make very small balck holes.  I supose they dont feel it worth mentioning to the public in general becaue they will think ‘black hole, oh no . . . we’re going to die !’.  And while several studies have been conducted to see if this thing is safe . . . they were conducted by the people building it.  However, an independent panel of scientiests studied it a coule of years later and found it to be safe.  They cited the fact that such high energy collisions happen in Earths upper atmosphere with Cosmic Rays and have not produced ill effects (such as Earth eating black holes).

         Anywho, here is the link to some articles about it . . .
HERE is the Daily Tech article
HERE is a Wiki Pedia article about it, and HERE is a safety concern page about it

In other, less Earth ending news . . .
- Blu-ray has 5 years left as a formatt . . . HERE
- I’m not even sure the point of this article, other then to say the Shuttle program is old technology that is wearing out . . . HERE
- More Red Ring of Death info comes out . . . HERE
- This is a cool Ultra Short Throw projector . . . meaning you can hang it at the top of a wall and it projects down that same wall . . . A blog article HERE and the tech article HERE
- I want this picture canvas that Pete Cullen has on his wall . . . HERE
- A nice review of the Blu-ray of Transformers . . . HERE
- Some gamers not happy with Spore, DRM and Gameplay lack luster . . . HERE

This Sunday evening we celebrated our new senior Pastor (Steve Davis) being with us for one full year.  The church board announced last week that we would be taking up a love offering for the Davis’s and that we would be having a pot luck dinner in place of the evening service (which is what we are doing right now). 

Now the church is providing the meat (BBQ Pork and the sauces) and the church peeps just had to bring some side dishes.  And I’m all about some free food.  But I almost wish we had little name cards by the food so we could see who made what . . . because some of this food looks great and some . . . not so much.  That would be the luck part of a pot luck.

This got me to thinking about what we do to celebrate stuff.  We eat.

I guess that’s the way we as people celebrate most anything . . . birthday parties we eat, luncheon banquets we eat, any excuse for food we eat. 

I mean, eating is such a basic need . . . but one we take very seriously.  We don’t celebrate anything sleeping or by exercising . . . or by practicing any other basic need of life. 

I suppose eating utilizes most of the senses . . . even sound (there is a particular sound of a large group of people eating . . . and they say that if you hear the sound of food being prepared that it can make you hungry).  

Why am I even thinking about this stuff ?  Well I’m currently hiding out in the sound booth as the celebration finished up.  I mingled with people for about 20 minutes at the start . . . but large crowds of people make me uneasy. 

Well I don’t get nervous in like . . . shopping malls I suppose.  Just in places where I feel the pressure to make small talk with people. 

I’m such a social recluse.  I suppose I should go mingle again now . . .

At least that’s how EGM feels about the latest Force thumping game from Lucas Arts. 

That sound you hear is my expectation for the game fizzling out. 

Three different reviewers put in their input, two gave it a C and one gave it a B-.  They all seamed a bit miffed about the fact that soon after begining the game you encounter enemies that can block your force powers.  Which seams like a valid game play idea (dont want to make the game TOO easy) . . . but aparently they didnt like the way the designers did it (as it seamed to make the game frustriating). 

For a game about having awesome force powers, the fact that they are pretty much negated after the first few levels is kind of lame.  I’m sure the designers decided to give the enemies ‘energy shields’ that block your force powers so that you’de have to use the environment more and think things through a bit . . . but none of the other three reviews I’ve read so far feels that this is what happenned. 

 One reviewer said that the levels were so big, that you just end up wishing they would end allready. 

Andrew P. (of EGM)  said that when you encounter waves of enemies that negate your different powers, they gang up on you and hit you when you’re down . . . “forcing you to run for the nearest hiding place until your force meter recharges. ” “Some frearsome Sith I turned out to be” he stated.

I’ll porbably end up getting this game anyways, as I am in need of something to fill the hour and a half time in the evening when I dont have anything to do and dont want to watch TV . . . but it makes me sad that several reviews allready find this game average at best.  Usually if a particular media outlet decides to give a game a good review, the developer might allow them to break the ‘media blackout’ early and publish their score . . . since all the scores are average . . . the chance of a better score poping up is slim.