Home Archive by category "Adventures" (Page 3)

Category: Adventures

Editing Pet Peeves

In my work, I get to edit a lot of stuff. I’m also blessed to have a great editor who edits my own work, since we are often blind to our own mistakes. I’m no master of the English language. My grandmother was the family English grammarian! But I do have two pet peeves that drive me nuts, and if you write for me (you know who you are) I’ve probably nagged you about these two. Double spaces after punctuation. Punctuation after quotation marks. The first is a left-over from type writers which I think have been gone for quite awhile. Type writers had small spaces and folks back then needed to hit the space bar twice to make a single space that looked the same width as the characters. You can read all about the history here if you like: Space Invaders. The second is simply good grammar. It was taught in grade school. Learn it. Why am I bringing this up now? As I was driving across this Great Land of America I stopped at a rest area and was surprised to see that a government sponsored ‘monument’ broke both my pet peeves. I wondered what processes were…

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Karl the Pioneer?

As I have just spent the last two days driving across the “fruited plains” I have had time at the wheel to think again about the rich (and sobering) history of this Great Land. And I love to day dream about what life would have been like for myself and my family had we lived in a time when crossing it wouldn’t have been in an air-conditioned mini-van with cruise control and fast food stops or look-a-like rest areas on paved Inter-states – but perhaps along the Oregon or California Trails of 1840? A time when it took months at walking pace to travel hundreds of miles into the unknown leaving all comfort behind and going forward with only hope and courage. What would “Karl the Pioneer” be like? I have often been called a “Pioneer of the Internet.” In today’s definition of a pioneer I suppose that is true. If being a pioneer is to ‘bravely go where few have gone before,’ then sure. O.K. I was a pioneer. I was building webpages in HTML when most people didn’t have an e-mail address and “blogging” before WordPress or Blogger existed. I survived the “Dot Com Crash” because I built…

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DELIVERED!

As soon as my plane hits the tarmac in Chicago, I am already thinking about when I will be able to hit a Portillo’s hot dog restaurant. Famous for their themed restaurants, great food, and speedy service, Portillo’s has been a family favorite of mine since 1993! (Don’t miss the Chocolate Cake Shake!) While I may be almost religious about getting some Portillo’s on every visit to Chicago, there is certainly nothing spiritual about a great bacon cheeseburger or crinkle fries or a large ice cold Coca-Cola. Which would explain my surprise on my recent trip to Chicago to see a Gospel Presentation on every table! But there it was, as plane as day! Instructions on how to be DELIVERED from the burden of sin. It’s as simple as A-B-C. I couldn’t believe when I read, “Delivery is as easy as…” A – Appetite. ADMIT your appetite for sin and realize that no sin will ever truly satisfy. Know that ALL have sinned, and fall short of God’s perfect standard. That’s the bad news. The Good News is that Jesus came and only he can truly satisfy and He has paid the penalty for our sin. B – Big Decisions.…

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Teaching My Son Innovation at Burger King

So I was sitting at Burger King writing while my son was enjoying a kid’s meal and playing in the play area. He was delighted because his meal came with a cool Monster Truck! After a while, he noticed that there were two more Monster Trucks under the play area that had apparently rolled there. We discussed how some poor kids apparently lost their toys and probably left in tears. Luke said he wished we could retrieve them, but they were impossible to reach. One of them was extremely far away, and the other had broken into the two pieces it originally came in, wheel base and top shell. The space under the play area was locked and only accessible by an employee. I said to him,“They are only impossible to get if you lack the will to accept the challenge and the ability to use the resources at your disposal.” Luke said,“Huh?” I replied,“Do you know what a challenge is? It’s when you decide to attempt something that appears impossible, using what you already have. Let see what we have available to us and try to get those Monster Trucks! The worst that can happen is that we’ll fail.”…

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Hobbit Huddle – The Lure of Adventure!

The Hobbit came as a delight to me. I knew it would be visually stunning and the music would be sweeping and amazing to listen to… but it also rose above the usual fluff of meaningless formalistic drivel that passes for entertainment today. While much credit must be given to the author, Tolkein, Peter Jackson has done wonders to bring it to life, and capture the wonder of this timeless story. I am not one who is bothered by the three movie approach, but looking forward to it. When I go to a movie, I ask, What is the Message of this story? What are the timeless truths? What are the transferable principles to real life? What drove the author to write the story? Why did the movie maker create this? What can I learn? The Hobbit is loaded with life lessons that should not be missed. Some are obvious, others are more subtle – the subtle ones are the more powerful ones. In this post, I’ll start with the obvious: The Lure of Adventure. Bilbo, forgetting his Tookish roots, has settled into a life of comfort because of the culture in which he lives. It is not a bad…

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