Chumdinger

We’ve all heard the story about Adam and Eve. God tells them they can have all the pleasures of the Garden of Even except for the Tree of Knowledge. And what do they end of doing? Going where they’re not suppose to. They go to that tree and eat of it’s fruit.

Ever since this history changing even, its been human nature to test the limits of authority. I noticed this in the most subtle way this past weekend while visiting my little 11 month old nephew Zach.

He has a lot of toys. Toys that make music, toys with flashing lights, toys that bounce, toys that promote creativity, toys that he always puts in his mouth, and Zach has a dog named Skylar. Zach’s mom and dad have given him free reign of the house to discover and explore. But they’ve set one thing that is off limits.

“Stay away from Skylar’s chew bone. It’s not a toy.”

And guess what Zach keeps going back to even after repeated warnings against such action. Yup, the chew bone.

Ok, he’s only 11 months old. His brain is not developed enough to know the difference. Maybe thats true. But what about us adults? Don’t we do the same thing? Don’t we keep going back to the things that eventually get us in trouble?

I know I do, and it’s a constant struggle to change our human nature. But there’s good news. Like Zach, there are those in our lives to correct us and set us back on the right path. It’s amazing what life lessons you can learn from this little kid and his puppy.

I thought this was worth revisiting. James posted an inspiring blog on how we could react to the things that are stagnant in our lives, how we could build a greater community, how we could love those around us. 

I’ve heard it now from every generation – we are not satisfied with the easy demands of Sunday morning church. We can see that people living the way Jesus taught would create a strikingly different kind of community, and it’s clear that if the story is true at all then it calls us to follow that way with vigor…

If you’re in the Houston area, it’s time to leave. Hurricane Ike is slamming into the area tonight as a potential category 3 storm with 110+ mph winds.

From CNN: Floodwaters surged into Galveston Island neighborhoods Friday morning.

Waves washed for blocks inland, the beginning of a storm surge that forecasters warned could reach up to 22 feet and bring “certain death” to anyone who remained in Galveston Bay homes. 

Be safe all. 

Over the last couple months, the Shell station by my house has been draped by fabric and a construction fence. Upon it’s reveal, a hydrogen pump appeared. 

Here’s some more info on the program. Not sure who’s gonna use it other the the handful of Honda FCX Clarity drivers driving around SoCal, but it’s a good start in transitioning out of foreign oil. 

Wonder what it would take to convert my car?

I’ll be taken a little time off due to travels. San Diego this week. And then headed to Zion National Park next week for some camping and hiking with a bunch of friends. The Narrows hike is one of my favorites of all time. 16 miles though the narrow (hence the name) Virgin river canyon with shear cliff walls rising up 1000 feet on both sides. Trudging in and out of the river with sunbeams illuminating the rocks in shades of red, orange, and brown. Truly amazing.

And I’ll be cooking for everyone too. What’s on the menu? Pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and chicken apple sausage. Grilled salmon with mango salsa. Omelets made to order. Yup, we’ll be camping but we’ll be far from roughing it

What, you say??? Yes, they make paper out of elephant dung. But for a good cause. The proceeds go to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center which help to feed and take care of these amazing animals.

www.elephantdungpaper.com

I was there last year to take a tour. They run one of the only elephant hospitals in the region and they do a great job in taking care of these animals and building awareness for the need of their preservation. 

Here’s some facts about the process from their website: 

1. An elephant will eat 200-250kg of food a day….. from that they make 50kg of dung

2. One elephant provides enough dung to make 115 sheets of paper per day. 

3. Elephant dung does not smell that bad. If it does, then maybe the elephant is ill.

4. (edited for content – see their website on this one)

5. An elephant’s dung is just fiber. Elephants are poor digesters of their food. Over 50% of what they eat comes straight out the other end.

6. Elephant Dung Paper does not smell at all.

7. We do not use chlorine. It is 100% bacteria free.

8. Dung is a waste product if we don’t make paper from it.

So there you have it. Paper from crap. Which James and I started brainstorming on how to make this a viable business. Any ideas?

A little less than an hour ago at 11:42:15 AM (PDT), we had a 5.8 5.4 magnitude earthquake in Socal. Everything seems ok.

Most impressive was how people used (and are still using) Twitter and Facebook to communicate about the event. Both sites lit up like candles on my birthday as it was still happening. While the phone lines jammed up and calls couldn’t be made, these sites kept working (which is ironic since Twitter has been spotty lately).

I was in the process of writing a tweet, and the room started shaking so I changed my message to “EARTHQUAKE!” while the shaking was still going on — an instant news feed to those not in LA everyone following my feed. Forgot what I was originally writing.

My phone was also going off with SMS messages from other folks on Twitter. It took the AP 9 minutes to get the story out. While this may not mean much for a moderate earthquakes, think about what this could mean for a bigger natural disaster. Instant communication to dish out life-saving information or to request help.

Anyway, I took a screen grab of Twitter documenting the action (pics below) and here are some good quotes from others’ experiences:

The earthquake registered ~ 120 TPM (tweets per minute) on summize.com. Now we have to listen to 8 hrs of news about what people were doing. — Matt Singley

Glad there are no earthquakes in Georgia. — Joanna Duff

Hanging onto the escrow rollercoaster. — Jon Ericson

Just experienced earthquake number six during a haircut with Candace B. Quakes are fun until they hit 7.0. — Benton Walker

Did not survive the earthquake, send flowers to my family and checks to me. — Davis Derus

Getting to evacuate work because of an earthquake is kind of like recess without playing 4 square. — Jordan Beal

I LOVE EARTHQUAKES!!! We were rockin’ & rollin’ in our highrise. I know it seems weird, but it’s like being home — Ruthie Fowler

If it weren’t for facebook statuses, people might never find out about earthquakes. — Ashley Taylor

Dang earthquake coverage is breaking into my soaps!!!! Ch.11 darn you!! — Ashlyn Bishop

Felt the earthquake from Paris. — Eddie Looper

Disneyland is still standing…so we are all good. — Jeff Savage

UPDATE: More Quotes

Thinks that not even an earthquake can keep me from the James Taylor concert tonight… — Jackie H.

…is thinking wow… that was an earthquake? I thought it was a helicopter going over too close to our house! haha — Bree W.

…”loves” being in charge of 20 8th graders during an earthquake. — Meghan S.

…is in awe of God’s power after experiencing her first earthquake! — Marissa B.

More photography!!! Yesterday, I entered the photo below into Wired’s new photo contest and it’s doing well. The theme this time: “Cities” (remember the last time?)

Show us entire Dickens’ novels wrapped up in a single image, the clash of classes, the roar of industry, the sickening high of syrupy commerce. Get out there and capture the faces behind the rat race and iconic, everyday make-or-break moments. Just be sure to make it out alive.

The photo is titled “Reflections in Berlin” and it was taken last year with my Canon Rebel XTi (before it got stolen).

Please take a moment and vote for it if you get a chance (the score is tallied by subtracting negative votes from positive votes). Thanks!

http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2008/07/submissions_cities

It’s been an interesting week. If you haven’t been following along on this blog, I’ll give you the quick run down. After I wrote the “Lightning Strikes” post below about my weekend in Vegas, I got to hang out on Sunday with an old friends who’s a professional poker player. I hit a milestone which I wrote about. Potentially being able to make a career and ministry out of this game.

But the rest of week was filled with ups and downs. It all culminated today with what I wrote about my experiences. After winning a big hand online with 95 off suit (a really crappy hand for you non-poker players), here’s what I wrote:

…upon putting the right read on my opponent, I was able to play the rest of the hand well. Probably the best I’ve ever played a hand to date.

But now I think I’m getting a little too sucked into the game, the competitiveness, the adrenaline, the roller coaster ride, and the deception. I’m pretty laid back and its not in my nature to be this way.

I need to find a little perspective as to whether all this stress is for me or not. I can see how this could affect relationships with friends, family, and one’s outlook on life. So I may take a little break from the game to figure that out. Either I’ll come back refreshed and renewed, or decide that this is not for me professionally… just something I do for fun.

I wrote that about a week ago. And with time to reflect, I ask myself the same question again… Can poker as a ministry work? My maybe-yes answer from before is now leaning towards a maybe-no. Yes, loving on these folks is easy, and building solid relationships will take time which is true in any area. That is the nature of living your life out in faith.

But that’s contradictory to the nature of the game as described above. It sucks you in. It sucked me in for the short time that I played seriously. If you don’t have that accountability with others who share your perspective, it can be a long dark road to find your way back. I’m glad there those that’ll keep me on the right track.

So where does that leave me? Still on a poker hiatus except for our friendly Monday night games. And probably on a path back to a “real” job. Hopefully something to do with design, photography, travel, new media, non-profits, ministry, or any combination of the above.

It’s been one crazy time in Vegas so far. We got here Thursday night after driving through the most amazing lightning storm we’ve ever seen. Had to pull off the freeway to watch and take photos. This was my first time trying to shoot lightning but wound up getting a few good shots including this one:

Anyway, had some great talks with people at the poker tables today… Could I do poker as a ministry? There is potential, but I’m not sure if I’m good enough yet… at poker, not the ministry part.

The lightning was striking in Vegas too (figuratively). I played a local hold ‘em tourney yesterday morning at The Tuscany Resort & Casino. 30 people at 3 tables. $35 buy in. Made it the final table. Knocked out two peeps, and the top 8 agreed to chop the winnings evenly: $150 each. Woohoo!

Then we wanted to take our minds off Vegas and escape the heat, so we went to a matinée of WALL-E in a nice air conditioned theater. Amazing movie! Chilled at Starbucks afterwards.

There was another poker tourney at 7pm. Was this morning’s win a fluke? I decided to play this evening’s poker tourney. Same $35 buy in. But with 65 people at 7 tables. I played better than I thought I could, and also hung out with some of the same players from this morning. I’ll blog about the actual poker playing later at www.hotdip.us, but long story short I made the final table again but this time as big stack. When there were 3 of us left (me, Rob and Mary), they convinced me to chop the winnings 3 ways: $630 each. Woohoo x2!

Lightning does strike twice.

So the same question comes up from earlier… Could I do poker as a ministry? My answer is still a maybe but more leaning towards yes now. If I played more consistently at these tourneys, one starts to see how loving on these folks is easier cause you’re all sharing is the same passion of poker already.

And on the poker skills front, here’s a little tidbit of info that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. Rob, one of the players that finished in the top 3 with me at last night’s tourney, also played in this week’s World Series of Poker 10k Main Event which is still going on.

It has over 6800 entrants. The top 666 players (a coincidental number I hope) would get part of the $64M prize pool.

Rob finished 660th and took home $21,000. Or to put it another way, he finished in the top 10%.

So on any given day, given optimal conditions, some good cards, a little luck, a little help from Jesus, and enough stamina to last, I could potentially play here and finish in the top 10% too. But that would be getting ahead of myself. I’ll stick to the small tourneys for now, build consistency first, and then we’ll see what happens.

Ok, enough poker talk for now. Today is photography day and a day of hanging out with friends and processing yesterday’s events. In a little bit, we’re gonna drive out to an old deserted ghost town to take photos, maybe head to Red Rocks for a little bouldering (photo from last time), and I won’t be playing poker today!