Considering Great Things

Have you ever stopped to consider the mountain? Standing in the right place, Mt Rainier can be seen from over 150 miles away, it's mass dominating the skyline where it can be seen. Think about dam construction: the Grand Coulee dam required over 45 million cubic yards of earth and stone to be moved, taking almost 5 years alone in excavation. With that in mind, even with all of humanity involved in the task, removing the mountain from the face of the earth would be beyond monumental, taking centuries, being among the greatest achievements in history.

Even so, my God tells me that with faith the size of a mustard seed that mountain can be moved with a word.

Have you ever stopped to consider the stars? Our own Sol ("the sun") has a diameter 109 times the size of Earth, and you could fit 1.3 million Earths inside Sol. Sol makes up for over 99% of the total mass in our solar system. If Sol is to the Earth as a large watermelon is to a pea, the pea would still be several times larger than the Earth. Now compare Sol to Canis Majoris ("the big-dog star"), the largest star known to mankind. The diameter of Canis Majoris is 1800 to 2100 times that of Sol, and between 5.8 and 9.2 billion Sol could fit inside Canis Majoris. Sol is to Canis Majoris as a grain of sand is to an earth ball.

My God is called Star Breather, He exhales and such celestial bodies are created.

Have you ever stopped to consider your own body and brain? The complexity of the calculations made in motor control functions alone is immense. Take a moment sometime today and stand on one foot while leaning around a bit. Congratulations! No super-computer in the world could make all the readings and calculations required in that amount of time to regulate the tens of thousands of muscle movements you're making every second. And that's not even mentioning all the upkeep your brain is processing under the hood to maintain vital functions and conscious thought. If you don't believe me just take a look at modern robotics and the range of motion available compared to that of living creatures.

My God is Elohim, the Powerful Creator-God. Just as He breathes stars, at a word He can create the mind-blowing complexity that is the human body.

This Great God commands respect, fear, awe... and yet He loves me, He loves us all, and He desires a personal relationship with every one of us. Now that blows my mind.

"Lead Me"

by Sanctus Real

Pain = Profit

So you know me, right? The guy who quite literally runs out of breath from 10-15 seconds of running? I don't really consider myself physically out of shape, as I can work all day with my hands without tiring out unreasonably, but I've just never had that same conditioning in my legs. Today I decided to start the process of fixing that. I power walked the very mountainous trail near our house today, a little under a mile or so (?) both ways, without slowing or stopping except briefly where I turned around. My lungs hurt, so I kept going until they stopped hurting. My legs started to burn, so I kept going until they stopped burning. Something in my gut started hurting, so I kept going 'till that stopped hurting. After that I couldn't seem to walk straight for a little while, but I kept going anyway. Eventually I got home and took a cold shower, and now I feel phenomenal! Let me tell you, Teddy Roosevelt taught ME what to do with physical weakness, and it still hasn't steered me wrong yet! And thanks to God, who gave me strength for something I probably shouldn't have been physically able to do, at the very least without feeling fine afterwards.

Hopefully I can keep this up!

"Unite"

by

Worth Dying For

It Is Better To Love And Have Lost...

I'm drawing near to the end of a good story, and in a way that makes me sad. But perhaps that's what makes stories good: to know the end is in sight, to know the end is coming and that everything will work out alright ( at least for the most part). In life you don't know when the end of anything comes, nor in what manner, but in a story it is pre-determined when and where things will take place, and how they'll turn out. Maybe that's why people like stories so much. Control. Direction. The audience follows what the author/film writer/game designer/playwright has painstakingly thought out, with little to no input required. Even in the elaborate chaos of things falling apart, it's all there so the person enjoying the story can see it all put back together again. And yet, maybe we just need to realize God has that same control in our stories. Honestly, we really don't need to do much more than follow. Maybe that's why people like stories so much. Maybe I'll figure that out myself someday.

Song is:

"Take Me Home, Country Roads"

as in Miyazaki's film "Whisper of The Heart"

Laliophobia

Auf wiedersehen
Is not goodbye
Unless you miss
My Adonai

And so I'll live
To lift Him high
And with each breath
I'll glorify

For some men live
But all men die
All men struggle
And wonder why

These are the things
I dearly love most
What I cannot say
I'll write - as a boast!

First is my savior
Who died to save me
I wish and I pray
That you'd all just see

Next is my father
God's example to me
Truly without him
I'd be lost in this sea

Third is my mother
Her hard work a blessing
Her love and advice
Save me distressing

Fourth is the trust
Of my parents below
More precious than diamonds
More lovely than snow

Fifth are my friends
The ones whom I love
They Fail, I fail, but still
We're seeking above

Sixth are the mentors
That know not their deeds
They act and I listen
And I lose some weeds

Seventh is my brother
Steals all my sorrow
I fail and I succeed
In both ways he'll follow

Finally my youth group
Those who give me hope
Encouragement to me
My heart they all stoke

If you harm these last two
Give more than a thought
For may God have mercy
Because I will not!

And still, auf wiedersehen
is not a goodbye
And for those whom I love
I persist and try

And so I'll keep waiting
All problems He'll fix
But until that day comes

Know Proverbs 3:6

"Kamikaze"

by Five Iron Frenzy

PAX 2010 and Guild Wars 2

For those redirected here from Google interested about the Guild Wars 2 demo, let it be known that I normally don't write about games, nor do I usually write to a general audience. That being said, in this post I talk about my impression of both the playable demo and the new 3D graphics I got to play with. Hopefully you glean something from them.  =)

As one who has been actively checking the Guild Wars 2 website daily for updates, and as a thrice-over-nerd who's been dying for an excuse to start going to conventions, I was very excited that the second Guild Wars 2 playable demo in the world would be right here in Seattle. After quickly convincing two other Guild Wars fans and dragging in a few other people into it we bought our passes a little over a month ago and the waiting began.

Thankfully time passed fairly painlessly and we came to today, the first day of the Penny Arcade Expo! PAX is the biggest gaming conference in the Northwest, and one of the bigger ones in the US. But on with it!

Travel went amazingly well for labor day weekend traffic, or any day's traffic in Seattle for that matter, and we arrived an hour and a half early. After picking up a couple late passes we grabbed our packets containing info and the first of the day's many free offers and items, including a couple decks of trading cards. The wait in line wasn't that bad as there were games and such for the audience to participate in up on two jumbo screens (as well as the first few rounds of free stuff) while the first swarm of people arrived. 

We lucked out and got placed at the start of one of the first three lines that was let in, so we rushed right to our main attraction: The Guild Wars 2 booth! We first got in line to grab our free t-shirt passes, but even after that we managed to be some of the first to get to play the demo. Out of the people there, the three of us were of the first 50 people to get to play the game in the US. Yup, a game at least 6 million people are dying to play, and we got to be three of the first handful to try it. That's one of the factors that made this trip unbelievably worthwhile.

***beginning of GW2 Demo impressions***

But hey, I'm sure I'm going to get hits from Google from people who want to hear about the actual demo, yeah? Here's some of my initial impressions of it. Two of us got to play at one of the stations that had 3D graphics, so we got the unique experience of playing in the snazzy new 3D gaming tech. This ended up actually being one of the bigger influences on our experience with the demo. I was the only one who could stomach it for more than a few minutes, as the others were experiencing headaches and disorientation while playing, which a handful of other people seemed to be experiencing as well. This points out that the whole 3D gaming thing just might not be for everyone. Also, even though I said I was fine with the 3D, I found myself having a hard time grasping the new combat system as well as being confused by what were some simple tasks, and I often lost track of where my mouse was at. As a pretty seasoned gamer, I blame these on the 3D effects having a major impact on my senses and ability to play. Yeah, sound like a cheap cop-out, but it was just different. This is unfortunate, and I kinda wish I had gotten a normal computer screen so I could have enjoyed the game more.

The demo itself both excited me about the game and raised a few concerns I didn't have until I got my hands dirty playing. One highly unusual fact is that apparently in GW2 there is no auto attack. None. All skills. Only skills. This is different, and comes across as a mix between high maintenance and highly interactive, bittersweet overall. Another odd fact was the movement controls were entirely WASD, without the ability to click on a character or on the ground for movement. As we played we found the only times we actually used the mouse was for camera panning and talking to a few quest-important NPC's. The interesting effect resulting from these two combined factors was that it made combat a very dynamic experience. For instance, as a warrior when I used a sword skill it would actually slice into the air in front of me, whether or not there was an enemy in front of me. The same went for when I used a bow skill, if there was no enemy in front of me it would shoot into the hillside, but if there was it would automatically target any foes towards the middle of my vision. This sounds like a pain, and for most of my 40 minutes of play time it was, but I actually saw a lot of potential in this. For instance, say you're attacking a monster, but suddenly need to attack or heal someone else. Instead of changing targets, all you have to do is simply change your camera view and start using skills on your new target.

Beyond that I didn't get too far out of the starting zones as that wasn't really my goal, but my initial impressions were definitely positive overall. 

***end of GW2 Demo impressions***

Conventions are great for free stuff. You can easily get your money back.

Anyway, after we all finished our 40 minutes of demo play, we got some free GW2 Bandannas and special trading cards available only at PAX. The idea was that when you wore the bandanna around the conference, wandering GW2 staff would give out more of these trading cards as the day went on. Unfortunately, we only got a few cards this way, and as the day stretched on we noticed less and less people wearing the bandannas until almost no one else was wearing them at 5:30 when we left. Fun to get the bandannas and cards anyway. We then moved on to visiting the other booths and collecting items and punches around the conference in order to grab even more free stuff, of course. Some interesting items we passed by were Lego Universe (a Lego MMO), two floors of floorspace covered in beanbag chairs for socializing, and a service called OnLive that allows you to play games without downloading or installing them. This is particularly interesting because it allows people with crappy computers but a good internet connection to play all the games they couldn't before, even netbook users I'd imagine. I'll have to try the free month of membership I got to see how it works.

There was a lot more that happened I could write about, but at this point I'm feeling a little too tired from the day to continue writing. Oh! If you're ever at the convention center try the Brazilian grill a few blocks away. Delicious all-you-can-eat of what was probably the best cuts of steak I have eaten in my entire life. $17 lunch $40 dinner.

Today's (classic game) songs are:

"Hyrule Field" (from Twilight Princess, I believe) by Nintendo

&&

the "Mario Theme Music" by Nintendo

Brilliant Parking Scheme in Budapest - Üdvözli a jövőt!

Coolest parking system EVER! No really! There's no controls to pause or rewind the video, so make sure you have 5-6 minutes to kill uninterrupted before you click the link.

http://www.woehr.de/en/projekte/budapest_m730/index.htm

Boy's Play & Summer Sun

I write this in the shade of our backyard as the house is quite hot. My room read 80F as I left it a few minutes ago! Six months into the year and we're experiencing the start of our third full week of sun, with most of the before being broken random days. I love Western Washington's climate most of the year, but since the only places with AC around here are our supermarkets and about half of our many coffee shops, the first few days of heat really kill. 

Today is Jonny's 12th birthday, and to celebrate he had five of his friends over. I won't bore you with a full account of the days events, but I particularly wish to zone in on a particular stretch towards the end of the party. You see, I allowed Jonny and his friends to play with

Oh! A hummingbird just flew by! Err, right...

I allowed Jonny and his friends to play with my big tote of Legos (Lego?). Initially everything started out peacefully, then houses turned to forts, planes to gunships, and cars to artillery. The arms race had begun. You see, boys don't do so hot on imaginative competitions, and everything quickly devolved. Alliances were soon formed, and what I call the "chain of invulnerability" began quickly after the arms race did. You see, the other alliance started building a military force and declared they would soon be advancing on us. Two of the three of the nations on my side of the line were reluctantly drawn away from being peaceful economic nations and forced to build war machines merely for our own survival. The enemy responded by building warheads, and a nuclear arms race began. I cleverly sat off to the sideline and developed my anti-missile defense stations with more than enough munitions to fend them off. As things escalated and my defenses neared completion, the enemy ranks moved out into space, hopping from the moon to Mars. Their warheads launched, and ours were not fully ready! But Aha! I revealed my secret defenses and stopped two of their three warheads before they considered it wiser to devise a new scheme. As they debated and tinkered, I launched my secret plans that only an extra few years of life could devise. I launched an inter-spacial battle ship with a few envoys armed with missile defenses and my master plan... Yes, along with my small fleet came a very large missile. But this was no ordinary missile, oh no, I was too clever for that! It was a scud, you see. A scud! To their dismay, as they fired their cannonade at it it merely broke into smaller and smaller pieces, before all the little warheads came exploding down upon their base! Aha!

RESET!

What?! The losing side quickly revealed to me that this had all been the dream of some Lego figure, and that the real war hadn't actually began. Oh.

In this fresh canvas the same alliances existed, but the enemy team had now changed locations to none other than the surface of Sol himself. The sun! Apparently these peoples live on an ice patch they created on the cold top of our very own sun. Fascinating. My team, in equal maturity, changed our location to the CENTER of Canis Majoris, the largest star currently known to man (something along the lines that if our Sol was the size of a pea, Canis Majoris is about the size of an Olympic swimming pool). Seeing they had been outdone, the others then changed locations to the center of a black hole. Soon after, I moved to a different part of the house which was much cooler, and overheard evidence that the boys had tired of the stalemate they had reached, and decided to instead revert back to swords and guns. At least I was able to maintain a totally mature and non-escalating manner. Yup.

Looking back on the day, I don't understand how girls can have fun with toys that don't kill each other.

The rest is a preview about an upcoming post. To those that it would interest, I've been thinking about things to include in a post with reviews on various Facebook games and applications. I'm not exactly a full-time addict, but over the years I've played quite a few different games, and I figured it would be useful to create a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly in Facebook games, some of the hidden gems addicts and casual players alike might want to check out, and some pitfalls to watch out for when first trying any app. Since Myspace applications evolved so much slower than Facebook ones I never really got into them, so I apologize but there will be nothing about them in the post.

Today's song finally showed up on Project Playlist, I had been waiting a long time for it. It doesn't fit in perfectly with today's post, but it's close enough and is the only thing I can currently think of. As one of my favorite songs of all time, Dandelions compares a mother's love to God's love, "seeing flowers in these weeds".

"Dandelions"

by Five Iron Frenzy