humblethorn

The Kid Among Men

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:34:00 +0000

There is another George Junior in one of the most exclusive clubs in sports.

George Kenneth Griffey Junior joined George Herman (Babe) Ruth Junior as well as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa in the 600 Home Run club.

Throughout his career he has been known as "The Kid" or "The Natural" or just "Junior", but if it had not been for a number of severe injuries (many of which were caused by his amazing catches at center field walls), he would likely be remembered as the greatest of all time.

Still, having seen some great players in my days, Griffey has been by far the most exciting and entertaining player I have ever seen... and has never been involved in any whisper of steroid use.

Thanks for all the memories, kid. You've been great!

Throw My Hat in the Ring

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:46:00 +0000

There are many things that would be better to write about.

The great time in America with family and friends.
Fellowshipping in churches - in English.
The contacts we've made and the vision for our future.

However, it is t-minus-3 hours to kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday. So, instead of writing about something serious I'm going to make my prediction for the Patriots - Giants game.

Admittedly, this prediction will be a reflection of my intense dislike for all Boston sports (nothing personal, Beantown, but when you grow up a New York Yankees fan, you have no choice but to dislike Red Sox nation and anything remotely connected to it - and now that they slaughtered my hometown Colorado rockies in the World Series they are even darker on my blacklist).

I have to admit that this Patriots team is the best team I have ever seen, but the Giants are a legitimate squad who are playing very well. And, since I can't root for the Patriots, I can't pick them to win either, so here it is:

...

Giants 31
Patriots 27

...

Enjoy the game everyone.

Tags:

Rocktober

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:09:00 +0000

Unbelievable. Six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning in game 4 have all but guaranteed that the Colorado Rockies have swept the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League Pennant, and will play in the 2007 World Series for the right to be called World Champions.

October belongs to the Colorado Rockies.

I have to say, I am really sad not to be in Colorado. To have a chance to watch our home team play in the World Series from a seat at Coors field - that's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity.

Coors Field : I would love to be back there this October.

Then I remember: every day I spend in Thailand, among my Akha friends, in my bamboo hut. These are rare opportunities as well, and I am incredibly blessed to live a life full of these moments.

Doi Mae Salong : Actually, I guess I would rather be here.

So I guess I'll just enjoy the World Series whenever I can catch bits of it in the city. Go Rockies!

Tags:

baseball

Sweet Sounds of September

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 01:02:00 +0000

It's been a long time since Lori or I have updated our personal blogs as we have been happily engrossed in life with Abi. However, I have found myself in a strange moment of calm as Abi is sleeping with mom and I have received an unexpected day off from working with Aje. In the spirit of enjoyment I have to write about one of my favorite subjects : Baseball.

Just before opening day I placed my annual predictions for the 2007 MLB season. I generally try to update those forecasts during the AllStar break, but as we were apparently doing something else at the time, that date slipped by. So lets take a look at the ~~end~~ - day before the 163rd game of the year - at how I did:

First, the ~~easy predictions~~:

The Rockies will still be a bad baseball team. I could not be happier to have been so wrong. Josh Fogg and the Rockies bullpen found enough gas in the tank to carry the team until the offense exploded late in the year - winning 13 out of 14 games to force the first Game 163 in nearly a decade.

I'll be on the road to Chiang Mai during the game, taking Manoon's family out to get another of their children into a home that can care for his polio, so I'll miss it - but I'm sure glad for the Rockies, and would like to predict that they will lose big to the Padres (after all, I predicted that the they would be a bad baseball team and they were a good team, so if I predict that they will lose big... )

"I'm not superstitious... I'm just a little stitious." .: listen :.
-Michael Scott, The Office

Albert Pujols will still be the best player in baseball. No MVP season for Pujols, but another incredible year, batting over .320 with 30+ hr and 100+ RBI. The only thing is, after a "disappointing" season last year, Alex Rodriguez has again established himself as the best regular-season player in baseball. If he wants to overtake Pujols as the "best player in baseball" he will have to show that flash in October.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are the greatest rivalry in sports. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Now, for the hard calls, my 2007 MLB predictions:

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks ... Looks like I knew what I was talking about.
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals ... Oops, maybe I didn't. It really hurts to lose your Ace in the first month. Make that the Chicago Cubs.
NL East: New York Mets ... Fell apart late. Opened the Door for the Phillies.
NL WildCard: Philadelphia Phillies ... Actually won the NL East, leaving San Diego and Colorado to battle it out for the NL Wild Card role.

AL West: Oakland A's ... Oops. 10 games under .500 Make that the Angels
AL Central: Minnesota Twins ... 17 games behind Cleveland
AL East: Boston Red Sox ... Just barely - pitching is looking older.
AL WildCard: New York Yankees* ... Overcame a horrendous start to almost catch Boston, but will settle for the WildCard - Young pitching looks good.

*it is very possible that the WildCard will go to a very good Cleveland Indians team who will not have to endure the difficult schedule of the AL East teams who will all beat up on each other. See? I did know that Cleveland was good.

NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Mets ... hmmm. Let's change that to Chicago against NOT Phillidelphia (Seriously, I love the Rockies chances against Philly, if they can beat Peavy tomorrow.)
ALCS: Oakland A's vs. Minnesota Twins ... Once again - Nope. Make it: New York vs. Boston. I have to say this is what I wanted to write in April, but I couldn't believe it might happen again

World Series: Oakland A's over New York Mets in 6 ... Lets make the world right again. After beating the Red Sox, the Yankees keep the Cubs winless in the last 99 years, back to 1908. However, next year will be interesting again as ARod might be off to friendlier fields in 2008, but we'll save that discussion for my predictions next spring.

2007 Awards

AL MVP - Alex Rodriguez, NYY
AL ROY - Dustin Pedroia, BOS
AL CY - C.C. Sabathia, CLE

NL MVP - Matt Holliday, COL (actually, it might be Rollins, PHI - but it SHOULD be Holliday)
NL ROY - Troy Tulowitzky, COL (that's right, the playoffs, MVP and ROY all in one year for COL)
NL CY - Jake Peavy, SD. Jake Peavy, SD. Jake Peavy, SD. And guess who's pitching game 163 tomorrow?

Tags:

baseball

HELLO OFFICER

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 02:40:00 +0000

Still waiting the arrival of our baby girl - have you made your prediction yet? - I have been spending the morning hours (before Lori is up and able to face another day of lugging around a basketball-belly) by reading my news feeds and checking my new favorite social network - facebook.

This morning, while reading through my 120+ subscriptions, I came across a great article that I felt was worth sharing. It seems that the Thai police, in an effort to curb more serious offenses such as abuse of power, illegal bribes and mistreatment of the public have decided to crack down on the policemen who commit minor offenses such as littering, parking in illegal zones and tardiness.

The punishment? The offending officer will be required to wear an armband depicting the schoolgirl icon "HELLO KITTY" for an entire day.

"Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor," said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

"(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It's not something macho police officers want covering their biceps," Pongpat said.
Full Story (Yahoo)

The punishment is "in-house" only, as officers will not be required to wear the armbands in public, but as we all learned as children peer pressure can be a powerful motivator... I think the measure will be effective.

HT: Boing Boing

Tags:

The Gamer and the Guerrillas

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:31:00 +0000

I grew up in the generation that saw parents flying into fisticuffs at little league baseball, peewee football, and junior hockey games. And, although I never witnessed anything so brutal, I do clearly remember the mob mentality of high school sporting events as hundreds of fans berated referees, umpires and officials - insulting and threatening them from the stands.

This trend followed the natural escalations within American culture, and soon parents of these young athletes began to sue the coaches and the referees for costing their children opportunities of a lifetime. The absurdity of these events aside, I cannot help but recall very clearly the words of wisdom given to me by my parents while I was very young:

"Remember, it's just a game"

Time has passed, and my generation is now having children of our own, but our kids are growing up in a truly digital age. Online communities, online income, online communication, and online competitions.

In their moderation I don't have any problem with the methods of this age, and in fact I utilize them to connect and continue our relationships around the world. The online gaming and competition also has its place, and it is undeniable that it also has both entertainment and economic value. In fact, I hope our dear friend and podcaster over at Women of Warcraft can combine those economic and entertainment aspects by getting picked up by some gaming sponsor so she can make a pile of money and come out here to visit us (with Andy of course)!

But, now it seems that the violence that was once reserved for little league ballparks on Saturday mornings has overflowed into the world of online gaming: and with a digital-age-guerrilla-warfare twist:

An armed gang of four kidnapped one of the world's top RPG gamers after one criminal's girlfriend lured him into a fake date using Orkut, Google's social network. After sequestering him in Sao Paulo, they held a gun against the victim's head for five hours to get his password, which they wanted to sell for $8,000.
hattip: Gizmodo

What gets even more disturbing, is that the guy decided that it would be better to DIE than to lose his precious online persona. Or perhaps all that strategy gaming had taught him to read that the gunmen were bluffing, because after five hours they let him go.

I think all of these young men, the gamer and the guerrillas alike, would surely have benefited from my parents sage advice: IT REALLY IS JUST A GAME!

Tags:

Onion News Network : All online Data Lost after Internet Crash

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:18:00 +0000

This really made us laugh. Especially the MySpace poke...

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

hat tip: ChuckzBlog II

Tags:

What the World Eats

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:16:00 +0000

I have come across this article a number of times as I have been browsing through various Missionary Blogs on my Google Reader, and wanted to pass it along to any of you who might be interested.

Time has put together a photo journal from a book by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio entitled Hungry Planet. The book itself is a photographic journal and cookbook looking into the family table around the world. Time has taken a glimpse into this book with a photo slideshow entitled "What the World Eats", and I encourage you to take a look at it.

One word of caution: the most relevant information given is that of "Favorite Foods". Although the "Food expenditure per week" is interesting and can show what economic slice the pictures are taken from, without a basic cost-of-living from the region it's difficult to tell whether you are looking at poverty-level or luxery-level spending. For example, a single adult who makes $500/month in Thailand is very wealthy in Northern Thailand, where a meal at a Thai "restaurant" costs less than $1 and a nice home can be rented for $100 a month.

It was also interesting to me how much more money families with teenage boys have to spend on food. Yikes!

So go take a look and see where you think you might be able to live (those meat and cheese countries look really good to me)...

Tags:

How to Read the Web

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 03:02:00 +0000

I love Google Reader. It is the best way to get the newest news and information from all the sites you like without having to travel from site to site. The great thing about Google Reader is that it allows access from any computer in the world. Google really is keeping the world's attention, but it's hard to complain when their products are so good.

Here's the simple version of how to use Google Reader:

1. Set up a Google mail account by going here.
2. Go to your favorite website and look for a (usually orange) box that says RSS or or search the site for "RSS feed"
3. Once you click on a feed you will stumble upon a variety of pages which will either look like code or a website depending on your browser and the feed provider. Nothing here matters except for the Web Address in the Address Bar (http://somthinghere...). Highlight the address and copy it. Or you can just copy this link : http://feeds.feedburner.com/tvj-allfeeds : to subscribe to all the news from The Vernon Journal.
4. Now go to your Google Reader page here.
5. In the left-hand side of the page there is a light-green box that says Add Subscription - Click it!
6. Paste the link you copied into the Add Subscription box and then click Add!
7. You did it! You have now subscribed to a website and whenever new articles, news, or even comics are available you can read them all on one page!

This allows you access to an incredible amount of information to be read at your leisure, allowing you to read only the articles that are interesting to you in a way that is much faster than wading through the web. Here's my recent reading activity:

From your 88 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 3,393 items, starred 23 items, and shared 43 items.

There are, of course, even more neat tips and tricks for you to enjoy within Google Reader, especially as your collection of websites (feeds) grows, but I will save those for another time. For now, enjoy reading the web!

Tags:

web2.0

What is Easter?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 04:23:00 +0000

My wife got me thinking this morning. She does that a lot. This morning it was about Easter.

There are a lot of things that came to mind as we thought about Easter in the past week - some precious and some mundane. White hats, chocolate, quality time with family, honey-baked hams, colored eggs, liturgy, Passion plays, the Resurrection sermon and the choir lifting up the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah.

For us, Easter has consisted of a hotel breakfast buffet, a little fellowship with some fellow servants in Thailand, the viewing of the children's version of "The Jesus Film" in Akha, and the exortion of the online community of missionaries and bloggers as we remember the resurrection of Christ from around the world.

As I had the question "What is Easter?" in the back of my mind, I came across a blog I often read but rarely comprehend. Here, Brian Russell makes a profound observation of what Resurrection Sunday is:

Resurrection creates the Church as a missional movement. The women in this story shift from mourners taking spices to the tomb to proclaimers of the Resurrection Story. This group of women (only the two Mary’s and Joanna are named) become the initial witnesses and servants of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Easter is the remembrance of the fulfillment of the promise which brought forth the fullness of the Gospel - but the response the Easter is missional. The response is the proclamation. Christ is Alive, and He has sent those who have tasted and seen to proclaim His life.

As the liturgy proclaims in beautiful simplicity:
"He is risen"
"He is risen indeed"

Tags:

Play Ball

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:59:00 +0000

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

-From Casey at the Bat by Ernest L. Thayer.

I have been pondering sitting down to expound upon a number of posts inspired by conversations I have recently had and articles I have recently read covering topics from human trafficking to disenfranchised peoples, from Lent and the Easter season to the Emergent church. However, April 2nd, the sweetest of all spring days has arrived again. So today I talk about baseball.

The hot stove league has cooled as Spring Training has come to an end. Tremendous stories abound as Baseball becomes a more international pastime. As I mentioned last year, this is a time of excitement and new beginnings for ball clubs around the league. In that spirit of optimism, I am going to forget the fact that my predictions last year were awful and forge ahead, trusting that one day I will get something right.

First, the easy predictions:

The Rockies will still be a bad baseball team. That pitching staff is awful. Terrible. If they do not find a diamond in the rough, or, preferably, acquire a pitcher who can actually keep baseballs inside the diamond, they might finish as the worst team in the National League.

Albert Pujols will still be the best player in baseball. I was born 7 months before Reggie Jackson led the Yankees to his final World Series victory. Growing up watching baseball in the 80's and 90's there was no one else who consistently raised their team to a level of greatness like those old baseball greats. Barry Bonds comes the closest to instilling the fear that the greats instilled, but he has never been able to translate that into team success and a World Series victory. With his herculean statistics and last years World Series victory, Albert Pujols emerged as perhaps the best player that baseball has seen since the all-time greats of Aaron, Mays, Musial, Mantle and Williams.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are the greatest rivalry in sports. Although Toronto and Baltimore have both made strides in the standings in the AL East, the fire that New York and Boston play with is unmatched in baseball. In fact, a Yankees-Red Sox game is probably the premiere entertainment event in professional sports today; from a competition standpoint it is even better than the Super Bowl.

Now, for the hard calls, my 2007 MLB predictions:

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals
NL East: New York Mets
NL WildCard: Philadelphia Phillies

AL West: Oakland A's
AL Central: Minnesota Twins
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL WildCard: New York Yankees*

*it is very possible that the WildCard will go to a very good Cleveland Indians team who will not have to endure the difficult schedule of the AL East teams who will all beat up on each other.

NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Mets
ALCS: Oakland A's vs. Minnesota Twins

World Series: Oakland A's over New York Mets in 6

That's what I have got for this year, as usual I reserve the right to apologize and do this again at the All-Star break. Remember that you can listen to some of your favorite team's broadcasts live - look here for your teams radio stations.

Tags:

baseball

Need a Printer?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:53:00 +0000

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch, but it seems there is such thing as a free printer, and a pretty good one at that. I don't usually put these kind of things on our site, but as I was reading through my SlickDeals feed today I came across a pretty good offer. Unfortunately, you have to redeem the offer in-store, so it is no good to us - hopefully it will be good for some of you!

As of now (1:00 AM Eastern Time) you can get an All-In-One (Printer / Scanner / Copier) Lexmark X2480 printer for free after $90 mail-in rebate. If you are interested you need to hurry, because $50 of that rebate expires on my birthday! You can find the deal at many Circuit City stores, but you should check Circuit City Online for availability!

Hope this helps someone.

Tags:

Here comes Hollywood

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 05:42:00 +0000

I'm guilty. I am the root of the problem.

I love movies, and I love good television. I really enjoy watching someone's imagination come to life on the screen, and am intrigued by the glimpses and portrayals of culture and values that movies provide.

However, when a society begins to idolize and respect men and women who, by the very nature of their job descriptions, are paid to make the fictional seem factual it is setting itself up for tremendous failures.

One example of a catastrophic misplacement of faith will be seen on Monday from New York City. Although I can happily say that I have never seen either of James Cameron's theatrical blockbusters Titanic nor Terminator 2; and, because I live in Thailand, I will not see his DaVinci code-like "press conference" on Monday, I will, however, probably have to deal with the after-effects of his actions in my conversations and relationships for years to come.

Jesus: Tales from the Crypt will open new challenges for Christians, pushing us to be the believers Peter challenged us to be when he wrote:

...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

I Peter 3:15

This new "evidence" presented by Mr. Cameron will give fuel to the fire of skeptics who desire to disrespect the name of Jesus Christ. But, to the man who is seeking spiritual truth in his journey, this press conference will bring questions, and these questions will lead to conversations about Christ.

The challenge to the Church is this: Will we be ready for these conversations?

If we are ready to have open, honest conversations, than these seekers will find life. And if we are discouraged about the weight of media and press conferences coming as witnesses against us, we must take comfort in the great Witnesses around us, for which "there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard."

Tags:

Currently Reading...

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:16:00 +0000

Most of my recent reading attention has been focused on the dissertation: Leadership Development Within the Akha Cultural Context with Application to Akha Bible Institute as I have been helping our director finalize the editing for his doctorate program. At six hours a day for the past (and next) month, there has been little room or interest to add more reading into my daily schedule. However, when I get the chance there are dozens of missionary, news and special interest blogs and podcasts that I enjoy following. Some of these missionaries are listed in the links columns at the bottom left of this page and I want to encourage you to browse through those links when you have the opportunity. But, I have added a new way for Lori and I to share articles that we feel might be of interest to our readers.

Rather than introduce you to every blog we read at once, overwhelming all of you with the amount of information we are overwhelmed with, we are now able to share specific articles that interest, entertain or inspire us. You can find a new box (or widget) on the left column of this page, just below the Archived Notes box, entitled Shared Articles.

Currently, this Shared Articles widget is only on my blog (humblethorn), but it will soon be on Lori's blog as well. As of today, I am sharing two sports articles (of course) which discuss the firing of Marty Schottenheimer from the San Diego Chargers and the contract talks between Mariano Rivera and the New York Yankees. I am also sharing a link from the Daveys in France, a blog we read often, which discusses countries where Christianity is most persecuted, as well as two articles from bloggers who are new to us with great cross-cultural confessions and insights from America and Japan.

We hope you enjoy this new feature to the Vernon Journal. Please let me know (with a comment or by contacting me) if you have any suggestions on how this system might be improved.

No more time for blogs today... I'm off to read a dissertation.

Tags:

a Super Bowl on a Hot Stove

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 07:53:00 +0000

If you are looking for a serious post, you'll have to come back another day...

I've always enjoyed Jim Armstrong's notes columns in the Denver Post and have felt that his approach to newspaper articles would be a better fit as a notes blog - that way the author can assume people know what he is talking about while providing a link to give more information to people who are confused. In honor of all newspapers in English, here's my notes blog for the day...

I like Indianapolis over Chicago for Super Bowl XLI. But I'm almost always wrong...

That said, I have to listen to the home team broadcast of one of the two teams (I don't get the national broadcast on NFL Fieldpass) so I will be listening to the crew from Chicago because they broadcast more like a national crew (and then I will probably be re-listening to the winning call from Indy).

Can I be the first person to say that although Super Bowl XL was the coolest Super Bowl year ever, something has to be done before we get to Super Bowl L. Please, please NFL, go away from the traditional Roman numerals for that one - even Super Bowl 50 would be better than Super Bowl L.

From super bowls to hot stoves...

Once the final gun sounds on XLI we begin the driest season of the year: 58 sport-less days until Opening Day. I guess there's always hockey, golf and the NBA.

The biggest news out of the hot stove league is not whether Andy Pettitte will effectively replace the Big Unit, or what team the Rocket will be pitching for come October. No, the biggest news in baseball is who is on the iSquad.

iPods are certainly everywhere these days. Talk about a monopoly... when will Steve Jobs start getting the bad press Bill Gates gets?

My question for Major League Baseball is this: When Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens (finally) do retire, will they be the last of the great nicknames in baseball?

Another interesting conversation in the hot stove league has to do with the possibility of a Major League Baseball team in Portland. I'd love to see it happen, but in the meantime the Salem-Keiser Volcanoes put a pretty good product on the field.

To finish this notes blog, I might as well plagiarize the conclusion of one of Armstrong's recent articles (is it plagerism if you cite the source? I think I've been working with the AOF director on his dissertation too long)...

...finally, today's golden-oldie quote, courtesy of Hank Aaron: 'It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.'

Tags:

Who Dat?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:51:00 +0000

I can vividly remember the only Saints game I have ever been to. I was 12 years old and went to a Denver-New Orleans game in the Superdome in New Orleans. It was the first dome stadium I had ever been inside, and I remember being shocked that a football game could be air conditioned in the winter. Come on, I was used to the old Mile High stadium and barefooted kickers in the snow. On the Sunday I spent in the Superdome Denver got killed, and I remember the fans yelling out the New Orleans fight song as we slipped out of the stadium in our Broncos orange and blue.

Who dat? Who dat? Who dat sayin gonna beat dem Saints?

Back then it was an embarrassment to lose to the Nawlins Aints, as they were often called.
What a difference today makes.

With one game to go to Super Bowl XLI, the New Orleans Saints - the dogs of the league for every "last year" they've been around - are favored by every ESPN expert to beat Chicago at Soldier Field to advance to the Super Bowl.

Saints fans, passionate as they might be, always have a backup plan to the hopes for their football team, often involving a night on bourbon street to wash the memories away, and to hear people picking the Saints to go to the Super Bowl is beyond most of their expectations - but there does seem to be something special about this team.

Denver fans used to love and fear the Super Bowl. Four Super Bowls. Four losses. Until that fateful year when Terrell Davis and John Elway went to San Diego and beat the Packers.

This feels like that kind of year for the Saints, at least for this game.

Tags:

The End of An Era

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:17:00 +0000

I've been writing very serious posts lately, with the only brevity being a funny title or two thrown in, so I wanted to write something light today. For me that means one of two subjects... humor or sports? Look no further than the image below, sports fans, it's Broncos season and we have really big news.

Jay Cutler named starting quarterback for the Broncos

This could be the end of an era.
No, not the Jake Plummer era, you can't actually call one playoff victory an era.
Certainly not the Mike Shanahan era, he will be around a long time to come.
No, this could finally be the end of the John Elway Era.

In Denver there has only, ever, been one quarterback and he retired in 1999. The immediate heir apparent to John (as everyone in Denver refers to him) was Brian Greise who tripped over his dog, threw the most costly interception in Broncos history and was eventually cut from the team. Someone had to be that first guy.

John's shadow was too big, Elway's name was revered in Broncoland.
Thus, there was never a Brian Griese era,
no Bubby Brister era,
no Steve Beuerlein era,
no Jake Plummer era
and no Bradlee Van Pelt era (sorry CSU fans).

Jay Cutler, however, might be different. No one will forget John Elway (especially not until the next Bronco Super Bowl victory), but there just might be enough bodies piled up in the past for Jay (as everyone in Denver will refer to him) to climb and see beyond that shadow. After all, when was the last time you heard this kind of buzz about a rookie quarterback? If you are around my age, the answer is never.
Jay Cutler is making Bronco fans talk about the future instead of reminiscing about the past.
Jay has the fans on his side.

Oh, the boo-birds will still fly, they'll just come later in the games and a little softer. A rookie quarterback is not likely to kick start an offense that is obviously hurting, and you can't just blame Plummer for the pain.

During the preseason I thought the biggest Denver Broncos loss was going to be Trevor Pryce or even Mike Anderson, but it turns out the big loss was Gary Kubiak.

Last year under offensive coordinator Kubiak, Plummer had his best season ever with a quarterback rating at an impressive 90.2, while David Carr struggled in Houston with a rating of 77.2. After Kubiak took the head coach position in Houston, Carr's numbers improved significantly with his passer rating currently at 88.8, 9th in the NFL. Plummer's numbers, however, have plummeted to 27th in the NFL, with a passer rating at a miserable 70.5.

It's strange to say this about a 7-4 team who is currently holding a playoff spot, but the problems with the offense are likely to mean an early exit from the super bowl race this season. Couple that with the exciting young talent in the AFC West with Larry Johnson in Kansas City and Phillip Rivers, LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates in San Diego, and it might be time to start looking to the future. In that light, the decision to bring Jay in as the quarterback is a good one.

Let's just hope it serves as a wake up call to the rest of the Bronco offense as well.

Tags:

My Little Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 03:15:00 +0000

Exhortation, building one another up. Gathering as a community to care for one another. This is the key to the church, for they will know us by our love for one another.

We experienced firsthand this ministry of the church in our time at the ECFC conference in Bangkok as we were personally encouraged by conversations with leaders from Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka who went out of their way to minister to Lori and I. It was a refreshing time, and a time of vision.

Repeatedly throughout the conference a message was spoken to us. An encouragement of "Don't let go of the vision. Hold on to your dreams. God is going to do everything that He has planted in you."

Wow.

There are some visions in our heart for ministry and for our future that are much larger than Lori or I. These hopes for the Akha and for the world are more than we could ever do and require gifts we do not have. We have smaller dreams as well, things we want to experience and to see, and the encouragement we received this past week was to hold tightly to all of these hopes, big and small, and watch to see what the Lord does.

One of my little dreams has been to write a series of books. Nothing preachy or even teachy. Just stories. Adventures. Inspired by relationships and friendships I have had over the years.

Of course, writing stories isn't going to be my job, just a hobby. I'm quite occupied with working with the Akha hill tribe and expect to be doing this work long into the future. I don't know when, or where, for that matter, I will be able to start. It might take 10 years, it might take fifty years. I don't know. What I know is that the hope of writing is something that is deep in my heart, something that excites me, something that I dream about. And do you know what amazes me? I personally know a God who cares about my little dreams.

Tags:

In Memory : Louise Young

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:18:00 +0000

My great-grandmother, Louise Young, passed away on Wednesday morning. She was 97. Surviving her are five children, 19 grandchildren and even more great-grandchildren. She survived at least four major hurricanes, most recently returning to her little New Orleans cottage after the devastation of hurricane Katrina.

Grandmother Young loved to be surrounded by her family. For her 85th birthday she asked for a dinner (7 courses in traditional French presentation) with all of her family there. Whenever we came to visit from Colorado, she would cook miniature pecan pies for each of her great-grandchildren.

Perhaps her most influential impact on me was her love of art. She was a member of the New Orleans Museum of Art and always took her great-grandchildren when they visited. I saw original works of Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet and grew to appreciate the impact of creativity and the historical and cultural relevance of art.

It's difficult to be on the other side of the world when family events happen. I have gotten used to missing holidays, but this year I have missed my Grandparents (Duward and Vivian Vernon) 60th wedding anniversary and the passing of Grandmother Young.
I would not trade my life or go back, but every good thing has its cost.

So, to all my family at home and abroad, my heart is with you and I love you all.

Tags:

family

YaWho?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:00:00 +0000

O.K. so the title is nondescript and overly cutesy, but I'm afraid this is the question our children (or if not, our grandchildren) will be asking us when we begin to reminisce about the Web2.0 days.

Yahoo has done some good things lately. Flickr! is, still, a spectacular and innovative site. The new Yahoo! Mail (beta) is the best application for internet mail available. But these good things aren't enough.

There are 1.65 billion reasons that Yahoo is finished: DealBook - Google to Buy YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock - New York Times

The Internet search giant Google said Monday that it would buy YouTube, a video-sharing Web site that officially began operating less than a year ago, for $1.65 billion in stock. Both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, Google said.

Google already had a video service which was in some ways superior to YouTube (higher video quality, better parental controls) but it has failed to gain a significant market presence. In the wings Yahoo has been developing a "Flickr! of Video" to try to compete with the popularity of YouTube. Google saw this and they moved in purchasing YouTube.

This is a new strategy for Google, who to this point has only made small acquisitions which complement its products. The strategy of: "if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em" is not unfamiliar in the cutthroat computer industry, but it is the first time Google has played this little game. Goodbye Microsoft, there's a new bully in town.

As for Yahoo? Well unless something drastic happens..
Think Excite.
Think Infoseek.
Think Lycos.
Yahoo will join the ranks of these once famous names. It might take 10 more years, but Google has just put the writing is on the wall.

Tags:

Voices of the church :: Rick Warren

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 04:13:00 +0000

Certainly you have all heard of Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren. Whatever your take on the book, it's hard to deny that the phenomenon that swept through American churches a couple of years ago was a blessing to the body of Christ.
It brought people into the church.
It built community within the church.
It was a specific challenge to many individual lives by addressing the question "What are you living for?"

When our life purpose is in perspective, our global perspective is also aligned. Rick and his wife Kay wrote an article about the five giant problems facing the world today addressing this global worldview. A few years ago I would have written half of these off with glib remarks or even misused spiritual cliches because I would have been made uncomfortable and overwhelmed by the problems in the world. But good pastors (and good missionaries) challenge us in our comfort zones... so here is his list of giant problems that the church cannot ignore:

The Global Giants facing our World

The first global giant is spiritual darkness.
The second giant is the lack of servant leaders around the world.
The third giant is poverty.
The fourth giant is disease.
The fifth giant is ignorance.

A spectacular picture of the pressing needs in this world. The article goes on to speak more in depth on the practical role the church needs to play in these needs. Take a moment to read Rick and Kay's full article Facing the World's Five Giants from pastors.com.

Tags:

Breakfast Burritos and Ice Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 09:13:00 +0000

Lori is at a women's retreat in Chiang Mai for the weekend. While I am enjoying this time to myself, my major concern with her absence revolves around food. I've been married six years to a great cook who is much more health conscious than I am. This has resulted in a helpless husband when it comes to feeding myself.

So, what do I do? I begin dreaming of all the food I can't get in Thailand, and stumble across some interesting news...

McDonald's might start offering breakfast all day. Oh... I love the McDonald's breakfast burrito. If they had made this switch when I was living in America I might have skipped my Chipotle burrito every once in a while to replace it with four or five of the tasty little McDonalds burritos. On that note, I also found a recipe for the McDonald's breakfast burrito online, to bad we can't get good tortillas here.

Ben & Jerry's is adding a new ice cream flavor. From Ritz crackers to rum there are five finalists for the Do us a Flavor contest being run by the Ice Cream tycoons. None of the new flavors really appeal to me, but I'm a creature of habit. I would stick with my Ben & Jerry's hippie favorites: Phish Food and Cherry Garcia.

All this talk of food is making me hungry. I'm off to eat some of Lori's famous Texas Rice and Bean Skillet. She was worried about me last night so she cooked it for me to eat this weekend (seriously, is she the greatest wife in the world or what? I don't deserve her).

Tags:

Do Apostles exist today?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 05:49:00 +0000

I was reading some of the great Christian blogs today (my English church online) and found this article from Adrian's Blog about Apostles in the modern church.

Now, I'm a Foursquare Missionary with a Reformed (Calvinist) leaning - so I can be all over the map with this kind of stuff, but I really enjoyed what Adrian wrote here and agree with most of what he says (I also agree with some of the comments added at the end).

All in all, it's a good read. Check it out if you have the time:

Adrian's Blog: Apostles are meant for today- Challies wheels out the big guns in the charismatic debate

Tags:

church

Everything that can endure fire

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 04:39:00 +0000

Historically, when I say I am in a season of battle it means I'm getting beat up, bloody and dirty as I struggle to hold the ground on my salvation path. My battles have always been seasons of weakness and dependence, but this season is different. There are victories and though the field is bloody it feels like I'm moving on to new battles, having seen victories in those previous combat zones.

It is a new season, like the Christmas that came to Narnia. A welcome relief after agonizing ages of winter and darkness.

God has taught me so much through this time about His love.
His love does note spoil the child.
His love is not always gentle.
But, His love is always good, and never feels like hate.

God has taken me to an amazing verse that shows His love towards His children. Children who must battle, who must endure warfare. The Israelites were wading through the battles that claimed the holy land. They were tired and stained. Later, in Joshua, it says that the earth itself was weary from the wars, and the land received its rest. Yet even through battle our God shows his mercy to his children:

Numbers 31:23 (NKJV)
²³everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water.

This is how God cares for his children. This is how He causes us to grow. We are made whole, and yet somehow incomplete. When we begin our journey, our armor is cloth and wood. We get beat up and can't endure the fire that cleanses to completion, so we are cleansed with water.
Over time, however, that changes. We grow, we mature, we are strengthened, we are delivered and then one day we enter a battle that is like nothing we have ever seen.

We feel safer.
We feel stronger.
Our armor is Steel and Gold, and it can endure the fire.

The battles are harder, but the victories gain ground.
The cleansing is hotter, but there are no stains that last.

That is what I feel like today, I'm fighting battles to gain ground. These are battles by fire, they are hard, and they stretch my faith. But here's the promise: He has given me the faith, He has equipped me to go through this cleansing by fire.

Victory in the spiritual journey is not peace, it is reaching the battles "that can endure fire".

Tags:

devotional

lijit :: who can i trust in cyberspace?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Vernon) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:13:00 +0000

Despite the fact that we share a last name, Todd Vernon is not related to me, but I do trust him. Actually, to be more accurate, Andy Stanberry trusted me, I trusted Stan James and Stan trusts Todd.

Todd and Stan, respectively CEO and CTO of Lijit Networks, Inc., are hoping that more people will trust them too. Not their opinion of what websites are good, but their idea that it is easier to navigate the web when we know what sites are recommended by our friends. Lijit is hoping that trust will change the way the world searches the web, and the tagline from the lijit.com splashscreen tells it all (including the generation these guys are from):

There are over eight billion web pages.
Most of them suck.
Lijit helps you find relevant information on the Internet by leveraging connections with your friends and trusted sources to separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff, the gold from the ore...well, you get it.

Currently, most of us trust one of two major authorities for our web searches: Google or Yahoo. Occasionally, however, some slimy website will sneak up the rankings of these search giants and we end up wasting a day fighting viruses, spyware, malware or paying for something we shouldn't. It's times like those we need a friend. We need people we trust to help us along as we walk down the information superhighway.

Well, it's coming. Our friends, our community, people we really know, who can search with us without having to be in the same room as us.

Lijit adds ratings to pages within our search results which show us what sites our friends like, thus allowing us to navigate the millions of results every web search returns by highlighting the results that our friends recommend.

A recent article on lijit from the Daily Camera reported:

The company hopes to reorganize Internet search results so users are not at the mercy of page rank, said Todd Vernon, chief executive officer of Lijit. The software is able to accomplish this by sending the reports, or "trust assessments," generated by users' friends and sources through RSS feeds and other means. By doing this, the company hopes to stop people from stumbling onto spyware sites and get people to the Web sites they want to see in a more productive manner.

The idea is analogous to walking around town with friends and receiving feedback from them about the shops and restaurants passed by, Vernon said.

If you had a chance to go with what your best friends think or what the world thinks, you're going to go with your friends," he said.

The project is still in Beta, so it's not ready for general public consumption, but this small, community-driven extention seems to be exactly what we have been looking for as we search the web and even stay up-to-date with our friends. Already, I've found a great real-estate pricing site, a friend's wandering website and a rss feed of the best prices on the internet (even better than woot or pricegrabber). Isn't community fun?

Tags:

web2.0
tech