Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Computer Environment

I love it when Tersie has posts like this...
Blogs like this one are fun to read, and fun to participate in.

"Name five things laying around your computer"

Haha! Have you seen this mess! Let me show you...



Now... How do I narrow this down...

1. Empties - Yes, the Tim Hortons cups are empty. Yes, they are trash. No, I haven't thrown them away even though they are both several days old... I actually made a mobile out of a few empties here a while back. I should probably add these to the chain...



Oh, and Yes, that is a Marty Ford Experience Poster hanging on cube wall. I should get him to autograph it for me.

2. Storage - In the photo above there are seven hard drives (not counting the one in my laptop, which technically makes it eight). Five of them are in external disk enclosures where I keep my digital "stuff". One of them is still in the wrapper, destined for my sister's iBook. And the last one has been disassembled so that I can use it for a mirror on the rare occasion that I want to see myself.

3. Hand Santizer - I seriously think that I am addicted to this stuff. I keep a pump bottle on my desk, and at least one squeeze bottle in my backpack, and a few more little bottles on my coffee table at home, in the van, etc. I probably go through a pump bottle at my desk every four to six weeks. The first thing I do when I take my seat (every time I sit down) is squeeze the pump. Does it really protect me from germs? I have no clue, but it does make my hands feel soft and smell good.

4. Post-Its! - I've explained my Post-It Note obsession in a previous post. With that being said, I currently have six "active" post-its on my desk with lists, to-dos, scribbles, and notes on them. You can barely see in the far right of the photo the Post-It Pike (also mentioned in said earlier post).

5. The Pen - How could I post about the things adorning my desktop without mentioning my trusty writing utensil. I've also blogged about my pen obsession before. To that end, my current writing stick is a Pilot Varsity Disposable fountain pen. My Aunt Marilyn gave me this pen at Kayla's wedding when we got to discussing fountain pens.

I've not taken the time to blog about it yet, but on Labor Day weekend I happened to be in Tuttle Mall and stopped into the Paradise Pen store, where I was "fitted" for a fountain pen. It was an amazing experience (not to mention I got to write with some really really expensive ink pens). It was there that I also discovered my new dream pen, the Cross Apogee in Frosty Steel.

Wow...

Well, that is quite enough rambling from me for the time being. If you are at all curious about the rest of this mess, I'd be happy to explain any of it.

Roogles out.

Friday, September 21, 2007

SYATP - Thoughts About a Rant.


After some great discussion at Bible study a couple weeks ago about the the upcoming See You At the Pole on Sept 26, I ran across a blog today that had two articles worth re-posting.

The general consensus at Bible Study that night was that SYATP was a pretty ridiculous excuse for a "Christian" activity ( quotes on purpose there )... And one of the students even made the comment that she had already made a commitment to "NOT see anyone at the pole."

Here's the initial blog post. Read it.

See You at the Pole ( A Rant ) on Z Life

In my experience (both as a youth and a youth pastor) I have 1) not been really really excited about or really "good" at prayer at any time in my life and 2) dont't think SYATP does anything to help out with that.

I will admit openly that prayer doesn't appear anywhere on the top ten list of my spiritual gifts, and I am in awe of those people I meet who can commit to prayer and be faithful to it.

Dino (the guy from Z Life) got enough comments about the above listed rant, that he posted a new blog this time with a challenge.

SYATP Counter-Cultural Challenge on Z Life

I think it's a great idea! I'm also curios to know what you think.

-Roogles

( Thanks to Dino from Z Life ).

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Avast! More Pirate Stuff!

The salty sea dogs over at TUAW pointed out that I can now turn all me hearties inta Pirates with me trusty iPhone!

Yarrr!

Here's the first of what'll likely be a few shots from the day!

MartyPirate.jpg

Also! I reckon ya'll oughta be watchin' this here YouTube video which has a good bit ta say about talkin' like a pirate!

(ht to TUAW for the Pirate.app and Huss for the YouTube Link).

Yarr!

pirate.jpg

Behold me hearties! Me mad photoshoppin' skillz!

And don't be forgettin' that today is Talk Like a Pirate Day!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com is where ya be lookin' for more info.

Avast ye Lubbers! There's piratin' ta do!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Hitched



On Saturday my baby sister got married. Dan is a great guy and I am excited to include him and his wonderful kids in the family.

The weather on Saturday was perfect, the wedding and reception were wonderful.

Hopefully Dan & Kayla are off now, enjoying their honeymoon without any snafus.

Congrats guys! Love you!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Great Article

My intention is not to steal Jenn's thunder by posting about this also, but this is one that I can't just let slip by...

Jenn turned me onto this blog a couple of weeks back, and Josh has some great insight and some of his thoughts are just fantastic!

If you didn't take Jenn's advice already, go read this post now!

"Worship" vs Worship

My favorite quote is "Sometimes I like Christians more before they know how to act like Christians."

Yes! Amen! This is what I LOVE about Youth ministry. Teenagers are sometimes so bent on "doing their own thing" that they live out their faith in ways that go against the rut we are so often stuck in as Christians. Love it!

Great stuff!

Happy Birthday Jenn!

JENNY-BIRTH-18.jpg

This photo was taken on September 11, 1975... way before we had to look back on this day and remember every year the events of September 11, 2001.

Happy Birthday my dear.

I love you.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Irritation


Geek warning.   If you aren't a geek, or don't care about geek things skip this post.

Back in February, I decided to take the plunge and switch from Safari to Firefox as my primary web browser.   You probably already know that I am a mac user ( read "fanatic" ).   If you didn't already know that, who are you and why are you reading my blog?

My main reason for switching to FireFox, although the reasons became many more over time is that when I started blogging ( on a regular basis ) using blogger, it just didn't work in Safari.  It's been long enough ago now that I don't even remember what didn't work, only that it didn't.  I had been frustrated with Safari for a couple of other reasons so I took the plunge and went Firefox hard core.

Well...   Now, six months down the line, I'm finding myself more than a little frustrated about how flakey FireFox has been working for me.    The browser takes a long time to load, crashes frequently, and ( way more frustrating than any of the above! ) it has recently stopped working well with blogger!

Aaaauggghhhhh!

The menus don't display right, the browser crashes when I try to leave comments, etc, etc, etc.

I've looked on Google, and the other "normal" places but can't seem to find anything that has a resolution to the problems I'm seeing.    

So, what do to now...    I'm posting this blog from Safri 3.03 and it seems to be liking blogger just fine.    I don't have any of my bookmarks saved in Safari ( which should be trivial to port over ) or any of my password stuff cached in Safari ( more painful, but not really difficult to remedy ).  

I'm just frustrated.    Or maybe I'm grouchy.    Or quite possibly all of the above.

*sigh.   

Maybe I will just go back to lynx.

...

( ht to this post on NoHeat.com, which is where I borrowed the image for this post. )

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Hamster Paradise

Well, if you are a follower of the lives of the Ruggles at all then you are already aware ( from here and here ) that we have recently become the proud owners of two new pets.

"Buzz" and "Woody" are a pair of very cute dwarf hamsters, compliments of the Ford Family Hamster Farm and Livery.

Now I was all about the "ten gallon aquarium with wire lid" hamster living solution as recommended by my good friend and hamster expert Martin L... However, our little shopping trip yesterday has resulted in our hamsters having much more luxurious accommodations than any mere glass box.

Behold, what Ellie now loving refers to as "The Habitat".



Needless to say we had a blast this evening, watching Buzz & Woody explore their new surroundings, run like crazy on the hamster wheel, and get used to life at the Ruggles Ranch.

Ellie is in the tent again... ( Yes, I took it down this morning, but we had to set it back up for bed tonight... ).

This picture is of the tent in relationship to "The Habitat" ( from the vantage point of the recliner ).



Ellie is sound asleep and snoring from within the tent, and Buzz is furiously trying to get some where on the hamster wheel...

All in all, today turned out to be another good day. Hopefully the remainder of the long weekend will fare as well as yesterday and today have.

With that, it is way past my bedtime. More to come.

-Roogles out.