Will

My friend Brian posted this article about God's will on his blog.

Mother Theresa, on the other hand, once refused a man's request that she pray for him to have clarity. Surprisingly, she responded with, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God."

Peace comes not from knowing what lies ahead, but knowing that God is the same before, during and after whatever it is.

Mice

A great way to combine the dissection skills you learned in high school science class with the techie skills you learned in computer class:

Step by Step instructions to create a Mouse Mouse!
Hacked travel-size (hardware) mouse + taxidermied (wetware) mouse = Mouse Mouse!
Fully functional, and furry!

Warning: this project involves taxidermy, dremels, and sometimes graphic pictures of dead animals. While there are no guts in this tutorial, viewer discretion is still advised.

Football

Sad but true. And hilarious.
Hitler's Aggie Football Rant

Uncle Harold

Harold Charles (Hal) Kieschnick

KIESCHNICK Harold (Hal) Charles Kieschnick, 74, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, died on January 12, 2009 at his home, surrounded by his family. Hal was born in Walburg, Texas on May 18, 1934, to Oscar and Lina (Doering) Kieschnick. He attended Concordia Lutheran College in Austin, Texas, and received a Master of Education Degree from Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois. Hal married Henrietta (Hank; Schmidt) Kieschnick on June 29, 1958 in Jefferson City, Missouri. During their teaching careers, Hal and Hank served as Christian educators at Lutheran elementary schools around the country. Hal was the principal of Lutheran schools in New Orleans, Hinsdale, Ill., and Houston, Texas. In 1976 he was called to direct the "Teaching Assistance Project", where he served more than a dozen Lutheran elementary schools in under-served communities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He then served as Executive Secretary for Parish Services for the Southern District, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod from 1982-1999. In this position he assisted schools, organized Youth events, and was a mentor to uncounted pastors and teachers in the south and around the country. In retirement Hal served as interim Executive Secretary for Mission Services from 2000-2001. Throughout his career Hal was an advocate for under-served and marginalized communities, seeking to raise educational and spiritual expectations with the love of Jesus. Mr. Kieschnick was an upbeat, gracious man who treated everyone he met with sincere respect. He liked to laugh and was known for his signature greeting of "keep smilin'!" in letters and phone conversations. Hal is survived by his wife of 50 years, Hank (Schmidt) Kieschnick of Baton Rouge. He has three grown children Kathy (Johnson), with her husband Jon Schwartz of Lake Worth, FL., Kevin and his wife Christie (Orth) Kieschnick of New Orleans, and Kurt and his wife Cherri (Graff) Kieschnick of Baton Rouge. He dearly loved all of his 9 grandchildren, Austin (22) and Jacob (18) Johnson, Sophie (6) and Brennan (4) Schwartz, Layne (11) and Renni (8) Kieschnick, and Kade (11), Keller (8), and Kace (3) Kieschnick. He is also survived by 8 siblings Erna, Mel, Leona, Miriam, Doris, Ethel, John, and Darlene, and a number of their spouses, Jane, Ray, Elaine, and Lee. He was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar and Lina Kieschnick, as well as in-law siblings Art Kollmeyer, Victor Kokel, Ardell Kalmbach, and Herb Wottrich. Harold Kieschnick dedicated his life to serving his Lord Jesus Christ by serving people. Family and friends will celebrate the sure promise of resurrection in a service at Trinity Lutheran Church, 10925 Florida Blvd. in Baton Rouge, on Thursday, January 15th at 11:00 a.m. There will be a time of visitation for 2 hours prior in the sanctuary. The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent in Hal's name to Baton Rouge Lutheran School Scholarship Fund, (10925 Florida Blvd., BR, LA 70815) LINCNewOrleans, (6230 Paris Ave., NOLA 70122), or the Recruitment and Scholarship fund of the Southern District, LCMS (68446 Tammany Trace Dr., Suite 5, Mandeville, LA 70471). "And these three remain; faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Stars

The thing I loved about being on grandma's farm in Texas was how amazing the stars are. When there's no city lights to drown them out, I could just stare at the stars forever.

David Crowder Band - Stars:
you should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer shine so bright
against the black they look so white
comin down from such a height
to reach me now, reach me now

you should see the moon in the flight
cuttin cross the misty night
softly dancin in sunshine
reflections of this light
reach me now, you reach me now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful again

and you should feel the sun in the spring
comin out after a rain
suddenly all is green
sunshine on everything
i can feel it now, i feel you now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful

and you should hear the angels sing
all gathered round their king
more beautiful than you could dream
i've been quietly listening
you can hear 'em now, i hear em now

and how could such a king
shine His light on me
and make everything beautiful
and i wanna shine
i wanna be light
i wanna tell you it'll be alright
and i wanna shine and i wanna fly
just to tell you now
it'll be alright, it'll be alright
it'll be alright.

cus i got nothing of my own to give to you
but this light that shines
on me shines on you
and makes everything beautiful, again.
it'll be alright, it'll be alright.

Hats off to you!

Although I never wear them (except for when they're functional in the winter for warmth and the summer for sun), I really do love hats. Check out this super cool hat!!

12 Days of Texas

I was able to take a long break from work and go home to Texas for 12 days this Christmas! I traveled 762 miles around Texas (map, kinda looks like a lasso!). Thankfully I was with my Mom in her Prius, so we had each other's company and saved gasoline (Getting 45 mpg, we used less than 17 gallons. At $1.38/gal average, the whole trip was only $23.37!). It was a blast. Here are some highlights:

DAY 1 - Christmas Eve
Location: Baltimore, MD to Houston, TX
I worked a half-day (and surprisingly got LOTS done! There's no better time to upload new code changes than the day you leave for a long trip...) My flight was an hour delayed 'waiting for aircraft to arrive from Houston', but eventually I left BWI and ended up in H-town, welcoming the warm weather.

DAY 2 - Christmas Day
Location: Houston, TX
Christmas Day was just me and the folks this year. We went to church at Trinity-Klein so I could see their new sanctuary, very nice! Dad went all out making a Turkey dinner （In TX, dinner==lunch, supper==dinner).

DAY 3 - Shopping
Location: Houston, TX
Mom and I went shopping so I could pick up some last minute Christmas gifts that I didn't want to fly with. Dad made great steak tenderloins for supper.

DAY 4 - Big Family Christmas at Grandma's Farm
Location: Walburg, TX
The whole family got together at Grandma's, except for cousin Rachel who's in Argentina. Instead of Aunt Sylvia using Gma's out-of-tune piano, cousin Philip and I played 2 Christmas carols on guitar. We'll have to practice more for next year... I'll also have to do more pickle hunting practice. I won my prelim round and made it into the Championship Pickle Round, but I wasn't successful in defending my title. Cousin Denise ended up being the Pickle Champ. Group photo:



DAY 5 - Immediate Family Christmas
Location: Stephenville, TX
We had our family Christmas at my brother's. The nieces had their first sleepover.

DAY 6 - Brother's House
Location: Stephenville, TX
Yummy BBQ at Hard Eight, where you order right from the pit. I drank LOTS of Dublin Dr. Pepper.



Day 7 - Travel Day
Location: Stephenville, TX to Hurst, TX
Beth and Riley showed us their trail in the woods behind their house. We headed off to Hurst to meet up with my sister again at her house.

Day 8 - New Year's Eve
Location: Hurst, TX
Babysat niece and nephew during the day. Rang in the New Year 2009 Eastern Standard Time with ice cream cake and cheap Wal*Mart champagne.

Day 9 - ICE!
Location: Hurst, TX
Saw the ice sculptures at the Gaylord Texan, 9 degrees inside the building. The sculptures were VERY cool! Went shopping afterwards in 70 degree weather.


Day 10 - Mom Birthday
Location: Hurst, TX
Celebrated Mom's birthday. Thankfully her bday present arrived in the mail JUST in time. Ate at Rev K's favorite Mexican place in Ft. Worth with Tiff and David!

Day 11 - O.K. Ranch
Location: Lincoln, TX
Drove out to my parent's land in the country to help Dad build 2x4 picnic tables, which we got him for Christmas. Turned out looking good! Record high tempatures in the 80s today!! Tried to eat BBQ at the best BBQ joint in all of TX, but they were already out of BBQ. Had good chicken-fried steak at "Granny's" instead.



Day 12 - Parents
Location: Houston, TX
Church at Salem, my folk's church. Also the oldest Lutheran church in Texas, although you wouldn't guess that b/c they are quite contemporary these days. I fixed a bunch of computer stuff for my Dad and helped Mom take down Christmas decorations. Also, ate LOTS of Blue Bell ice cream!

Day 13 - Okay, so it's a baker's dozen of days...
Location: Texas to Maryland
Early early flight back to Maryland. Guess it's back to normal again, at least if you consider MD 'normal'....