I was involved in a little "showdown" last week, trying to convince a group of Christians that drinking might not be the best activity to include in their free time.  I suggested that drinking isn't the whole issue:  It's more about the cursing, dirty-joking, and other things that follow.  And it's also about the Christian's image in the eyes of outsiders.  If I'm at a bar with a drink in my hand, do my actions and words say that I'm a Christian?  Would I be able to give a reason for the hope I have?  If so, would it be intelligible?  I brought up a few other points, and all in all, I felt like I had a pretty solid case (I felt a bit like a lawyer, which was strangely fun).  And even if any of my points could be argued against, I felt that I still had a pretty solid case because it involved drinking, and in the world of Christianity, drinking is one of the gray areas that usually leans towards black instead of white. 

Most of the people agreed with me.  I expected a few questions, and I got these questions from the very people I expected to get them from.  I had answers to these questions, though I didn't think I would completely convince anyone of my point of view.  And that's fine.  One person's main point was that he liked beer.  Understandable.  I can't blame him for that.  But what I found amazing, just completely astonishing, was the vociferousness of the arguments from the people that disagreed with me.  As I was speaking, I watched one guy's reactions to everything I said, and I was surprised how much of a stir it caused within him.  He would twitch in his seat as I said certain things, and his face would contort as he attempted to hold back his angry expressions.  I invited comments and suggestions in the middle and at the end.  One of my points was that Christians' hypocrisy is one thing that turns people away:  Some Christians say one thing and do another.  His main argument was that Christians' legalism is what really turns people away:  Some Christians adhere to such a strict set of laws that it bores people and sends them looking for something more interesting and less damning.  I could see his point, but I asked him, "So do you think Christians should drink so that they don't appear legalistic?"  I don't think drinking will solve our problems with legalism.  If anything, I think it would make things worse. 

But I guess my main point is that I was completely and utterly shocked by how much criticism I received (though none of it was actually voiced, I could "sense" it).  Here I was, trying to persuade a group of Christians to be good Christians, to not blend in with the rest of the world, and to honor God with their actions and words.  It wasn't like I was trying to convert a bunch of devil-worshipping pagans.  And it also wasn't like I was trying to force my beliefs about abortion and stem cell research.  The things I was talking about were ideas that any Christian would agree are good ideas.  These ideas are Biblical.  They cross the boundaries of denominations, people groups, and even the Christian/Catholic/Orthodox divide.  And yet these ideas were met with a brick wall.  And it just really got to me. 

Part of it might be the fact that I like to be right.  I admit it.  I enjoy being on the winning side of an argument, and I try to form rational and logical thoughts that will help prove my point.  But I think I am right in this situation.  I haven't always been this gung-ho about not drinking, but my opinions have grown stronger and stronger over time.  But besides my little stint with selfishness, I'm at least a little saddened by the message that was being sent:  People are too proud or too stubborn to change, they'll argue their way out of tight places, they'll justify their actions until they're red in the face, and they'll fight to the death to prove their point of view.  So the whole discussion about drinking is thrown out the window.  It has almost nothing to do with drinking.  It has everything to do with pride.  And convincing someone that their pride is getting in the way of their relationship with God is a very hard thing to do.  I guess I just feel a little helpless. #religion

I just enabled the Live Comment Preview plugin.  I thought about it in the past, but couldn't really see a use for it.  But I just recently realized that it could make html markup easier for non-geek users.  Plus, it was really easy to customize:  I just changed a single line in the plugin file to make it blend in with my theme. #technology

I went to the Jersey Shore again this weekend, but this time I didn't deal with any traffic or boardwalk freaks.  The key was to leave on a Friday afternoon and come back on a Saturday evening.  Also, I went to Island Beach State Park, which is a bit less crowded than some other places.  This picture is actually from Point Pleasant, but either way, it's just some sand. 

#nature

I was in a meeting a few weeks ago, and there was a squirrelly guy with a mustache who kept using the word "phenomenon" incorrectly and increasing the number and length of endings on it.  At first, he said something about "studying the phenomenon that was happening".  After a little while, he said something about "characterizing the phenomenology of the project".  A little while after that, he said something about the project's "phenomenologically advanced technology".  By the end of the meeting, he was just adding anything he could think of to the end of the word:  Phenomenologicallistically, phenomenologicalism, phenomenologicalisticide.  The guy was just going nuts. #language

When Shara mentioned her sweet tea recipe, it got me thinking.  Man, I love sweet tea.  I don't know what it is about the stuff.  It's just iced tea with a bunch of sugar.  But there's just something so inherently good about it.  Maybe it's because it's a regional thing.  You can't get sweet tea in the northeast, so it's a bit of a novelty for me.  Maybe it's the fact that "sweet tea" and "iced tea" are two completely different things (I believe "iced tea" is equivalent to Nestea or another similar instant disappointment).  Maybe it's the fact that a sugary, icy drink on a blazing hot southern summer day just absolutely hits the spot.  Whatever it is, I love sweet tea.  And every time I visit the south, I order it unashamedly and often. #food

I got a reply about the visiting nurses thing:

Dear Mr. Hosier,

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to inquire about our billboard campaign, "Insist on Visiting Nurses in Their 90's". 

This statement refers to the second line on the billboard,  "95% client satisfaction", meaning our visiting nurses deliver compassionate care that achieves top "grades" -- currently at 95% satisfaction. 

This grading of satisfaction is determined by random telephone surveys conducted periodically by a private firm on behalf of our agency. 

Visiting Nurse Association of Northern New Jersey (VNANNJ) is the premier non-profit healthcare agency serving the greater Morris area, so I'm very pleased to say that our overall client satisfaction ratings have always received top marks "in the "90's". 

One of the most difficult things to achieve in outdoor advertising is attracting attention to the message.  We clearly attracted your attention, but I'm sorry that our intent was not readily apparent to you.  I sincerely appreciate the effort you took to contact us. This is very helpful in our ongoing efforts to communicate the quality of our service to those in need of home health care.

So it appears that Mike and Britt are right.  I still don't get it.  I've read it about 600 times, and it still doesn't make sense.  As Britt said, it's spectacularly poorly phrased.  I'm gonna email the lady back and ask her about it. #entertainment

This article is about some of the things users hate most about websites.  On the list are the usual things like obtrusive ads and difficult navigation, but one additional thing they talked about was the use of Flash animations.  "Flash animations are an obvious, yet stellar, example of what users hate in a Web site; the skip intro button is the most used button on the Internet."  Amen to that!  Websites that use Flash as a means to display data are often slow, difficult to navigate, and just plain annoying.  Most movie and band websites consist of a ridiculously small amount of content and an abundance of animation, sound, video, and nonsense.  If a website needs to show a "XX%" for how much has been downloaded, it's definitely not worth my time.  (via Digg) #technology

I keep reading all kinds of stuff about Ubuntu Linux and how wonderfully great it is.  I've looked into it a few times, and I've even downloaded it and burned it on a CD.  But the more I learn about what's involved in the installation process (or the more I don't understand about it), the more I put it off.  I keep reading something about disk partitioning and reformatting, and I'm not completely comfortable with doing this to my computer.  All the websites I've read have said that it's no big deal, and all I have to do is "back up all my important data and have a fresh Windows install".  That's not as easy as it sounds.  Or, rather, it's not as simple as it sounds.  I have Windows configured exactly how I like it, and I have certain programs and certain settings that would take weeks to transfer to a new install. 

Enter VMware.  VMware is a program that runs virtual machines, which enable you to run an operating system within an operating system.  I tried it once in the past with some sort of Linux-on-a-stick or something like it, but I wasn't all that pleased with the size or speed of the whole process.  But then I found a downloadable Ubuntu Virtual Appliance, which seemed to make it pretty easy to try out Ubuntu without actually installing the operating system.  The download comes with version 5.10 (Breezy Badger), so it's slightly outdated.  But I quickly found that Linux likes to update itself, so I let it do its thing.  I just clicked on the little popup in the upper right corner that said something about updates, and everything downloaded and installed.  It found a network connection right away, and I didn't have to tweak anything.  One annoying thing is that it kept asking for a password to do things, but the password "ubuntu" seemed to work for everything. 

So the next step was to try the latest version of Ubuntu, which is version 6.06 (Dapper Drake).  The thing with Linux is that there's a steep learning curve, and no tutorial starts from the very beginning.  So here's a mini tutorial from my experience:  I clicked on Applications and selected Accessories -> Terminal.  I typed gksudo "update-manager -d" and pressed enter.  (This link shows a screenshot of this, but the text says "gksu" instead of "gksudo".  I have no idea what either of these things mean, but I do know that "gksu" didn't work for me.)  So then it went through some steps of downloading, installing, and cleaning up, and told me to restart.  There was one error in the middle of the installation, but I just clicked on "OK" (or "Oh Well").  After restarting the system, the username and password are both "ubuntu".  One thing that didn't work after the upgrade was the network connection.  So I clicked on System and selected Administration -> Networking.  I clicked on Properties for the Ethernet Connection and enabled the connection.  I changed the Configuration option to DHCP (don't know what that means) and clicked OK.  Then I clicked on the Activate button and loaded Firefox (blue globe icon near upper left corner) to make sure everything worked.  And it worked.  So now I'm running Ubuntu Dapper Drake from within Windows XP by using VMware.  And it didn't change my installation of Windows at all.  Not bad. #technology

The Category Sort plugin was just released a few days ago, and I miraculously stumbled upon it.  I've been wondering why WordPress doesn't have the functionality to sort the_category() alphabetically.  There are a few WordPress support pages about it, and there's even a support ticket that was submitted a while ago. #technology

If I have a choice, I prefer to buy things online, where I can shop at my leisure and not have to deal with stupid salespeople.  I don't need someone to tell me where to find something, and I don't value the opinions of people who receive a commission.  It's really easy to claim that you don't get any kickbacks or benefits, but I believe otherwise. 

I've noticed that certain things just can't be bought online.  Or rather, they shouldn't.  Most clothing, for example, needs to be tried on.  Unless you're a girl, you can't really just buy something online and expect it to fit or look good (for some reason, this works for Wendy).  Same with shoes.  Different shoe companies have different measurement methods, so you can't count on a certain shoe fitting.  Plus, there's the whole idea of trying things on for comfort.  A few months ago, I tried shoes on in a store, then bought them online at a better price.  That was probably the best day of my life.  But I can't see just buying something online without trying it on or checking it out.  Most times, I'll go to a store and check something out before I buy it.  It's hard to really know how something is gonna look/feel without the first-hand experience. #technology