RETURN OF THE ROBOTS...

I haven't forgot about the Robots, it's just that I don't like inflicting my readers with constant terror. Here is the latest from the front line:



From the website: In this season of specters and spooks, what could be scarier than a steel-winged robotic spy plane shaped like a bat? The aptly named COM-BATis a six-inch surveillance device that is powered by solar, wind, and vibrations. The concept was conceived by the US military as a means to gather real-time data for soldiers, and the Army has awarded the University of Michigan College of Engineering a five year $10-million dollar grant to develop it.

Is it ok to hate...

because someone is soo right? Just when you think you have all the answers lined up and are standing firmly on logic, reason, and justice, along comes John Piper to totally mess with your head. What do you do with a guy like this?



Good luck wrestling with that!

Wanna See Something...

...that will make you really mad?



The late great America everyone!

What A Week...

Sacramento, The OC, and finally the Central Coast...all in seven days! I told my buddy Jeff that I would lead worship for his retreat, and Julie had the Womens retreat at Hume Lake so that meant this trip to Morro Bay was just the Guys. If you can believe it I am a complete stranger to the Morro-Pismo area and this was my first ever trip. I now understand why it is called, "Fresno by the Sea" and after one trip do not feel compelled to return in the foreseeable future. I was, however, really intrigued by Highway 46 and all of the wineries so that is definitely in the future. When Reagan and I are together we do always have a blast so here are pictures of our exploits.

Life Lesson no charge...

I had a meeting at one of our nations preeminent mega-churches this last week. This is the overall conclusion I came to:

You know you've made it when you have your own street:

From Saddleback

But you have REALLY made it when you have a street named after the book that the Pastor of the Church wrote:

From Saddleback

Next I think they should build a place to show movies out doors and they could call it the "Purpose Drive-In."

Too Much?...well I guess that is why I will never have my own street.

California, here I come...

I am blogging about my trip to Sacramento from my hotel in Irvine. I took our family friends the Hales to be booth monkeys with me at a conference in Sac-Town over the weekend. None of us had been there since the fourth grade so we were all pleasantly surprised at how fun the downtown area was. Everything was in walking distance and we kept stumbling upon a bunch of great things to do. I was glad to go and definitely recommend if you are looking for a fun weekend getaway. Gotta love the pics:

More pics later...

This accurately sums up my weekend...more pics to come.

Life is like a hurricane...

I always knew my favorite childhood cartoon would teach us all a lifelong lesson on sound economics too bad DC cant be as smart as an animated duck.

Better than the duck brains...

Deep dish in Chicago...hard to beat

Duck Brains...

That is what I ate for lunch, how about you?

Good quote...

"Justice is what Love looks like in public..."

I can't take it anymore...

I wish the Hadron Collider would have taken us out rather than a slow painful death by our own hand. I think the people in wall street are idiots for getting bleary-eyed over fast money and selling their souls for millions. I feel bad for the millions of people whose retirements and bank accounts will be affected for years to come. I feel less bad for those who felt they could purchase a $450,000 house on a $35,000/year salary. I have, however, reached a new conclusion on the matter:

Because something is wrong it doesn't necessarily make the opposite right.

Example: I was driving to the men's retreat with my buddy Ryan and were behind an incredibly slow moving, out-of-state, thirteen cars behind it RV. It cleverly avoided about four turnouts despite the protesting horns from the choir of cars it had collected. That was wrong. However, as a response to the slow moving leviathan in front of us a late model Mazda sedan took it upon itself to weave through the slow moving caravan over the hilly terrain and double yellow lines, thus endangering many more people than a slow moving RV ever could. It was the opposite of the RV and just as wrong; maybe more so.

That is how I feel about the current financial situation. It was wrong for companies to run up billions in debt, but it is just as wrong for a government with TRILLIONS in debt to assimilate these losses when the ultimate burden falls on the taxpayer (that's you and me).

Call me an idealist but I always believe the private sector will always find a more efficient way to settle matters; even those it created. A bailout at this point is like giving a drunk a couple more shots so he doesn't feel the hangover, it will help now but hurt you worse later.

Finally, an inspiring Ron Paul snippet to vindicate my free-market views, I also love how he manages to school every pundit that tries to corner him:



PS-You can also digg an article I found inspiring right here.

A great Father Son evening...

From Arsenal

I am certainly not defined by my athletic prowess and I will always endeavor never to be one of "those" parents that you see at the games (especially living Clovis), but Reagan and I have been having a blast preparing for his upcoming soccer season. This is an outfit I got him from a business trip to Europe a few years ago, it was huge then but it is really starting to look good now. Taken at the end of tonights practice I was definitely a lot more sweaty than he was (which is why I am behind the camera).

Quite possibly the last post I will ever write...

I don't know if you are aware but the earth as we know might be coming to an end on Wednesday and there is nothing you can do to stop it. In an underground tunnel between France and Switzerland scientists will be trying to collide particles and the result might just be black holes erupting all over the place. So tell everyone you care about that you love them and good luck if you start to feel a violent shift in the space time continuum.

In case you don't fully believe me here is the skinny.

Been too long...

I guess when you purchase a big new TV and watch it a lot it really cuts down on your blogging habits. For my dedicated readers sake I hope the newness wears off soon so I can thrill and titillate with some regularity in the near future. Never fear though, for I have found some jewels to satiate even the most ravenous bloggers appetite and here they are:


Pastor Doug-
You might not be aware that the executive pastor at Peoples Church has a blog, well he does and has recently updated with a challenge that he has given to our entire church. I am a big fan of anything that he writes or says so check out his posts (if you go way back you can even read the entries he wrote about our trip to Europe together). Give him a lot of comments so that he will post more often.


The Sermonspice Blog (Spiceblog)-
Not only do I have a riveting personal blog but I also do my best to keep up my companies blog. The main reason I bring this up is because I have posted a video that has caused quite a bit of conversation and definitely makes you think so in the absence of groundbreaking content here check the latest out there.



My Wife-
My lovely wife has done such a good job chronicling the Temple life I think that is another reason my posts have become more sporadic; the events have already been preblogged. So if you need the latest and greatest for all things Temple hit it up. It is also good for the female perspective on the purchase of a big screen TV.


There they are, have a great time and I apologize ahead of time for how much time you will lose perusing the online goodness.

Attack of the awake...

I usually endure one night of insomnia a week...this is it.

BIG Weekend...

52"

1080p

Mine


PS-You are welcome to come over anytime just stop at blockbuster and grab a Blu-Ruy or PS3 game.

Exhibit E...

Who's the conspiracy theorist now?!? That's what I thought!

Will the U.S. Have a Droid Army? | LiveScience via kwout

Man this is going to be horrible...

California Adventure...

What other state could get away with naming a theme park after itself and people still come...great park though!

Consider Thunder Mountain Blogged...

Almost like you were there...actually not even close, it's like I am using my technical wizardry to rub in all the fun I am having.

It's been a while...

I know it has been a while and I promise to all my faithful readers that more awesomeness is coming but every once in a while you come across something that begs to be posted and I would assert that this is it. I'll bet your car doesn't have Falkor on the wheelcover.

Exhibit D...

They only ever look fun and innocent...

Noise Addicts » Blog Archive » Move over Wall-E and Johnny 5 - This one can dance! via kwout

Come to the unveiling...

My Brother in law Cooper has been tirelessly working on converting an old VW bug to an all electric car. Well after six months and I can't tell you how many revisions it is coming out for its first public preview. It is a sweet ride that I have been able to try out a couple of times and you will too if you come out to the Farmer's Market at Bentley's market at the Fort Washington and Friant shopping center.

PS- Verdego is the name of Coopers company.

A Dastardly Secret...

It's true everyone has them and the Temple family is no exception. I can't, however, withhold it any longer; My wife is a closeted blogger! That is right, Julie is a integral member to the blogosphere. She has been at it for quite sometime now and has tried her best to keep me quiet, but you can only keep talent like this quiet for so long. It is a very good blog and like a fine wine will only get better as it ages.


You probably want the link huh? Check it out here.

It's Now or Never...

Here is the Skinny:

1. A Triathlon is high on the life checklist

2. I have everything that I need (shoes, bike, massive pool)

3. I would rather my clothes fit like a triathlete than a computer guy

4. The Shaver Lake Triathlon is Sept. 21st

5. I was training a few years ago and found out that I had a wedding on the same day...and never got back to it.

6. I will be at my pool tomorrow morning at 6 am (God willing).

7. Here is to mid year resolutions.

It's Good to be a Dad...

As often as I can I try to get to an MMA class that I have been going to for about a year and a half. It is a lot of fun (sort of like fight club for "civilized" adults) and run by a great guy named Mike Kimsey. Friday night is open mat night so my brother and I brought our sons along to roll on the mats and jump on the trampolines that are there for the gymnastics classes.

It was awesome! Completely awesome! My son and I, lots of manliness, and no one to tell us to stop or clean up. I really think he was more excited to go to MMA than recent trips to Disneyland. His bag was all packed the night before and made sure a couple of times that his boxing gloves were in there. There was much bonding and it is always good to see your boy really looking forward to fighting and jumping and fighting and jumping. BTW he slept really good that night.

Rivers Edge MMA is a great place and with a bunch of great guys who never quite got all of the wrestling out of their system from high school. Here is a little video I put together for the gym if you want to see the gloriousness:

My dinner can beat up your dinner...

I am having the aligator, my father is having the catfish and crawfish special, then we are splitting banana bread pudding for dessert. Not too shabby.

A Vile Temptress Indeed...

It's 11:30pm and here I am at the Waffle House...Man I love it!

Summer fun perfected...

We had some great friends of ours come over for a lazy Sunday evening at it lived up to all of our expectations; great food, swimming, rock band (again I know this is the last time I promise), and solving of all the worlds problems, It was what summer nights should and all too rarely are.



PS- the kids named their band, "High School Musical 2."

4th of July...

Here is a small review of the 4th of July party we had last night. I had to get this video up quick otherwise the participants would deny it forever. The true energy and sheer noise level are not adequately represented here but I still think you get the idea.


Fourth of July 08 from Daniel Temple on Vimeo.

Zoo Camp...

Reagan went to Zoo camp so here are some adorable pics of Reagan as a bird for the female contingent of the blog:

Here come the Pics...

I am clearing off our digital camera so there will be plenty more where this came from; Here is some Chicago Lovin' :

Support is growing for The Cause...

This can be our anthem of warning about the impending doom:

I hate to be picky but...

My Hotel smells like cat pee with about 95% accuracy. I also don't really care for cats all that much so I wont post a picture cleverly illustrating my predicament.

I see too much "God" stuff...

I am still in the process of deciding whether it is good or not; primarily for Christendom, secondly, for the purity of my soul. Of course I believe that the products I sell are quite exempt from most scrutiny and all the others are firmly placed on the chopping block.

I attend a number of conferences (another one this week in fact), meet a lot of great people, and a number of questionable ones, all of whom want to show, tell, or give me something. I haven't had to purchase a Christian book or magazine in about a year. I also get to hear a fair number of slogans and catch phrases.

It is this new level of jadedness that I revisited a very common phrase that many churches and ministries use as a tag line:

"Loving God, Loving Others."

What's wrong with that? It is a seemingly accurate if not benign statement right? Well here is my major contention with the statement and I will let you decide whether or not I am being prudish or profound:

The actionable sequence of these statements are completely contingent upon human behavior and competency. If, for example, this is the major mission statement of your church or ministry then everything is resting on you; God wont be loved without you and all those others will be unloved as well.

I would submit that I am far too aware of my own shortcomings to rest anything more than mediocre blogging as something to be accountable for. If a Christ-centered organization is hanging it's hat on the efforts of its people I think we have missed the point. The scary problem that we have is that we have missed it so beautifully. Never before has ministry been so pretty and strategically precise.

I hope though, that all of the effectiveness and strategy hasn't caused us to miss what we started out to do. I hope that we are not the church of Ephesus as indicated in Revelation:

BibleGateway.com - Passage Lookup: Revelation 2:1-4; via kwout

What do you think?


PS- You want some great Jesus Junk check this page out

Exhibit C...

Shape-shifting robot squeezes onto military radar | NetworkWorld.com Community via kwout

Now I am just rubbing it in...

Free concert, 72 degrees slight breeze, sun peaking over the sky scrapers...

Where I am today...

Not a bad life.

Batting 1000% so far...

I wont build it up, I will simply tell you what I had:

White wine rabbit sausage with some awesome cheese from France on top.

It is my new love language.

Very excited...

About traveling without our son not about the book (yet).

On the road again...

I guess it would be more correct to say I'm on the plane again. We are off to Chicago for a conference and I am with my Wife no kid and two great friends. Should be fun and I will be sure to post pictures of the deep dish.

PS- I picked out a Robert Ludlum novel for my wife to read on the plane, we will see how she takes to the trashy spy novel genre.

Exhibit B...

Robots: New MAARS Kill-Bot Delivered to Military, May Finally Get to Shoot Something via kwout

This is for your own good...

I am now starting a new section on my blog for the good of all humanity. It will simply be titled, "Robot Wars."

Don't say I didn't warn you that this was coming, go ahead laugh now but when we find ourselves locked in an epic struggle for survival against all the machines that we built then you won't think I am so crazy will you?

I humbly submit exhibit A:



Stay tuned.

A Cherished Experience...

Though it's true awesomeness cannot be known by a cell phone picture, this is the "Crazy Burger". Chili, cheese, and pastrami. I am still paying for it.

Back to the future moment...

A co-worker friend of mine and I were chatting online and he hooked a computer up to his LCD in the living room to act as a media center. I called him from skype and we had a little video chat. It was totally like the scene from Back to the future 2 where they had all of the guys chatting on the big TV at the same time. Hopefully next week I can post about the hover board that we have been tinkering on as well.

FYI- This is a screen shot from my computer of me looking at myself from his webcam pointing at his TV. Thats not confusing is it?

My Saturday Morning...

Biking out to Auberry this morning.

Business School in a box...

Having never been to business school myself I can only postulate as too what goes on in the hallowed halls of academia. Of course that is not the purpose of my posting here; rather it is my personal findings about conducting business:

1. It is going to cost more than you think it is going to cost

2. It is going to take longer than you think it is going to take

3. You are going to make less than you think you are going to make

At first glance these are pretty fatalistic axioms, however if you can find something that is worth doing while accepting these guidelines you will do pretty good. Anytime I have ever done something purely for the money it has proved to be a pretty horrendous experience. Now that is not to say that these are hard and fast rules without exception. It is simply the fact that you can't bet on stupendous success as an outcome, you can hope, but the better plan is more firmly based in the aforementioned parameters.

PS- Later I will talk about the nasty little word that almost killed any success that I have ever had.

Getting ready for the sale...

Tonight we are cooking up the shells for the breakfast pizzas we are serving tomorrow and Reagan got to make himself a cupcake.

Your chance to say you were there...

I have been experimenting with a new culinary endeavor and will be making it's debut this Saturday morning at the big yard sale that they have every memorial day weekend in the Tower district. It is a breakfast pie that is full of too much awesomeness. My informal taste testing has been terrific so now I am going to see if I can make some profit with it. A slice and a cup of coffee will run you $3.00. My goal is to move 100 pies (lofty I know but it is my goal none the less). The festivities commence at 4:30 am and will continue until 1:00pm. Come by, say hi, buy a ton, and tell everyone how awesome it is. BTW I will be located here.

A great moment pt.2

This is my sons pictoral representation of his Mom singing. What can I say I have got it made!

A great moment...

Though it is nearly indistinguishable that this is photographic evidence of my wife singing on our worship team, that is exactly what it is. She has worked really hard to learn her parts and was very nervous but did a great job and I am very proud of her. Love you Sugar!

Striving to endeavor to provide suckiness, mediocrity, and a forgettable experience...

I don't generally blog during work hours but today proves to be the exception. I am evaluating a number of company's product's for our future development when it hit me; I hate mission statements. Not the concept of mission statement but rather the wording. It just sounds legal and sterile. Everyone's statement is striving or endeavoring to have excellence or efficiency. BORING. We need more action movie mission statements, especially if you are going to post it on your front page.

How about instead of:

Here at Generic Corp. we endeavor to provide the customer with excellence and professionalism while striving for the utmost in quality.

They tried this one:

Generic Corp. is awesome otherwise we wouldn't work here and you wouldn't be reading this. If you are ready for some awesomeness then give us a call and we will rock your world and blow your mind.

Which one would you choose?

PS-After looking at my company's mission statement I am changing it tonight.

A Stimulus Package and the Nanny State Creep...

I received the stimulus check for our family today. It is, initially, a nice feeling to have this unaccounted for lump of money sitting in my checking account. Then as I sat looking at the money a slow hollow feeling emerged. This money was originally mine that went into the government abyss only to return to me after Washington said that we could have it back. It is kind of like when a bully took your baseball mitt as a kid and gave it back only after the teacher made him; it is nice to have it back, but it would have been better had it never been gone.

I have been and most likely will always remain a small government, Uncle Sam don't bug me, kind of guy so it is with slight melancholy that I view this latest stunt. I am glad to have the (my) money back, but it is sad that the government has so much say in our lives that they can play God with my money in the first place.

Statistically and historically speaking there is little chance that we will become a more limited form of government; more concerned with personal liberty and responsibility. Socialism and the Nanny State is the near inevitable creep that happens to every great empire and we seem to be in the carpool lane. It is not my preference and I hope that I am wrong, however I do have an overwhelming bit of history to back me up.

One of my main points of frustration with the Nanny Creep is that a large soulless organization presumes that they know better how to run my life than I. As the always controversial Barry Goldwater once said, "The Government that is big enough to give you everything that you want is big enough to take everything that you have."


PS-Maybe the Government should do with it's left over revenues what I am doing with mine; pay down it's debt.

Sometimes you just have to blog about your Mother-in-Law...

She leads our children's choir and this her walking like an egyptian (love Ya Brenda).

You know you are in Hollywood when...

Worth a thousand words...

Here comes the conference...

Here is a shot of the soundstage where the conference is being held. It is pretty cool we are on stage 15 at CBS studios. There will be more pics to come...

Meeting that I am at right now...

This is a meeting I am attending right now called Church 2.0. It is a bunch of people like myself who are passionate about the bleeding edge of technology and it's usefulness for the church. So what better way to commemorate this techie meeting than to blog from my phone.

PS- The main guy in the photo is Spencer Burke, he is a good guy and has a great site called theooze.com

What it takes to be an expert...

I am sitting on my first panel at a conference we are sponsoring this weekend. It is kinda weird because people will be asking me questions and I will be answering them and there is the distinct possibility that they might listen to the actual answer. I have always enjoyed pontificating about the frivolous and trivial in life but to be a panelist, kinda scary.

Major Father Son moment...

These are the training wheels my son threw away today because he no longer needed them. Today was the day that fate had smiled upon us and Reagan became truly free, here is the vid:

I can't help myself...

I found a new Ron Paul video on youtube and I couldn't resist. Here's to you Ronny and here's to an independent run!


PS- In a mock election my classroom held back in '92 I was the lone vote for Perot, so this type of thing is typical for me.

few things start off good, fewer are great, and nothing begins perfectly...

I had this conversation with myself as I finished a couple of projects at home and work the last couple days. The nature of what I do is to obsess over the tiniest minutia through scores of ads or copy and promos so that nothing interrupts the connection between the message and its audience. The idea being that if you noticed my work I have failed. If I have done a good job then my work and the work of my compatriots goes unnoticed. If we mess up then we get customer service complaints. All of this and a couple of really late nights stressing over individual frames of video (there are 24 frames in one second) led me to the larger idea:

My favorite part of the recent hit Juno was when the movies namesake declares her true feelings to the jilted lover/father Bleeker. In rapid fire razor sharp eloquence Juno describes all the things she loves about him (plays guitar, runs cross country, funny, has good breath) and how cool Bleeker is without really trying. To this he mutters nearly under his breath, "I actually try really hard."

Very few things start off good; probably fruit is one of the only products in the world that starts off pretty good and cannot really be made better. Other than that we have our work cut out for us. When we start a magazine ad it starts off like a rejected preschoolers tempra painting and ends up as a finished piece that only looks effortless and simple. Only after much collaboration, confrontation, and revision does a product leave our offices looking good. It was fought for, scrapped, rehashed, and finally approved and nobody outside our doors cares, nor should they. It is MY job to make things good. The only job the customer has is to know; to know whether they do or do not like our product, to know whether it works for them, and to know if they had a positive or negative experience. If I interrupt that process by allowing stale and sub par representations and messages about our company escape then regardless of the merit of my company's product I have failed.

The good news, however, is that as long as things don't start off too well and need to be made better I will have pretty tight job security.

PS- If you are wondering about the levels of great and perfect as indicated in the title, let me finish up with the good level first and then I will get back to you.

My latest creation...

Here is a promo we did for the next conference we are sponsoring:


Not bad for for only two days of work!

The Divine nature of an otherwise sinful experience...

The number two person on my list of people I would like to meet in the world is the quirky food scientist Alton Brown (number one is found on a way back post). I am a true devotee of his show and viciously chew through episodes on my tivo. However Mr. Brown's groundbreaking food show is not the subject of this post but rather the muse which lead to the inspiration.

The show was about espresso and I was hooked. From the first time I sipped a perfectly pulled shot at a nameless cafe in Vienna I knew something so complex, mysterious, and electrifying could only have it's origins firmly in the underworld. Anyone who talks about any coffee product for more than two minutes has to mention at minimum a latent caffeine addiction and addictions are wrong...right?

I began to ponder the process that espresso goes through to end up in a glass and I noticed something very familiar...my journey with God.

At the risk of sounding like a covert shill for Starbucks bear with me;
Here is the process:

-Beans are chosen ( a point of contention among my more arminian friends)
-Ground to a fine mist
-Next the grounds are compressed into a tight little form known as a puck
-Finally massive amounts of water pressure push what is considered usable through excruciatingly small holes until the dark elixir is ready for it's intended use.

I suppose this is the process that God uses to expose what is complex, mysterious, and electrifying in us.

The next shot is on me.

The Begining of Summer...

When you live in Fresno California there is a very short window of opportunity to live without either your heater and especially your air conditioner running the majority of the time (I think 112 was the record last summer). Today was the epitome of these rare exceptions. Sandals were brought out, old furniture was moved, and all my windows are open. For those who live in the central valley we accept that the season known as spring is nothing more than a vile temptress, but today I willingly fell victim to her song.

A game of tug-o-war I didn't know I was losing...

I have been traveling around the country so much lately I had no idea how much it was affecting my brain. It wasn't until I was sitting down tonight to put all of the matters of our house in order that I realized how long it had really been. I love traveling but sometimes you just need to be home. I had that feeling to where the events of my life were running me and not the other way around.

Since I am not one to usually make a new years resolutions maybe I will start a new trend of spring resolutions. It takes about that long to figure out what you really need to resolve anyway.

Here is my resolution for tonight:
Go to bed at decent hour and wake up without the aid of coffee.

(maybe we should just start with the early bed time)