Searching for paradise with Kevin Hendricks

As promised, I had a good chat with Kevin Hendricks yesterday about his novel, The Least of These, which he wrote as part of NaNoWriMo.

Huge props to Kevin for the great book. It was a fun and entertaining read for sure.

Find out more about Kevin in an interview with him on the podcast (from season 1!). He’s also taken part in Five Questions with… on We Live Simply this week, so be sure to be inspired.

And be sure and follow his blog at kevindhendricks.com or on Twitter @kevinhendricks

Ustream videos not working? – Fixed!

The Ustream Black Box (no video loading)

While trying to watch a conference via Ustream, I found a horrible discovery — the site would no longer load video.

I tried Internet Explorer (IE8), Firefox and Chrome. Nothing.

After numerous Google searches, I was still out of luck.

No video on the site would load.

YouTube worked. Vimeo worked. Facebook video worked.

But no Ustream. Nothing but a black box appeared in place of the video.
Continue reading Ustream videos not working? – Fixed!

Social Justice Superheroes

Sister Simplify & The Love Machine | Photo from Geeze Magazine

Don’t tell Glenn Beck — but in the great area of Alberta, Canada, a new breed of superheroes are in town — the Social Justice Superheroes.

My dear friend Sister Simplify (aka Paula Spurr) got a nice write up for her league of superheroes in Geeze Magazine.
Continue reading Social Justice Superheroes

Support indie artists

IMG_2660 WATER RIPPLE

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but haven’t taken the time to do it until now. I want to be sure and let you know about several great projects my friends have recently been a part of.
Continue reading Support indie artists

Christ-branded consumption

Researchers are not able to differentiate the behaviours and values of self-identified Christians from non-Christians with on exception — what they buy. As total sales of religious products reaches $7 billion annually, it appears that God’s people are constructing and expressing their identity through the consumption of Christ-branded products. As Mark Riddle observes, “Conversion in the U.S. seems to mean we’ve exchanged some of our shopping at Wal-Mart, Blockbuster and Borders for the Christian Bookstore down the street. We’ve taken our lack of purchasing control to God’s store, where we buy or office supplies in Jesus’ name.”

– Skye Jethani The Divine Commodity

What do you think?

Lessons from the baker

My friend Russel is working towards his dream of opening his own restaurant that will hopefully have an internship program for at-risk-youths, giving them job and life training. He’s recently completed culinary school and is continuing his education in a variety of places.

In an effort to improve his baker’s chops, he recently had the opportunity to spend some time with baker extraordinare, Peter Reinhart. Reignhart is a baker, teacher at Johnson and Wales, author of several cookbooks and a James Beard and IACP award winner.
Continue reading Lessons from the baker