Tag: Monday Briefs

Monday Briefs

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highlight(s) of the week ::
While I’m not sure it was a “highlight” of the week, death came as a friend on Tuesday morning for my Granddad. As a result I did get to spend some good time with family, including hanging out with my cousins on Thursday night and my sister and her husband Friday night. The circumstances surrounding us weren’t exactly what we would have chosen, but it’s always nice to get a chance to spend time with family.

Also, received a random (late) birthday gift from some co-workers. Not at all expected, but a very nice gift from some folks I have worked with recently on the African American Read-In.

quote i’m digging ::
“Going to church… I was very young kid… and this was a high Anglican church and this was my first encounter with God’s house. It was very strange. It was a mystical, peculiar almost magical experience going into this beautiful church and wondering why God had such strange taste in music….” on this week’s (upcoming) podcast

music i’m digging ::
I downloaded a copy of So Elated’s album last week in preparation for an interview on Friday with Ben Thomas. Really enjoying the album, especially the song “Open My Heart with Knives.”

God of love please give me peace / Please destroy all of our enemies / Help the rest of the world to learn to live like me / Tear down the temples that worship differently / Hold my hand and make me yours / Grant me power, sex, money and a brand new car / I know I shouldn’t worship all of my stuff / So I’ll ask that you’d please do it in the name of love

work update ::
The position I applied for with DCCCD is still progressing forward. I have an interview today at 1:30 p.m. so I guess I did OK on last week’s test.

freelance work ::
Learning more and more PHP and how it can be used in web development. Did some back-end work on a couple sites over the weekend to make my job in easier in the future.

gym/weight update ::
I think Laurie and I have decided we may try a 20 mile bike ride in Dallas on the first weekend of April. We rode 15 miles last week from Red Oak to Waxahachie. Not too bad, except the chip-and-seal farm-to-market road was a bit bumpy. And I think we both decided we need new seats before we try any serious rides.

looking forward to ::
Hmmm… not sure at this point. Would like another day off without other things coming up, but I’m pretty content as is.

Monday Briefs

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highlight(s) of the week ::
On Tuesday we went and watched my nephew Jake play his first soccer game. He even scored a goal near the end of the game! Afterwards we had fun going to dinner with family for Brad’s (Laurie’s brother) birthday.

Also, on Wednesday night I was able to spend some time with my parents and grandparents. Not quite the evening I had expected, but it was time well spent.

quote i’m digging ::
“Because the Church of Jesus Christ boldly stood up and said we’re not going to kill the enemy, we’re going to identify with the suffering and suffer with them. This is Jesus’ way.” – Tony Campolo referring to the Church in Bulgaria standing up to Nazi Germany.

work update ::
I applied for a different position at DCCCD. Been holding off on saying anything until I heard back and/or my boss knew. I’ve applied for a Senior Web Editor position. Same building, different department, but still working on the district’s website (just another section of it). I had a test today for the position that mainly covered AP and writing style. We’ll see how well I did. I haven’t done much editing or use of AP style religiously in the last year or so. Hopefully I did OK and I’ll be asked to continue on in the hiring process.

freelance work ::
Picked up a couple more jobs this past week. One for a previous client (don’t really like that term) and another for a newbie. Both doing web work.

gym/weight update ::
I still haven’t lost much weight. I’m still stuck around 230 lbs. It varies from day to day. I feel like I’m in better (physical) shape overall but haven’t seen much change in my actual “shape” although several people keep suggesting I’ve lost a lot of weight. I did ride 19 miles on the exercise bike yesterday. Wasn’t a problem except for the sore rear-end near the end.

misc ::
I was also asked to photograph a wedding for a couple that couldn’t afford a “professional” photographer. Did the work for free and I’m in the process of editing/processing the photos. Once I get them processed maybe I’ll share some of them on Flickr.

(still) looking forward to ::
A day off on Friday! Woot!

Monday Briefs

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highlight(s) of the week ::
We paid off our credit card debt this week! WOOT WOOT! Thanks to Uncle Sam for saving some of our money this year. We made our annual withdrawal and put it towards closing out our credit card balance as well as paying off a CT scan. Now we just need to finish paying off the rest of our medical and parental debt and we’ll have met our goal. We’re thinking we can get there in 10 months or less (maybe a lot sooner if folks want to have more freelance web work done or folks will start buying stuff from our Amazon store! :-)).

Friday night we made a trip to Frisco to see Baby Ben. Had a great time with his mom, dad and big sister.

Also, last night we had a planning meeting to discuss JustOneDallas – a very cool initiative that I’m looking forward to being a part of (I’ll write more soon). But just for now, save the date :: May 16. That’s the scheduled launch/kick-off date for the Dallas hub. And for a little more background you can check out our podcast chat with Max Fincher.

music i’m digging ::
In between listening to U2’s No Line On The Horizon, I’ve also been digging The Damnwells’ album “One Last Century.” Downloaded the album for free last week and hope to feature some of the tracks on some upcoming podcasts.
And two weeks later, I still can’t get enough of U2’s No Line On The Horizon
right now. Having them on Letterman all week probably didn’t help matters either.

podcast i’m digging ::
I finally took the time to listen to the Mars Hill 10th anniversary podcast this morning. Good stuff. Encouraging stuff as well.

new web hack/trick ::
I figured out how to build a “table” using unordered lists in HTML and CSS. Boy did that make updating the CWF bio page a breeze. Was worried I’d have to rebuild the whole table to insert seven new bios.

freelance work ::
Part of filling our our withdrawal from Uncle Sam this year (aka our IRS taxes) meant filing the income I’ve made from freelance work this year. I think this is the first year I’ve had anything over $100 or so. Once I totaled it all up, I made just over $2,000 doing freelance work this year. That’s just a mere drop in the bucket of most people – but it makes that $100 seem like even more of a drop in the bucket. I’m trying to do what I can to move away from “freebies” for folks and only doing work I can bill out. Not that money is “everything” but it sure makes doing the work that much more enjoyable when you know the client’s really appreciate your work enough to pay you for it.

misc ::
I bought a new webcam this week with birthday money (thanks mom, dad, dan and martha). So I’ve been enjoying using video chat via Skype and Tokbox. If you’ve got a webcam look me up (jdblundell as always) and lets chat.

looking forward to ::
I get a day off of work on the 20th for “Spring Break.” Sure wish I got the whole week, but one day is better than no days.

Monday Briefs

Taking the inspiration from jakebouma and several others I’m going to try and bring you a weekly “brief” on Monday about things going on… I give you the inaugural Monday Briefs edition….

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highlight of the week ::
I turned 30 on Tuesday. WOW! Dinner with my family and a sojourcouple really close friends at Kobe Steaks last Sunday night, as well as a nice quiet dinner with My Life at Red Robin’s on Tuesday night were probably definitely the highlights of the week.
A close second would probably be dinner with the Kiefers on Saturday night followed by After Hours Improv.
I see a theme going here…

books i’m reading ::
I’m still working through Tom Sine’s book The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time. As I told Laurie the other night, I’m just not finding/taking the time to read as much this year. I need to do a better job of taking the time to do that. I’ve also briefly started Kevin Beck’s book This Book Will Change Your World: How All Things Become New. I’m trying not to get too carried away with it until I finish The New Conspirators.

music i’m digging ::
I can’t get enough of U2’s No Line On The Horizon
right now. The song on your heart is now in my head. I’m even waking up and realizing the album’s been playing in my dreams. Crazy! I’m also digging Sojourn’s new stuff they’ve graciously offered as free downloads. Check out their blog to find several great live tunes.

ministry-wise ::
I’m still trying to find a good fit for our community group. Schedules happen. Life happens. People are busy. Wish the group was more like our youth group of old or college days where we hung out several times a week (those that could did) and we just shared life. Not there yet. Not sure what it would take to get there.

Loved sharing my chat with Max this past week on the podcast. Looking forward to hearing more interviews from Stewart and Thomas over the next few weeks.

looking forward to ::
Next Sunday we’ll have a Jedi Counsel meeting for encounter and then that evening I hope to meet up with some friends to discuss JustOneDallas (see previous paragraph).