Kyle's Random

These look interesting, but I’m afraid I would go insane after wearing these for more than 5 minutes.

Yeah, I start to wig out when my feet are crowded.

I thought it would be cool to mention a few web applications that I’ve found to be especially useful over the past few weeks, but I think I’ll save that for tomorrow.  Today, instead, I want to mention a useful hilarious web program that had me laughing like a fool at my desk today.

It’s called Translation Party, and what it does is take an English phrase and convert it to Japanese using Google’s translation API.  Then, it translates the Japanese back to English.  It repeats the process until the two phrases match in English and Japanese (“equilibrium”).  Google’s translator is good, so sometimes nothing too interesting happens, but sometimes it gets pretty funny.

Here’s a couple that turned out pretty good:

Sample One

Sample Two

Last night, as Keri and I were getting ready to go out on a date, my daughter ran up to me, and quickly drew this picture.  She said that it was a drawing of her – so we wouldn’t miss her too much while we were gone.

PS – In case you can’t tell, it’s a head with long hair, and two legs sticking out the bottom where the neck should be. 

In my last post I mentioned a big project that I’m excited to launch.  Tonight, Pastor Chris made the announcement, and you can watch the short video below.

Decided to play a round of miniature golf with the kids last weekend.  It was their first time, and it was a bit like trying to herd monkeys.  Lot’s of fun, but a little bit exhausting.

This was a pretty bizzare course, and that added to the fun.

Several weeks ago, I decided it was time to start getting some regular exercise each day.  Here’s the problem:

• I hate running/jogging.  I’d rather be beaten with a stick.
• I’m too cheap/broke to pay for a gym membership.
• It’s got to be something I can do no matter what the weather is like.
• It’s got to be something I can do at night – once the kids are in bed.
• Most exercise feels like a waste of time to me, and I’m bored out of my mind.
• There’s no way I’m giving up desserts (I’d rather be fat & dead than give up ice cream).

Well, after several weeks of consistent exercise, here’s what’s working for me:

• I own an exercise bicycle, and it’s in our garage.  45 minutes with a high level of resistance is working nicely (I’ve worked up to this, and I plan to increase both the time and the difficulty over the next few weeks).  I’m doing some other stuff too (crunches and push ups), but the bike is the main deal.
• On the days when weather and time permits, I can ride my real bike, pulling the kids along in their trailer (my bike is finally fixed).
• I’ve made the commitment not to give up desserts (as my office mates and family can attest to), but I’m going to be more discerning about the amounts and frequency.
• THIS IS HUGE – I’ve discovered that I can read books on my iPhone Kindle while I’m on the bike.  That means that instead of dreading my time to exercise, I’m actually looking forward to it.  It’s been a long time since I built the time into my schedule for consistent reading outside of reading my Bible, but now I have 45 minutes every night I exercise.

PS – Yet another pair of my shoes make it into a blog post. 

Tonight, as I was running the recording for the Internet Campus, I had the opportunity to check out LifeChurch.tv’s BETA test for broadcasting video over the iPhone.  The video quality was great over the AT&T 3G network.  Nice work!  Here are a few screenshots from my phone:

In case you don’t know, I’m a huge fan of LifeChurch.tv and the Digerati team there.  They’re tremendous innovators for the kingdom (they were the first to do an Internet Campus, they created YouVersion – the online Bible software, and they’ve created a slew of other useful things).

There have been a few occasions when I’ve donated my time to help out organizations that are in need of a website upgrade.  I’d like to feature another one of these today.

The Genesis Alliance (Dallas)

This non-profit exists to fund and support the work of charitable organizations in this community that assist women and children who have been victims of domestic violence.

I’ve done freelance work for this group in the past, but I recently donated a facelift to the site to simplify and consolidate their information.

You can visit the website here.

There have been a few occasions when I’ve donated my time to help out organizations that are in need of a website upgrade.  I’d like to feature one of these today.

The Society Of Underprivileged People (SOUP)

This organization is based in India and stands on the front lines in opposing human rights abuses against women and children.  I first built their website back in 2006 (we even put together the video on the home page – see if you can recognize the voice), and I recently updated their site so that they can make edits and updates to the site themselves (using WordPress at the core, of course).

While I haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit and do work there in person, this website has provided the organization with a centralized location for ministry information and gathering financial support.

You can visit the website here.

When Keri and I were married, over 10 years ago, we made the decision not to own a television. Since then, we’ve considered it a couple of times, but each time we’ve decided to continue on without a TV.   (We do however watch a movie on DVD every few months, and we’ve now watched through all the seasons of LOST online together.)

Sometimes, people ask me why we don’t own a TV. Occasionally, I have a moderately good answer to that question, but today Keri sent me John Piper’s written response to that question.  Here’s an excerpt that I thought was especially good.  First, he discusses the sexuality of television media, and then he says this:

“But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.”

Wow, that’s good stuff!  What do I allow my mind to be exposed to that helps me focus on Christ?  What do I allow to deaden my capacity?

I’d highly recommend you read the whole thing.  It’s a very humble and insightful response.