I’m trying out black and white photography more often.  In this case I think it works because there are multiple colors in the blanket, carpet, and brick fireplace that don’t go well together.  I just like black and white for the simplicity.

I wanted to see how this photo looked in black and white.

Mr. Matheny’s son stood across the bridge and watched his father perform.  I also visited with him for awhile.  We watched as these young ladies came out of the movie theater and stopped to listen.

Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden.

The king was like no other king.  Every statesman trembled before his power.  No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents.  And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom.

How could he declare his love for her?  In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands.  If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist-no one dared resist him.  But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly?  Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind?  Would she be happy at his side?  How could he know for sure?

If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her.  He did not want a cringing subject.  He wanted a lover, an equal.  He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them.  For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.

The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend to her.  Clothed as a beggar, he approached her cottage with a worn cloak fluttering loose about him.  This was not just a disguise – the king took on a totally new identity – He had renounced his throne to declare his love and to win hers.

As he quotes portions of this story, BYU professor, Daniel C. Peterson comments:

“The world’s most important acts rarely make the newspapers.  Its most truly interesting people seldom appear on magazine covers…  Jesus’ birth to an obscure woman in a minor village in a backwater province of the Roman Empire was entirely fitting.  The Lord seems to prefer doing things that way…

“If God were to reveal Himself fully and openly, the revelation would overwhelm us and destroy our freedom…  The Savior wants us to freely chose to love him, not because He’s powerful or terrifying but because we come to know Him as loveable.

“And we have abundant reason to do that.  ’We love him,’ testified one of the ancient apostles who knew him intimately. ‘because he first loved us.’  (1 John 4:19)”

(Link: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700209032/Pure-love-led-Christ-to-descend-the-courts-of-glory.html)

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” ~ Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero’s entry on Wikipedia.

I’m not an expert on how to handle or manage spam, much less on how to spam others.

So, it’s just my opinion, but I’m pretty sure this is an ineffective way to get traffic to your website:

Speaking only for myself, it’s very ineffective.  Since I now have to go through and delete the dozens of Contact Form submissions that you sent me, I won’t bother taking the time to visit your website.

Good luck with this though.  Your efforts make the online world a little more sleazy.  ~ Brian

I sit at a desk all day long.  Time for a standing desk, I think…

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” ~ John Adams

At the very least, I always start my research on Amazon.  Occasionally I buy from another e-tailer, but most often, I come back to Amazon to make the purchase as well.

Exactly how big is Amazon?  Frugal Dad published this excellent infographic last week:

Did you notice item #7?  Kindle Fire preorders are double the number of the original iPad preorders.

Speaking of which, there is an excellent article in the November issue of Inc. Magazine about the brewing competition and market overlap between Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Source: Frugaldad.com

“You take criticism as an opportunity to grow” ~  fortune cookie

Two co-workers meet in person, over lunch, for the first time.  They had communicated by email and by phone.  They’re not unknown to each other, but meeting in person is different.  There are added dimensions – facial expressions, body language…

One is new to the company, works at headquarters, and runs the manufacturing function.

The other has been around a long time, and is a sales rep working from a remote sales office.

The lunch meeting is a disaster.  The sales rep complains the entire time.  About everything – about the company, about the product, about manufacturing, about customers, about market conditions… on and on.

Here’s the problem:

That lunch meeting was more than three years ago.

But the impression remains.  The head of manufacturing still considers this one sales rep the negative one.  Anytime his name is mentioned, the image that comes to mind is that very unpleasant lunch meeting.

That one hour defined the relationship.

[Image Credit: Lars Plougmann on Flikr]

The Prince of Egypt was released in 1998 by Dreamworks SKG, the (adapted) story of Moses.

It immediately became my favorite animated movie, and remains my favorite to this day.  For these reasons:

1.  The story of Moses is important, historically and religiously.  On a personal level, I believe that Moses was a prophet of God and I look to him as a role model in terms of leadership style and personal humility.

2.  The animation of this movie was stellar.  I’m not a movie critic, nor an expert, but having seen virtually every animated movie known to mankind (ugh) I can tell the difference between low-budget flicks and high-end professionally-done movies.  This movie competed with Disney on every level.  Even now – more than a decade after its release – the quality still shows.

3.  The story is mostly true to the Old Testament.  Yes, Dreamworks took artistic license with the storyline.  No, it doesn’t impact how I feel about the finished product.  (I don’t know how the Christian Old Testament Moses differs from the Moses of the Torah, if at all.)

4.  A few scenes move me, almost to tears:

(i)  The scene of the Burning Bush.  How do you accurately portray a conversation with Jehovah?  I think this scene is as good attempt as any that I’ve seen or heard.

(ii) The scene where Moses tells Tzipporah what happened.  How important it must have been for Moses to have a companion with whom he could share his experiences.  No one could possibly understand, except perhaps, Tzipporah.  I’m glad the movie portrays this relationship.

(iii) This is a long one, so please bear with me:

The staff, which is a representation of Moses’ priesthood authority.  Especially, the nearly-closing scene when Moses uses his staff to part the Red Sea.  I get chills when I watch this part of the movie.  Again, how do you portray a miracle like this?  Is the whole scene accurate?  I don’t know.

I do know that the Holy Spirit testifies that yes, these events really did happen, that Moses was indeed called by Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, to deliver His people from bondage.

In the end, I am pleasantly surprised that the founders of Dreamworks were courageous enough to invest $70 million to tell the story of the Prince of Egypt; and pleased that the effort was successful.  And, I love it when my kids sit down to watch this movie with me and ask me questions about the scriptures!