Hello and Welcome

Happy New Year

2006-02-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, not really new year, but first post in 2006. Da boys at work want to see my "blog" to figure out what makes me tick (or maybe just to have some bargaining power during the appraisal process) - well, hello and welcome.

While you're here, here's something that I read recently (from sojo.net excerpt of presidential prayer breakfast talk by Bono):

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it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice.
Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice.
And that's too bad.

Because you're good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it.
But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.
Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality.

Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.

It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

...

Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue.

And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject.

That's why I say there's the law of the land¿. And then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living?
As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.
God will not accept that.
Mine won't, at least. Will yours?

...

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it¿. I have a family, please look after them¿. I have this crazy idea...
And this wise man said: stop.
He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.
Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.
Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.
And that is what he's calling us to do.

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And remember my perusing friends, "to obey is better than sacrifice". ponder that :-).

Consideration

2005-11-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

Life is only a game when you don't consider your fellow man.

The more our view of the world is centered on ourselves, the easier it is to manipulate an outcome at the ignorant expense of other individuals. One day, we wake up to find our world we've centered on ourselves has no love, no life and no hope for the future.

Without hope, there is no future. Without meaning, there can be no struggle.

Consumption and Africa

2005-10-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

This is from something I wrote a few months ago while reading books about Africa:

What was that thought again? Oh yes, only that I have been approaching honest life by trying to improve and live responsibly with the structure and system that holds us up and tries to support us. It will never do so. It is a mollification, the dollar meal for every pallet. Life needs a new approach. We pat ourselves on the back for recycling cans, bottles, paper, water, but in reality, these things should never have been consumed in the first place! America breeds over abundance and waste to such a degree that when we recycle our waste, we think in humbleness that it is the answer.

How do we have so much? Why is the white race never native yet ever consuming, ever blank eyed charging forward, conquering what needs no master? It has the soul of Satan and spreads its values of wealth-lust like a virus.

India and China have fallen prey - they have their sights set on what the U.S. has. Little do they know it will not love them and sustain them. It will ignite an all consuming fire to burn the soul of their people from the inside out.

Now, for some things I would not like to forget:

- Angola - how is Angola doing?
- Africa - how can I help?
- Research U.S. involvement in the Congo (my parents lived there for almost 8 years)
- Our consumption is a sin to the informed
- "We leaned towards Angola, while the past grows heavy and our future narrows to a crack in the door"
- "Everything you're sure of can be wrong in another place"
- "a growing accumulation of past crowding out our ever-narrowing future"
- "in my dreams I still have hope, and in life, no safe retreat"
- "we were desparate to move our sons to a place where they could tast hope, at least, if not food"

Quotes from the book "Poisonwood Bible" (if I remember correctly).

All for today - onto the "the list" for the weekend.

Tentmaking mission logo

2005-10-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Global opportunities is changing their name and is looking for a new, more generic logo (http://www.globalopps.org/logo.htm). Any ideas? Lana and I have been tossing a few around, but no breakthroughs yet. I should go ask Shao Hui (industrial designer at work) - he'd be gauranteed to design a winner.

Volvo Electronic Throttle Module Update

2005-10-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, looked in the Chilton manual I had, and turns out it doesn't cover the ETM - only the mechanical throttle body version in years '98 and previous.

So, without guidance and without much time, we took it to the local european car dealer place to get it cleaned. They turned it around within a day, charged us $100 more than they estimated ($270 total to clean it), and it now runs great. Will see if the gas mileage is back up. We were getting an average of 14 mpg - ouch.

My wife is the bomb - she totally took it to the dealer and picked it up - with two kids - while i was out of town on business. Thanks Lana.

Anyways, from the things I've read, cleaning it won't extend its life, it just gets the idle under control and gets the gas mileage back up. What a pain. The part costs around $800, so if it does go out, will have to front over $1k to fix it.

Moral of the story: actually, not sure about this, but i think that newer volvos are just not up to snuff. we had an '88 volvo that went for 250k miles without many issues, but this '99 has cost us at least $3k in the last year in repairs at only 150k miles. i bought it thinking it would go to 250k miles like the '88 (bought for $2500 at 169k miles, put $1000 in over the next 100k miles), but it appears that the cap of miles before lemon-drome is lower in the newer models. i guess toyota, honda or nissan gets my next purchase (depending on if car, truck, wagon, etc...)

'99 Volvo XC70 Electronic Throttle Module

2005-10-16T01:24:00.000-07:00

Have a '99 volvo cross country which has been running great until recently. In the past two weeks, the idle has been surging over about 300 rpm, and seems to affect other functionality in the car - such as the AC.

From searching online, it looks like the "electronic throttle module" on volvo cards from '99 through '02 have common ETM failures - including stalls at highway speeeds, idle surging and other throttle-related issues.

Apparently, there is a class action suit going on right now for Volvo due to their attempts to cover up the problem and tweak the way they handle the warranty. Since our car is a '99, it doesn't fall under warranty though, so I'm going to try to clean it myself.

It is a $1000 part to replace, and the local import car place where we get it serviced at wants $200 to clean it. So, having just replaced the brakes last weekend to save the $400 they wanted to replace them, I think I'll give it a go with the ETM cleaning.

Hello, first post

2005-10-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hello - saw a friend was using this site to post to, so am checking it out. Will see how much use it actually gets :-).