I store my thoughts here...

Now the good news

2009-07-01T23:59:00.011-06:00

We're on vacation!!! (now don't go rob my house, my neighbor told me she'll shoot any and all intruders!) But we're in the fun land of OR or more specifically the OR beach. Sarah's been taking lots of pictures and I'm sure many of them will be posted next week. Keep an eye out for those.

In other good news, we're adopting (as if you didn't know already). There's a super good God story to go along with it, that hopefully I'll get a chance to post when I get back to town (I typed up the whole story in our adoption application, so I'll share that later). Needless to say it's a God thing and we're now in the process of waiting on a domestic birth Mom to choose us to parent her baby. That's a huge thing and we pray for her on a frequent basis. But our book is going out to 2 birth Moms here soon, so hopefully we'll get picked!!! And then, hopefully sometime soon we'll get to introduce you to the newest Bennett!

In the meantime, here's some pictures from our OR trip!

First Tim, Sarah, Elise photo:

Making Ice Cream with Elise:

Checking out Hermit Crabs:

Who you calling a gopher???

Happiness is playing in the water:

Monkey being silly while Dad decorates the street:

Again...

Earning some brownie points:

Timmay.

First the crappy news

2009-07-01T23:55:00.003-06:00

Well, I'll add it here on a blog and that will make it official. At least for my dealing with it, it will make it official. My parents are getting a divorce. After 36 years of marriage, my Dad is calling it quits. The marriage wasn't a good one evidently, but they're both done.

Wow, what a crappy thing to happen. I'm over the denial, anger, and super sad stages. Now I think I'm officially in the acceptance stage. But anger still creeps in every now and then...

Something to think about...

2009-02-07T17:11:00.003-07:00

The other day, I was watching some TV and caught a little bit of "E", that show where they talk about movie stars and who's fat and who got caught driving intoxicated, etc, etc. And they happened to run a special on Michelle Obama and everyone they interviewed simply raved about how great she is for Women's Rights and how wonderful the Obama's are. And more than before, it occurred to me that everybody's blind with Obama-rama. Everybody except Christians (and gun owners) that is.

This concerns me. Because whenever the majority of the public starts to do something, I begin wondering how they're being suckered. Take the big housing boom for instance. I literally heard something along the lines of, "You should buy the biggest house you can possibly afford because homes never lose their value and its the single best investment you can make."

The problem with mass public beliefs like this is the public becomes blind to the dangers and easily falls prey to sharks looking to exploit their belief. The housing bust easily demonstrates this with all the folks who got in over their head and not to mention the consequences our country is now suffering due to it.

So what concerns me now is our country thinks Obama is this great hope for change and that he's the best thing to ever happen to this country.

Immediately I begin wondering if we've been suckered and what the potential fallout could be. Considering the fact that Christians seem to be the only folks who don't think he's the best thing, doubly concerns me. What divisive issue is going to arise to exploit this difference of opinion and what's the fallout going to be?

Just something to think about...

Also, if you're wanting a newer, bigger house, just wait 15 years. (A friend of mine pointed this out to me) Take a look around at all the hospitals being built. Why are they being built? Is it because we're experiencing a great population boom? Partially, but more so its because the baby boomers are getting old and they're going to need some serious health care in the next 5 years onward. They'll be dying off and with it they'll be leaving behind all the big homes they've accumulated. I'm thinking there's going to be a surplus of these big homes and one will find a big home is suddenly a lot more affordable than it used to be. Well shoot, right now big homes are suddenly a lot more affordable than they used to be...

Just something to think about...

Timmay.

Dirt Biking!!

2009-02-07T16:41:00.004-07:00

My Dad loves to take pictures and he has some super duper high falootin' camera and I finally got him to head out with me to take some dirtbiking pictures. The results were so good that I hope to get him out again sometime. Anywho, here's some pictures of me catching a little air on my KTM. The blue bike at the bottom is Kirby. His pictures looks better than mine because he's carrying more speed and kicking the bike sideways in the air. He says he's better than me, but I like to think I use my brain a little more often than he does!!!

Enjoy.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-16T22:15:00.003-07:00

The Aquarium

2008-12-16T21:58:00.005-07:00

This post is way late, but better late than never. Well, on our way to Tucson for Thanksgiving, we decided to make a stop in Albuquerque to visit the Aquarium. There was hardly anyone there and it was sweet. Enjoy the pictures!

Finally, good news for Christians

2008-12-03T22:40:00.004-07:00

Everywhere you turn as a Christian, you see the rising tide of defeat. Watch the movie Expelled, learn about the Freedom of Choice Act read about Proposition 8 in CA which is being labeled H8 and you quickly get the feeling that Christianity isn't welcome anymore in America. Its a sad thing to observe the tide change.

Well here's some good news for you. Watch this video put out by CBS and you'll see underground Christianity flourishing in China. Its a good view and will help cheer the heart if you're like me and find America's direction depressing.

Timmay.

Elise's Prayer

2008-09-27T23:08:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I'm cross posting, but Elise truly has the faith of a child and it's worth reading.

Click for Elise's Prayer

Black Eye

2008-09-27T22:23:00.004-06:00

Well, below is a picture of my black eye. Its healed up by now, but this is what it looked like at the time. So how did it happen? 25 miles into a 110 mile dirt bike ride in Salida, CO, a tree reached out and grabbed my bike. Yep, the tree got a hold of the pipe on my bike and basically stopped the bike in its tracks. I went over the handle bars and banged my helmet protected head on the beautiful forest single-track. What caused the black eye was the tight fitting goggles I had on, jamming my glasses into my face.

Good new was, the glasses, myself and the bike all survived the wreck so I hopped back on and continued out the remainder of the ride. And boy do I love riding in Salida. The trails are long, beautiful, and best of all, vacant.

So there it is... Without glasses for full effect.

Embarassing Tim & good camping pics

2008-08-03T06:03:00.003-06:00

Well, if you want to see a really embarrassing video of me dancing (I can't dance) go to my wife, Sarah's blog. You'll see lots of fun stuff. Definitely a lighter side of things. There you'll get to see the fun side of the Bennett family!!

(plus folks actually enjoy reading her blog as opposed to mine)
http://bennettbabble.blogspot.com/

Tim.

What makes Christians different

2008-08-03T05:00:00.003-06:00

I haven't blogged in a while because as you know, this is where I store my thoughts. When I have good thoughts, this is where they go and when I don't, nothing gets written. So lately I've been working and been busy a lot, but I have been thinking...

Something my 2 good buddies and myself have talked about on multiple occasions is Christians. One of my good buddies is a professional plumber who owns his own business. In his many years of business he has made the philosophy to never do business with a business owner who openly advertises to running a Christian business. We've queried him multiple times and forced him to divulge exactly why and how he got burned by Christian business owners and after much thinking he boiled it down to he never knew whether or not he could trust them. Sometimes they were good to do business with and other times they weren't. Sounds normal enough, eh? Everyone tends to be like that. But something in particular got to my buddy. He said it basically boiled to down to if the going got rough, they were most likely to bail and leave him in a jam. He also said with most business' you know if they're dirty or if they're good. They usually fall into one of those 2 categories, but with Christian business' you never quite knew and that left you open for getting burned.

So we discussed this. Why is it this way? After discussing this long and hard, we basically came to the conclusion that Christians are all too good at rationalizing away their bad behavior. Really, we want to do the right thing, but when the going gets tough or when we're really tempted we fall prey to the easy way out and do what's wrong. One might chalk it up to one's integrity, but tonight I've been thinking about it and I think there's more to it.

It all comes down to the one thing that makes Christianity different from all other religions in the world. The very thing that makes Christianity special. Without this one thing Christianity would be like ALL other religions. Its the reason Christianity is the one and only true way to God. Many will tell you there are many paths to God, that its extremely arrogant and rude of Christians to claim they know the one true way to God. That we have no right for proclaiming such audacities. Well I'm here to tell you the one thing that makes you hate Christians and their behavior is the one thing that makes Christianity so very special. Its about a relationship. Its knowing and talking with your God and Creator. Its about knowing Him intimately and personally. Its about laying your life down each and every day before God and saying, "Not my will, but yours." Its about spending time in prayer.

The fact that I don't do this every day is the very reason I give Christians the bad label of "Hypocrite". I tear up as I write this because its true.

Its not about rules and regulations. Its not about politics and Democrats or Republicans. No, its about a relationship with Christ. Whether this relationship flourishes or flounders is the exact reason you either meet a holy man or a hypocrite. Its just that simple.

That my friend, is what makes Christians and Christianity different.

Tim.

Elise Dancing

2008-07-12T22:38:00.003-06:00

We went to Memorial Park for the 4th of July and Elise had a lot of fun dancing to the live music. Enjoy!!

The Shack (Part 2)

2008-06-01T22:14:00.003-06:00

Well, I've been doing some thinking and while listening to the sermon this morning, I realized something. I was wrong in my previous post. In my previous post, I posed the question if it was okay to be mad with God and basically answered, Yes, God's big enough to handle it. However, even though God is big enough to handle it and God is long suffering enough to allow us to yell at Him that doesn't under any circumstances make it right. The end of the book of Job shows this plain as day and I was mistaken for saying otherwise. My apologies for being wrong.

So now about The Shack. Well, I've read 2 more chapters and talked with some friends at lunch about the book. Basically, I personally feel like it's two separate books, merged together. The first part being real and the second part, fictional odyssey. However, my friends pointed out that the start of the book set the stage for a fictional odyssey and I should have been expecting it all along. They're right, but being the crazy person I am, I still wish The Shack would've gone on with the real part of the book. As the real part of the book was tangible real life that can be useful for someone else going through the same turmoil...

That being said, the fictional odyssey part is definitely worth reading and does a good job of challenging how one views God. You won't get very far in the book before saying, "Wow, I hadn't thought of that." (At least I didn't) So I do recommend it for reading. I won't however speak to its validity doctrine wise as I'm not nearly qualified enough to do so. (Not even remotely)

Basically, I'm even more so realizing that I don't have it all figured out...

Timmay.

The Shack

2008-05-31T00:34:00.005-06:00

Well, I haven't blogged in forever and basically that's due to 2 things. First, I got a real job, so now "The Man", as Dave Bednarski refers to it, has me working 40+ hour weeks. But don't let that skew you, I love my new job. Its truly is a blessing straight from God. And the 2nd reason is I just haven't had much to blog about. I could blog about my new-to-me KTM 300 2-stroke that totally rocks, but that would probably bore you.

So what has me blogging tonight is this book called "The Shack". It seems this is the "in" book to be reading if you're a Christian living in Colorado Springs, CO. Now I must say, I'm only 1/3 through the book (Pg 88 out of 245) and my comments could be way off base because I have yet to finish the book, so take what I say with a large grain of salt. But the book was totally rockin' all the way up until half-way through the 5th chapter. It was real. The main character, Mack, is finally coming to a spot where he was going to have to deal with God. Head on. It was totally 110% rockin' and then all of the sudden it got weird fairy-like. Oh, it was stinkin' horrible. It was like a fairy land twist on the Oracle in The Matrix. (You'd have to read it to understand) So now I don't even want to finish the book. But alas, I believe I'm speaking too soon and I need to finish the book before totally calling it out. But I must say, at this particular point in the book, I'm very, very disappointed.

So this brings me to think about what we do when we as Christians have something truly horrible happen to us and we can't help but ask God why He allowed this happen. What are the steps for restoring the relationship with God when we feel God is at fault for allowing such harm to occur? Is it okay to yell at God, to let Him know we're mad? Is it okay to tell Him that His lack of action in letting this great tragedy occur has deeply wounded us? Yes. God created us, so why would the great creator of the universe be unable to cope with our tough questions.

Psalm 51:17 states,
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise"

In times of my brokenness, God has heard my cry, He's been moved by my tears and He has yet to fail me in meeting me exactly where I'm at. Our God knows us and knows exactly what each one of us needs in that desperate hour of our lives. I was hoping The Shack was going to take us to that place. The place where God takes a man who's yelling and angry with God and meets him exactly where he is and restores him.

But it should be noted, the anger must turn to sorrow and total brokenness before God. Only then will God be able to restore you to full person He desires you to be.

Our God is faithful and true and He longingly desires to have relationship with you. We do serve an awesome and majestic God!!

Timmay.

We tried a new church today...

2008-03-24T01:02:00.007-06:00

I started this blog because many a times, late at night when my mind is flowing with good thoughts, sometimes God speaks. And I never had a place to store those thoughts other than in my brain. So I started this blog and tonight is one of those nights. Its currently 1:04 in the morning, I have orientation for my first day of a new job tomorrow morning and I'm in bed thinking about churches & the Holy Spirit and now I'm out of bed with my laptop blogging about it. Odd, huh?

So we tried a Baptist church today. Its our first Sunday trying a new church after having just left our old church. Why did we leave our old church? Well the short and true story for the Bennett family is we were at a Missions Banquet our church puts on and the worship was awesome, I cried, I praised God, it was awesome. Then the sermon was awesome as well and by the end of it, I wanted to open up my check book and financially share in God's work to the best of my ability. Then our associate Pastor got up to speak and immediately the Holy Spirit informed me something was very wrong. That combined with many oddities that were occurring as well is what prompted the Bennett family to leave.

So again... we tried a Baptist church today. It was very nice. The Pastor had a very good sermon and definitely appears to be a true man of God. I very much liked him. What Sarah & I didn't like however, was the worship. We sang hymns (which is more than fine) but what bothered me was not a single hand in the place was lifted up in worship. That doesn't mean for a second that no hearts were lifted in worship, but it didn't fit a style of worship that we're accustomed to and in retrospect doesn't feel like a place where I could openly weep or get excited during worship and not have the whole congregation staring at me. I'm not saying the church isn't what God has for us but it didn't feel like a good fit.

So then we went to Sunday School and boy, oh boy was the teacher fired up. He started off with what was on the front page of the newspaper and how there are all kinds of alternatives (activities) open to folks besides going to church on Easter. He then went on to read the whole Easter story, from crucifixion through being raised from the dead and letting Thomas touch Jesus' scars. I learned a few details that in merely reading the Bible I had missed in the past. It was very good.

But the teacher also mentioned a few things that really jumped out at me, especially for being from a Baptist Church. He said, "I believe every Christian should be a Spirit filled Christian". He mentioned that while explaining why he was deviating from teaching the next section in their Bible Study curriculum and instead teaching what God put on his heart.

Then, he later talked about the story of a guy going on a cruise and eating peanut butter sandwiches every day until the very last day when he decided he would eat from the scrumptious buffet and pay whatever it cost. This guy then went to the buffet only to find out that it was free the whole time! The teacher then asked how we as Christians don't take all that is available to us from God. At the time, the 2 statements didn't click until I was lying in bed just 40 minutes ago. Is he talking about the gifts of the Spirit being available for today? I don't know, but I think I'll call him and talk to him about it.

However, I firmly believe God does have a lot more for us that we as Christians don't take advantage of. Is it possible to live every moment, making every decision based on the Holy Spirit's prompting? Is it possible to laugh and joke with the Holy Spirit and bring Him into every facet of our daily walk?? Is it possible to pray God's heart for 15 minutes one night only to 2 months later be asked to recite it to the church congregation? Is it possible to reach for your Bible to read His Word and instead have God say, "Rest. You'll need it." Is it possible to look for a job for 2 months with no optimistic outlook to only 5 weeks later having 2 companies begging for you to come work for them all on the same day??? YES. YES!!! All this and more is possible with God.

Unfortunately I'm so easily distracted by the dirt bikes, busy-ness and sin of this world that I often miss where and what I should be doing...

So to try and tie all this up. Are we going back to the Baptist church? I haven't ruled it out, but I think after eating from the buffet it might be hard to go back to not eating from the buffet.

Tim.

Pinewood Speed...

2008-02-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

On a lighter note, just prior to Elise's scare (read below) we went up to Denver to Sarah's brother's house as his wife Naomi, is quite the artist. She agreed to paint my pinewood derby cars for me and man, I couldn't be happier. She hand painted matching themed cars with flames. See the results below...

Also, if you notice, the 2 cars are different sizes. The big one's for the modified class and the small one for stock. If a discerning eye were to look closely, one would see a whole host of small go-fast tricks. Axle location, axle width, holes drilled, weight location, etc. But the real speed comes in the wheels, so I don't mind showing you these parts. Plus, what good is knowing the answers, if you don't understand the why.....

Quite Scary

2008-02-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well last night we had quite the scare with Elise. We noticed on Saturday a nasty cough she had, Sarah even mentioned it sounded like Croup, but Elise had battled it before and been just fine, so we didn't think much of it. She was still running and jumping around the house just like always.

Well, Saturday night (actually Sunday morning) Elise wakes up with a serious cry. Sarah immediately jumps out of bed and the next thing I know I hear water running in the bathroom. I figured Elise threw up and is getting an impromptu bath. So I decide to be a good husband and go clean up whatever's on the bed. However, when I go to Elise's room, there's no throw up. So I head to the bathroom and Sarah has Elise in her arms and the shower going on full hot and Elise is fighting just to breathe. Sarah looks at me and says, "We gotta go to the ER, she can't breathe." I see Elise struggling to even breathe & immediately the 2 of us are throwing on clothes and in the car. I figure it took 30 seconds for us to get out the door. By the time we arrive at the ER, the cold air has helped a bit and she's no longer really struggling to breathe, but still definitely not breathing easy. (Turns out the hot air from the shower wasn't good and the cold air in the car was).

Then the doc comes in and looks at Elise and after listening to her breathing comments that she's really struggling to breathe. Then things get tense. The doc asks how long she's had the cough, being 3:30am Sunday, I say since yesterday, inferring since Saturday. Sarah says, no she got it today, really meaning Saturday. The doc in the meantime is getting more concerned about her breathing and not getting a straight answer out of us gets panicky and demands to know exactly when the coughing started. We quickly figure out we both mean Saturday and that seems to calm the doc a bit. So then they give her some oral steroids of some sort and then put her on a breathing apparatus breathing EpiPed I believe. Basically it speeds up her heart rate, and gets her endorphins going a bit so she can fight it.

But it came down to being a croup attack. The ER nurse suggested cold air and humidity. He said driving around town with the windows down would've done her a lot of good, but admitted that it was pretty bad and it was good we got her in to the ER.

Pretty scary to say the least. As a parent, you just handle it as the time comes, but it takes a toll on you. Later when I told my Dad what happened, I couldn't keep from getting emotional telling him about it and I thought I was doing just fine...

Sooo, that's our ER story for this weekend.
Thank goodness for docs,

Tim.

Pinewood Sim nearing completion

2008-01-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

Well, the Pinewood Simulator is nearing completion. I need to create some embedded help text to help guide the user in how to use the application, but other than that the application is basically done. However, I also need to hit Home Depot to find parts for a track I would like to sell with the application.

After that's done, I figure I can start selling it on eBay. Check out the pictures & tell your Pinewood Derby friends!!! If you want to buy it, leave a comment & I'll get an email and respond!!

Tim.

I'm famous...

2008-01-05T20:48:00.001-07:00

Well not really, but enough so in my eyes. The good news is Apple added my Dice Roller application to their iPhone applications list.

See it here in all its glory.

Pinewood Derby Simulator

2008-01-04T00:50:00.000-07:00

Getting the 3D bug from a chat with a friend at church, I embarked upon having some fun with Java's implementation of OpenGL, known as Java3D. I figured what better to animate, than a Pinewood Derby simulator I wrote about a year ago.

Basically the old simulator takes the dimensions of a track and then allows the user to run a pinewood car down that track. By inputing the car's wheel base, its center of gravity, and the distance until the car stops on its own, one can measure the kinetic friction of the wheels rotating on the axles (including any bumping the side of the track on its way down). I confirmed the accuracy of my model by verifying that the time required for the car to stop and the distance traveled are equivalent to actual test runs. Pretty cool, eh?

Then, once you know the kinetic friction of your pinewood car, you can then add that to your car's specifications and proceed to run the car down any simulated track you desire!!!

So what I've done now is taken the simulator and added animated 3D graphics to it. Very cool (at least to me). Now you can visually run multiple cars against each other and see the results. Woohoo!

Timmay!

Made me cry a little bit...

2007-12-31T14:19:00.000-07:00

Sarah ran across this video this morning. Its simply awesome. God talking to a little boy and giving him truth and answers in a time of need.

Amazing...

Here's the direct link to YouTube in case it doesn't fully load...

I created an iPhone app!!

2007-12-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

It was fun!!! In my last contract I ended up doing some Javascript fun stuff and I figured why not give web programing a whirl and see what happens. What better way to do some web programming than to program for an iPhone??? Its wizzy, its cool and I can carry it my back pocket!

So here's what it is, its a dice roller for the popular game "Settlers of Catan". Specifically for the "Cities and Knights" variant of Settlers. It rolls 2 dice and also a colored ship die. The user can simulate a Settlers roll multiple, multiple times and then see how the distribution aligns with known probability theory of 2 dice rolling.

You're probably thinking, why in the world would you do this when you can roll the dice when you play? Well....whenever we play, inevitably some good number like 6 or 8 ends up being rolled a lot less than some stinky number like 3 or 10. So then we get to discussing the accuracy of our dice and if the dice are truly giving us random rolls. Sooo, I programmed up a roller as an alternative for us to use when we play.

I went to extra effort to make sure the rolls were random by reseeding the random number generator with the number of milliseconds since epoch (Jan 1, 1970) before each and every roll of each die. This is needed because some studies have come out showing computer random number generators, really aren't that random. They're psuedo-random. And that may be good enough for Joe Blow, but not for us, hard-core-geek-freeks.

So now that its done, I submitted the application to Apple and hopefully if I didn't step on too many copyrights with regards to the game's images and references, then hopefully they'll accept it and add it to the list of Apple approved iPhone applications!!!

Above is the logo I had to create for the Apple submission and below are screen shots of the application in action... Due to real estate limitations, I couldn't use titles in the Stats View, so the first column shows actual results, second column shows expected results, and the third column shows the difference between the two.

Enjoy,

Tim.

===========
Click for PC Demo
With an iTouch or iPhone navigate to "http://www.bennettspeed.com/catan/catan.htm"

Elise falls asleep on the toilet

2007-12-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

Oh too funny!!!

Different beards...

2007-12-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well, after the play, I experimented with different beards. Below are pictures of the results. My friend, Lisa from Albuquerque, suggested I try a mustache with a goatee look. I liked it, but in the end, I shaved it all off. Here's some pictures...

Tequila addiction

2007-12-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not an alcoholic, far from it, but I do have a thing for trying better and better tequilas. At work, there's 3 guys who are really into Margaritas and so we investigate tequilas, we each buy one or two of the ones we think are good and then we taste test on Friday's. After deciding which is the best, we then make small margaritas and enjoy the new found tequila. This is now known fondly as Tequila Friday's!! So now I own 5 different bottles of tequila. I must be crazy. Sarah definitely thinks so. (But she's been thinking that for a long time now) So what's the results of all our taste testing? Here's the results as we've decided thus far. In order from rock-gut to whoa-baby:

Jose Quervo Gold - In all honesty about the dirtiest, nastiest stuff you can buy. Lots of bite and no taste. Not 100% blue agave.

Jose Quervo Blanco - Less bite than Quervo Gold, but still just a step above from drinking gasoline. Jose Quervo really does a disservice to tequila. Also, not 100% blue agave.

Cazadores Repasado - I once talked with a lady who co-owned a decent Mexican restaurant here in town. I asked her what her most ordered tequilas were. Hornitos and Cazadores was the answer, which they are the best of the cheap tequilas. However, Cazadores has more of a whiskey taste and less of a tequila taste making it very horrible in my opinion.

1800 Blanco - Definitely a ton smoother than Jose Quervo Blanco, but that's not hard to do. Not worth the money. Perhaps the Repasado is better.

Suaza Hornitos (Repasado) - Best tequila for the $20 something price entry. If all you've experienced is Jose Quervo, this is great stuff.

Cabo Wabo Repasado - A huge step up in smoothness and taste from the Hornitos. Has a medium amount of bite. After taste is decent.

Patron Repasado - Not far from the Cabo Wabo Repasado. Again has a medium amount of bite and after taste is decent. Some refer to Patron as the Jose Cuervo of upper end tequilas. Everybody thinks its great stuff (marketing), but really it leaves a lot to be desired.

Don Eduardo Anejo - Extremely difficult to say which of the Don Eduardo's is better, the Anejo or Repasado. The anejo has a lot of bite, which I don't like, but it has a ton of after taste. You can literally take a small sip of this stuff and have a wonderful taste in your mouth 3 minutes later. The large amount of bite however, doesn't make for good margaritas and can easily turn off the tequila sipper.

Don Eduardo Repasado - Extremely smooth, good amount of taste, NO bite what-so-ever. Makes for excellent margaritas.

Don Julio Repasado - Little more bite than the Don Eduardo Repasado, but tons more taste which more than makes up for the small amount of bite. This is definitely the best repasado I've tasted to date and makes smokin' Margaritas.

Don Julio Anejo - Less bite than the Repasado and about the same amount of taste. You can definitely tell its oak barrel aging relation to the Repasado. Have yet to try it in a Margarita, but I'm guessing its going to be fabulous and possibly a new favorite. Could very well be the best tequila you can buy in the $50 range.

San Matia Anejo - First of all, this tequila is in a whole different price bracket from all the above tequilas. This stuff runs $140 for a 750mL bottle. So its not really fair to put this stuff in the same list as the above tequilas. And No, I didn't buy this bottle. Boss lady bought it for us tequila lovers. But anywho, this stuff is aged 3 yrs, has no bite what-so-ever, has a very nice wood-maple flavor. Very good for sipping. Kind of a waste to put this wonderful stuff in Margaritas.

So there's the breakdown of Tequilas as me and the guys at work know it. By the way, our recipe for making Margaritas is really simple. 1 part lime juice, 3 parts tequila, 3 parts orange liqueur (a mixture of Cointreau, Grand Marnier, & Triple Sec). Go easy on the Grand Marnier though, too much can ruin a 'rita. And if there's too much tartness from the lime, increase the ratio of Triple Sec.

There ya go, you have more than enough info for making excellent Margaritas!! Just take it easy, those babies are strong!!

Also you may be wondering...
Blanco - no aging in wood barrels
Repasado - Aged a minimum of 3 months, but not more than 1 year.
Anejo - Aged a minimum of 1 year.

Tim.

Christmas is coming...

2007-12-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, again, its been a while since I blogged and I had a goal of a blog a month, but I obviously haven't hit that. Not by a long shot. But there are a few things new. Its SNOWING and man do I love it. With the 4Runner and AWD, I look for excuses to head out and enjoy kicking the truck sideways in the snow. What a hoot. People must think I'm crazy.

Also, tomorrow, I'll be Joseph in the church's Christmas play. If I had blogged earlier, you could come see me at Radiant Church, but since I'm posting this so late... But the real news is I've grown a beard for the part. Its the first real beard I've ever grown. I must say, the first 3 weeks were horrible. So many times I wanted to shave the stinkin' thing off. But I held out and now it looks pretty decent if I don't say so myself. Sarah's not digging it too much. Something about not liking to kiss hair. So she's excited for tomorrow when I'll shave it all off. Below is a picture of it as it stands right now. As we shave it, we'll try a few different looks for the beard and take pictures. We'll see how they come out. See if any of them look good or not. Below's a picture of what it looks like now. Let me know what you think...

Tim.

So what's new

2007-09-18T22:01:00.000-06:00

Well, as you probably know, its been eons since I last blogged. Well, the job picked up so I got busy and then I have pictures from multiple camping trips and a trip to Oregon that I need to put on the website, but haven't been able to do so yet.

Sooo, what brings me to posting tonight? Bible study, that's what. Well, the church started a new church wide Bible Study called P50, which stands for 50 days of Pentecost. Its a study about the Holy Spirit. Everything from education about what the Holy Spirit is, gifts of the Spirit, etc, etc.

But to digress a little, 2 Wednesday nights ago, we had a prayer night at church (first Wed of the month). At the end of the service, I saw a lady who I thought wanted prayer but wouldn't go up for prayer. The Holy Spirit then prompted me to go pray with her. I procrastinated wondering if it was really God or not and then I asked Sarah to come with me and pray with her. Sarah was thinking I was half crazy picking out a single lady to go pray for. (She was also probably thinking, "God told you, how about you go do what God's telling you." But smiling as I write this, I don't really know that.) So anywho, while all this is going on, she gets up and leaves. Opportunity lost.

So then this week, who happens to come to P50 study besides her!!! (Praise be to God for second chances and lessons learned!) Well, we were going through our discussion questions and were talking Holy Spirit stories when I confessed to her the Spirit's prompting that night at Prayer Night, but my failure to listen. I then apologized to her and she started crying. She told me that that night she wanted to go up for prayer so bad, but couldn't bring herself to do so. Exactly what God had shown me that night. She then went onto share some about what was going on in her life. As a group we also talked about missed Spirit opportunities and not missing them in the future. So to say the least, it was a really good study.

So that's my blog for the night. If you so desire, you can pray that my heart would be softened. Not just softened as in a relative change, but rather that it would be soft. A heart that breaks for those who are broken. A heart that yearns for God and His Word. And a coming back to God with total dedication that life's distractions won't get in the way of. A change in me has occurred since RFKC that hasn't been for the better. I don't know that I've really done anything bad or wrong, I've just gone to my own thing for a bit and I want to return.

So that's the end of my story for tonight,

Tim.

I Puked at the MegaChurch

2007-08-08T00:18:00.000-06:00

Well, I didn't, but it was a funny Craigslist posting that I stumbled upon. Read it and enjoy it:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/den/344894297.html

Not fun, sad.

2007-08-05T21:16:00.000-06:00

Well, it just doesn't seem like another child is in Sarah's & my biological future. We found out early last week that Sarah was pregnant. Woohoo, another wonderful Elise possibly in our future! Having lost 3 out of 4 however, we were apprehensive. However, the doc gave us hope by finding a protein mutation Sarah had and giving us medication to offset it...

So Wednesday of that week was prayer night at church (every 1st Sunday of the month) and at the end of the service, Sarah & I went up and prayed. We prayed for the unborn baby and that God would be gracious and grant us another child. The cool thing about prayer is that God heals you as you pray. Well, through the prayer, we gave the baby and the whole situation to God. We prayed, we cried and we hugged and then eventually left the front of the sanctuary with a peace that only God can give a person. That was Wednesday.

On Thursday, one day later, Sarah's period came. It didn't really hit immediately, but it hit in small chunks for the next couple of days, making me irritable and short with people.

So where do we go from here? We've been thinking adoption for a while, but now its probably something we'll definitely look more into. Sarah wants a newborn, but I'm open to just about whatever (preferably a boy though!). We don't know. We really want another child, but perhaps it won't happen the way we planned it.

Sad, not fun.

Christian Ramblings

2007-07-25T20:53:00.000-06:00

For the last few nights, I keep coming back to a verse I read a while back. I recently finished up Jeremiah (the prophet called by God). And as a continuation of similar prophecies, I read Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai. Through all of these prophecies, God speaks of the Babylonians conquering God's people and then God's restoration of his people. In Zephaniah, when talking about the meek and humble remnant that has been left, God speaks about His restoration for His people. Its one of these verses that I keep coming back to, Zephaniah 3:17:

The Lord your God is with you,
    he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
    he will quiet you with his love,
    he will rejoice over you with singing.

What beautiful words spoken about the children God loves. First, my God is mighty to save!! Yes! Second, He will take delight in us and He will quiet us with His love. What does that mean to quiet us with his love? To me, it means God will push away my worries and concerns with His love. (backed up with 1Jn 4:18) And the last part is great. God will rejoice over me with singing. Wow. God would sing over me. Imagine that for a second, God rejoicing over you with singing!!

I don't know if that means anything to you, but God quieting me with His love meant quite a bit to me. I was kind of without a job for a bit and the worry started to creep in. But I have 2 great things to lean on. First, God has a quite a track record of taking care of me. Who am I to doubt him now? Second, Zephaniah 3:17. Sometimes you realize your worries and concerns aren't worth worrying and caring about!

Speaking about prophecy, have any of us considered what/where the role of the prophet is in today's church??? Does it have a role? Should it have a role?? About 3 months ago, I was pondering that exact question and I have an interesting story to go along with the question. If you ever care to hear it, ask me sometime, I'd be glad to share. (Testimony baby!!!)

But basically Jeremiah has just about all we need to know about God's prophets. God's prophets are exactly that, they're God's prophets. They're called by Him and when God gives them a word, God's word wells up inside them until God's word is spoken.

Well, that's enough ramblings for one night,
Till next time,

Tim.

Can't work for Nintendo...

2007-07-19T19:08:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's what the contract I signed today stated. That along with several other things, but officially as of today, I'm not allowed to work for Nintendo and specifically the Wii. Why you ask? Because they're a competitor to the company I'll be working for now. I can't say exactly what I'm doing for them, but I can show you what's on their website and tell ya its pretty cool. I guess the idea is to drop your remote in the trash and move to this gizmo. Very cool. Like the Wii remote, when you move your hand in the x, y, and z axis, this thing recognizes all 3D movement and translates that into movement on your TV screen and/or Computer. Pretty nifty. So that's what I'll be working in the near future. We should be getting some prototypes in the mail shortly. Fun, fun!!!

Timmay

Flog Ttup Ttup

2007-07-18T16:34:00.000-06:00

10 bonus points to whoever can guess what flog ttup ttup is before I tell them. Okay, stop a second... think about it....

Okay, if you haven't guessed yet, its putt putt golf spelled backwards and its what me and "my boys" from RFKC like to call it. Well, like I said, me and "my boys" like to play putt putt golf (PPG). We discovered the PPG place at camp and we played 2 rounds of PPG while we were there. (Difficult to do considering how much time we spent swimming and painting our nails!!) But both times we played, we had a hoot just being silly and laughing at skyrocketing balls that were hit a little hard.

Sooo, the boys have been calling me wanting to get together sometime and do something. So I chatted with their parents and we arranged to go golfing. When I got them, they were both very mellow and sorta sedated. But before 4 holes of PPG had gone by, they were crazy and having a ball again. I got to thinking about it and I'm quite content to let them be a little crazy so long as they're not affecting others and/or damaging anything. What's wrong with being a little crazy?? What's wrong with getting wild once and a while?? Well, I guess that's what "my boys" like about me. Or at least that's what I like to think they like about me.

But after we were done, I tried to talk them into hitting some softballs in the batting cages. I figured that whacking a ball with a bat was very manly thing to do and they'd be all over it. But I was surprised, neither one wanted anything to do with whacking little white balls. Instead, they were tons more interested in going to Dairy Queen or getting Frosty's at Wendy's. Now let me tell ya, at camp there was only one time that my boys got a semi-good dosage of sugar. And boy, oh boy did I ever notice it!! C in particular got super whacky and goofy. I loved it. But knowing this, I made the boys call their folks and double verify it was okay to load them with sugar before I dropped them off at home. Both parents assured me it was okay, so off we went to Wendy's for some Frosties.

We had a good time at Wendy's. We talked about Harry Potter and the Search for the Holy Grail (or something of the sorts) and it was fun. Anywho, I need some ideas for something to do with the boys next time. Any ideas???? Drop me a comment and give me some ideas of things to do with "my boys" next time... I'll be sure to give you credit in my highly read blog if I use your idea.

Thanks,

Timmay!!

Fun in Salida!!!

2007-07-17T12:18:00.000-06:00

Over last weekend, Dave Bednarski, Kirby Neely, Pat Neely and myself headed out for 2 days of total sweetness! We went dirt biking near Salida, specifically around the Monarch Crest area. In my opinion, there's absolutely nothing more enjoyable one can do than dirt biking. (Well maybe there's one, but we're not going to talk about that...)

We arrived at the start of Greens Trail at 5:15pm on Friday evening. From there we suited up and then hit it. We rode Greens trail to Aggot Creek, down to Sargents for gas, then up Marshall Pass to Monarch Crest trail, and then back down Greens trail to where we were camping. By the time we got back to Greens trail to head back to camp, it was 11:45pm and we haven't had anything to eat except ClifBars and water. And here's the kicker, Greens trail is the toughest trail in the area. Sooo, being very tired and hungry, I decide to just ride the trail at a decent clip so as to get it over as quickly as possible and to get back to camp and help Dave start on the steaks. Well, being exhausted and trying to push it a bit, I crashed pretty good with no one around to help me. (see pic) Dave was up ahead of me, Pat & Kirby were taking it super slow in the dark and I was stuck, with my bike partly down a steep incline and no hope of getting it out by myself. So eventually Pat & Kirby rescued me and we all ended up getting back to camp at 12:30am.

So the next day was even more fun. Again, we did Greens trail, down to Aggot, but then we hit Canyon Creek Trail which has to be my personal all time favorite trail. This trail has the perfect mixture of turns, jumps, no rocks, and short blasts of full throttle to make it the best all-around trail that I've found. Below are some pictures from Canyon Creek trail.

So then it was finally time to head back to the truck and head home. Not all of us are street legal, thus, we went over Old Monarch Pass which is a dirt road. When we got on the dirt road, we immediately all turned it on. We raced from corner to corner (semi-being careful looking for traffic coming the other way). It was so stinkin' fun!! Heading into a corner, we'd all be hard on the brakes, with the rear of the bike hanging out due to the rear tire locking up. As we're braking, we're dropping 1 or 2 gears getting ready for the blast out. Then, when we could tell no cars were coming, we'd all jump on the throttle and power slide out of the corner as fast as we could, just to do it all over again at the next corner.

So now I have a good taste of what it must be like to do the Pikes Peak Hill Climb on a dirt bike. All I have to say is those are some lucky guys. Its way too much fun.

Until my next dirt bike adventure...
Hasta,

Timmay

Back From Camp!!!

2007-07-06T19:53:00.000-06:00

Well, we're officially back from camp. What an awesome experience. I was paired with 2 of the oldest boys in the camp whom I'll refer to as C and R. What's neat is God's always in the details.

First, God paired me up with C. My most vivid memory from my first year at camp was with C. C came in last year with his armor on full blast and he was way "too mature" and "too grown-up" to do a lot of the fun activities we did last year. I had the hardest time getting him to work on his balsa wood car last year. Then by the end of the week, he was having more fun than just about any kid there. So that was my most precious RFKC memory from last year. RFKC took a kid who was forced to be emotionally way more mature than he should be (due to abuse, neglect, etc.) and made him a kid again who sang songs and prayed to God. Well, wouldn't you know it. He was mine for this week!!!

During the week, C, R & I had a ton of fun playing in the pool, going down the zip-line, building planes & stools, blowing bubbles, painting toe nails (yes, somehow this was popular amongst the boys this year) and doing all sorts of fun things. But then on Thursday, during pool time, I accidentally kicked R in the nose while trying to kick a ball out the way that me and 3 other boys were trying to get. So we decided cut the swimming early and head back to the cabin. On the way back, the 2 boys started sharing to each other about their pasts and let me listen in. Then before I knew it, they were telling me just about everything. When they each shared the story of what incident finally got them in the DHS system, my heart just broke and then broke some more. The things C & R had been through was more than I would've ever imagined. I cried and prayed while they talked. I asked God to give me their pain & sorrow and relieve theirs. At that moment, I wondered if this pain and sorrow and love was the same Jesus had for you and I.

So then every night just before bedtime, I would get C & R's Bibles out along with their Bible Study books and C would sit on my left, R on my right and we'd do our Bible Study. Then we each prayed, C leading, me in the middle, and R closing. It was those 30 minutes of every day that I treasured the most. I can't tell you exactly why, but those were the special times with my boys.

All that were involved with RFKC this year vowed to be there next year. And C, who turns 13 in 2 months told me that in 3 years time, he'll be 16 and will be at camp. Helping out as a Rover.

So now its back to normal. I need to figure out what I'm doing job wise and how I'll support the family. But it was an absolutely unforgettable experience being able to serve God by hanging out with "my boys" (better known as "Senors del Cool Guys") for a week. Getting out my comfort zone and serving for a week especially in this setting was extremely fulfilling and reminded me what I should be doing with my life. If you get a chance, I encourage you to do the same.

Off to camp

2007-06-30T22:44:00.000-06:00

Well, the time is here. God's arranged it and its come. Its time to head off to Royal Family Kids Camp. What's that you say? Well, its a camp for Foster kids ages 6-12 who are in the DHS system. They say if a kid's in DHS, then their parents messed up pretty big. I guess it takes a lot to get in the system. Anywho, the majority of these kids have been neglected, a lot have suffered physical abuse and then a very small handful of very unfortunate have been sexually abused.

Last year Sarah, Elise and I played the part of Aunt and Uncle (and cousin I guess) and although we didn't have kids of our all week, we got to interact with all the kids at camp. It was very interesting to see the first 2 days, kids would have their guards up and have some very frustrating behaviors. And then by Thursday and Friday, there would be no way you could tell them apart from any other kid you'd see at a park or playground having fun. I think outside of telling them about Jesus, there is no better gift we can give these kids. To let them be kids again....

So pray for us this week. Pray that we would have wisdom in how to deal with problem times and that we would be able accurately show the love of Jesus just as Jesus would. Pray that Satan would be bound away from the camp and also pray that we would have the energy to keep up with them and that we'd have a ton of fun.

This year, I have two kids of my own and someone else is playing the part of Aunt and Uncle. I'm quite excited. What does God have in store??? We'll see. The stories after all was said and done from last year would touch your heart and make you cry when you heard them. Hopefully, God's impact on the kids this year will just as big and perhaps even bigger!!!

Till next week,

Timmay!!!

First Blog Ever!!

2007-06-26T00:02:00.000-06:00

Well, here's my first blog entry. Many, many times I've wanted to blog my thoughts, experiences, and each time, I think I should do it, but never do. So here it goes. I think I'll have 2 sets of blog entries. The serious entries will usually deal with something with regards to my relationship with Jesus and what things I'm learning, experiencing, and doing. Then the easier entries will have updates on mi vida. So read if you like, but I think for the most part, it'll be a good place to store my thoughts.