May 6, 2009

Racing with nephew Zach!

My nephew and I went out racing about a month ago on the ol' gokart track. Great fun!

posted by Dan @ 10:37 PM 2 Comments

May 2, 2009

Dan & Erin enter May

Dan&Erin

posted by Dan @ 10:18 PM 3 Comments

Jan 31, 2009

Thoughts on iPhoto '09

I enjoy all things Mac, and am somewhat of a geek when it comes to Apple. Recently Apple announced iLife '09 - which is their suite of photo, music, movie and web tools. I'm playing with iPhoto '09 this afternoon - and it's just a little creepy...

iPhoto has some new face recognition powers that (with a little coaching) can start recognizing faces as you import them. My library took all night to set up (347 minutes) - with 20,000 photos it requires some processing on the ol' Macbook. 
Now that it has processed the photos, you go through and label a couple of photos and then iPhoto will suggest faces for you that match the one you selected. 

I was fascinated to see that my sister and my wife were often confused! Yikes. Some faces were easily recognizable (my friend Mark Kulakoff with his beard for example). My brothers and I were confused at times, and then there was a similarity between Joel Strong, Matt Martin, and my brother Doug.

Some people have similar poses from photo to photo - others (like Erin and I) are very different and unique in photos which makes it hard to match.

It suddenly opens up questions about how I make friends, the power of family resemblances, symmetry, poses, and how a unique face (or hair style) can be more memorable. 

With this new version of iPhoto, you can also label the global location, and add keywords. Along with the date stamp, faces, and events, I can see in 20 years down the road - someone could login to my facebook account or my iPhoto library and with two clicks complete a very accurate life journey of where I've traveled, who've I've met, what I listened to, and (if you really want to take it far) could piece together purchases with a debit card... and wow - you could get an incredible picture of a person's life with this info. Not that I'm into conspiracies or anything - but power corrupts, and things fall apart. 

Now I'll naively go back to labeling my photos.

posted by Dan @ 10:46 AM 1 Comments

Jan 3, 2009

10 Lahash highlights of 2008

I just completed a video about 10 highlights from 2008 of our work with Lahash in East Africa. Thanks to all of you for playing a role in our journey and impacting the vulnerable brothers and sisters.

posted by Dan @ 2:30 PM 0 Comments

Dec 14, 2008

Snow comes to Portland



We've had some beautiful unexpected snow fall here in Portland today! We took a break from hot chocolate to make a snowman with the buildup on the lawn.

Hattan and our Saudi Snowman
And with Hattan's help we even made a SnowSaudi!
Snow outside our window!

Dan, the Snowclown, Hattan, Yamalet, and Yolis

posted by Dan @ 10:11 PM 2 Comments

Dec 4, 2008

It's so easy...

It's so easy to go through a day without listening to a great new song
It's so easy to forget to be creative in my love and appreciation of Erin
It's so easy to march on without pausing to connect with God in prayer
It's so easy to stay indoors rather than walking through a park and appreciating leaves
It's so easy to choose food that is filled with MSG, Corn Syrup, and pesticides
It's so easy to go through a week without doodling
It's so easy to be dishonest about doubts, sin, and depression
It's so easy choose stuff and status over people
It's so easy not to forgive

posted by Dan @ 10:26 AM 1 Comments

Nov 23, 2008

Wandering in the wilderness

Erin and I got back in town today after a week away from email, phones, news, and responsibilities. We enjoyed time together in rural Washington. I usually recharge away from people and close to the natural created sanctuaries of this planet - so I'm back refreshed.
Rumi on the plains

We got a chance to catch up on some reading - and we just burned through those pages. I have two high recommendations for people. One is a book called "Love Busters". Cheesy title - but great concepts for married people. I don't think Erin and I even knew of all of the lurking landmines in our relationship. Criticism, annoying habits, finances, anger, and selfish demands are all dealt with in detail. One fascinating recommendation by the author is to fix annoying habits that bug your spouse. I think I held this as a privilege of being an individual before I read this book. Now Erin and I are working through those tough old habits.

A short reading list

A second must read is Tribes - by Seth Godin. For anyone interested in our current culture and where we are headed (re: post-post-modern) - this is the book to read. It's an intersection of technology, leadership, and psychology. Companies, religions, and organizations are no longer led from the top. They are led by passionate people willing to sacrifice and communicate and be a heretic and lead. I listened to the audiobook from iTunes (super cheap download). Great stuff.

posted by Dan @ 12:24 AM 3 Comments