Round the Sphere Again: How To Do and What to Do

Guidance for Grilling

Winter’s over and I’m ready to start the charcoal. How about you? Are you already grilling? If not, Serious Eats has a helpful guide to get us going.

1. How to Clean Your Grill
2. Arranging the Coals
3. How to Gauge the Heat
4. Learn to Control Flare-Ups
5. How to Use Smoke Woods

Useful for YouTube

• Let’s say—hypothetically speaking—that you post a video on YouTube that contains clips from someone else’s video, and you post their video clips because you are doing commentary on them. That comes under the category of fair use, and you shouldn’t have a problem. That doesn’t mean YouTube won’t take down your video if the owner of the video clips complains, but it does mean that you have good grounds for challenging the take down. Here’s a goofy little video that explains how to do that.

• Never again, at least on my blog, will you be forced to listen to a choir sing a beautiful hymn while irritating photos of roses and clouds and mountain streams go by, slowly, one by one. Nope, I will do this instead. (22 Words) And that’s a promise.

Astute Advice

• “In 1964, more than forty years after losing his own leg in a childhood accident, award-winning cartoonist Al Capp - creator of the wildly successful Li’l Abner strip - generously sent [this letter] to a young fan who had recently become a fellow amputee.”

• Don’t shy away from the hard texts: “God gave us brains so we could be obedient with them.  And he has spoken to us in the Bible so he might be more easily known, even when some things are hard to understand.” (Kevin DeYoung)

My Place 1

Airing the sleeping bags, May 3, 2010.

I know there are people who come here each week only to see the desktop photo, but I’ve decided to change things up anyway. Last week’s was number 100 and that’s enough for me. For a few months I’m going to post weekly photos from my place, and by that I mean something more than just my home and less than all the universe. Each week’s photo will be taken during the week it’s featured—a photo that show something unique (or maybe not) about my corner of the world.

This is the view from my porch on Monday morning. Airing on the clothesline are the son’s sleeping bags from the weekend’s spring camping trip. Yes, it was spring when they were camping, but Monday brought us a brief bit-o’-winter.

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on the basement organizing job. Sometimes I get discouraged because the home maintainance projects are all my responsibility now. Keeping up a house the size and and age that mine is can be a never-ending job and I frequently feel intimidated by the responsibility. I often pray for strength, focus, and wisdom to be the sole home upkeeper. So far, everything has worked out alright, and for that I am thankful. While I’m at it, I’m thanking God that I have the physical health and strength to tackle big jobs, and that the struggle I have with this responsibility is mostly mental and motivational, not physical.

I’m thankful, too, that I have a home.

I’m thankful for morning sunshine and a full day ahead.

On Thursdays throughout this year, I plan to post a few thoughts of thanksgiving along with Kim at the Upward Call and others. Why don’t you participate by posting your thanksgiving each week, too? It’ll be and encouragement to you and to others, I promise.