Cuba Gooding Jr.

I’m not sure how people are going to take what I am about to say; but in my opinion, Cuba Gooding Jr. does some of his best work in the movie, “Jerry McGuire” (while a bit coarse). Whether from a comedic or serious point of view, his character of “Rod Tidwell” dramatizes his ability to become whatever a movie needs to be great. The acting I loved the most in the movie was performed by him and Renée Zellweger. This is not to take away from the performance that Bonnie Hunt (a classic actress), or Jonathan Lipnicki (as child) delivered. I just personally feel that Cuba Gooding Jr. takes the audience on that bipolar rollercoaster of believable excitement which carries the movie through its scene.

Why am I gaining weight when I exercise?

When a specific volume of fat is weighed against the same volume of muscle, the fat weighs less. This is because the fat has less density than the muscle. For this reason, if we exercise it is feasible to gain weight (due to building muscle), before losing it (by losing more weight in fat).

This shows the importance of a healthy diet (as in, a life of routinely eating right; not a quote, unquote Diet program), and cardiovascular exercise. Cardio exercise focuses on raising the heart rate, which in turn burns fat. This mixed with muscle building exercise can grow calorie burning-muscles that also assist in burning fat.

Yes; this is a balance that I have been struggling with since my heart-attack in June. It is hard for me to keep a healthy diet when having constant gastritis and taking 11 pills every day; five of which are for the chest and stomach pain caused by my inflamed esophagus.

However, maintaining a good balance of exercise, Body Mass Index (BMI), muscle mass, and diet is important for everyone. I have found that joining a Gym and being diligent with scheduling time to go during each week helps. So, when you find yourself gaining a little weight at the beginning of your workout, don’t get discouraged. Press-on and you will begin to see the scale easing its way back down.

Remember, I am not a professional dietitian; so always consult a physician before making changes to your diet and exercise routines.

I've got the piece of paper

You might be wondering why I have been spending more time on my website. It’s because school is out (at least for me). Believe it or not! I graduated from the University of Phoenix with a 3.28 GPA (that’s a “B” average). Now I have a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (a - BSIT). It may have taken me until the ripe old age of 45, but it still feels good.

One Nation under God: Unity in Christ

When I think of the saying, “One Nation under God”, I think of something even more important than the Pledge of Allegiance; rather, the Kingdom of Heaven. In Revelation chapter 21 through 22, the Bible speaks of a new Heaven and a new earth where all nations will come together in unity as the Bride of the Lamb: “…those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life…God’s holy people.” This weighed with Galatians 3:28 (for we are all one in Christ Jesus) and Colossians 3:11 (where everyone is equal in importance when in Christ), it is clear that racial differences are absolutely meaningless. In fact, every form of racism is considered non-Christian. When in Christ, we are new creatures belonging to a new nation and unified under our one true God. More astounding, we are called to love all other believers as the family of Christ, and in so doing, we are witnesses before the world testifying of our authenticity as Christians (a new Nation).

“A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples: if you have love one for another.” - John 13:34-35 KJV

Allow “where we are going” to define who we are (citizens of Heaven); not “where we have been.”

God so loved the World

I had the opportunity to hear Shane Claiborne speak at Bethel Fellowship today; and while I probably wouldn’t hold to all his views, I thought he was a very provocative speaker for Christ. From his message, the most profound image I walked away with was that God loves the world. What I mean is; there are no exceptions to the statement of John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” - John 3:16

Why did God omit the portion of that statement that would be in agreement with our human nature, “except for the bad people” or “except for all evildoers?” It is so easy for us to say, “God loves the world except for… people like”:

Adolf Hitler
Osama bin laden
Muslims
The Unsaved
Abortionists
Homo sexuals
Divorced individuals
People in other churches
Druggies and Alcoholics
People who surf the Internet for porn
People who hate their neighbors
Anyone who has ever stolen
Anyone who has ever lied
A brawler
An argumentative person
A Sinner

Rather, what I find in scripture is:

(1) Christ is a friend of Sinners (meaning brining salvation to all) - Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34

(2) “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we (no exceptions) were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Including you & me)” - Romans 5:8

I know that the point is; all of us deserve condemnation, but God loves us all enough to give us the Lamb (Jesus) as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

(3)Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God.- 1 John 3:4

(4) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:23-3:26

(5) For the wages of sin (all and every sin) is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23

The more amazing thing to see here is that salvation through Jesus is offered to everyone, including you and me. No matter who we are, if we turn to God for forgivness we will not be refused. “…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” No one is beyond salvation, being saved, or being pleasing before our God. God loves us! God loves you!!!

I survived my first heart attack!

It happened Sunday, June 22nd, and I believe it to be genetic rather than lifestyle in my case. My mother’s uncle, my mother's brother, my father, and younger brother all had heart attacks in their 40s. I am 45.

Stop unwanted folders from popping up when you boot up

Here is a tool I found useful and note worthy yesterday. It’s a small Startup.exe Program/Shell applet created by “Mike Lin at http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml” that fixes “boot/Start-up” issues.

At work we imaged an operating system to speed up laptop rollouts. While most of the images proved successful, about ten of them had an ATI folder open up at startup. Even if we unchecked the application in the “System Configuration Utility” (msconfig.exe) / “Startup” tab; the folder would continue to appear. After installing and running this tool on one of the “C” drives; I unchecked the reference to ATI and the folder miraculously went away. I’m thinking about rolling it out on the other machines as well.

If you find it useful, please support its creator. If you don’t, I am only sharing that it worked for me.

When “Windows Update” fails to install on Win XP Service Pack 2 machines

Most of the PCs I work on are Win XP Service Pack 2 machines. Just the other day I happened to have two laptops that would not install the Window’s updates after downloading them. When (Google) searching for a solution, I came across a link that solved the problem on both machines. Apparently, all I had to do was re-register the dll files associated with the Windows update process. Here are the files, text, and the links.

This may help fix a corrupt installer:

1. Click on Start and Run,
2. Type "REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL" (without quotation marks) and press
Enter.
3. Should get the message "DllRegisterServer in WUAPI.DLL succeeded"
Click OK.
4. Repeat above for each of the following:
REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
5. Reboot
Now try to install your updates.

Above information barrowed from:
http://forums.vnunet.com/message.jspa?messageID=870658
And:
http://sp2updatefix.notlong.com

A matter of a child’s heart

The other day, as we sat down to dinner my seven year old (soon to be eight in a month) desired to pray. It went something like this:

“Dear Jesus; thank you for this day and thank you for our family. I pray my daddy doesn’t have another heart-attack, I pray my Mom doesn’t have a heart-attack. I pray that Samara and I don’t have any heart-attacks. And I pray that I die first, before my Dad, because I would miss him too much.”

I had to share. I am blessed above many other men, for I am loved with such love as this child’s heart.