I used to drop $$$ at Starbucks for a consistently brewed doppio or Quad Grande Non Fat Latte. After a while, I put away childish things!

I put a cheap espresso maker on my family Holiday wish list and was gifted an older model of the Mr. Coffee machine you see on the left. Being a barista beast has taken some time and research, but I have arrived. I prefer no latte (3 shots of espresso (Starbucks’ Sumatra) + 1 shot of frothed cream) better than my own!

The savor of success and savings! Joy. Be your own Barista peeps! It pays off

A close friend of mine is wrestling with the compounding nature of a relationship during already hectic times in life. He posed the common inquiry, “When is enough ENOUGH?“  I didn’t respond to him. During my last relationship I was unable to determine when it was time to move on and call it quits. I allowed an increasingly unhealthy and mutually abusing situation to develop.

Now the key is to learn from those mistakes. Honestly, I haven’t given it much consideration. I am more elated to be HAPPY with life, even in it’s uncertainties. Through a series of unrelated YouTube clicks, I stumbled upon Kelly Clarkson’s, My Life Would Suck Without You. That song was my mindset… I was truly convinced on a deeper level of emotional and spiritual concern that my life would suck.

Wonderfully, the converse is true. My life doesn’t suck without you.

As per my friend. These are a few off the cuff – IMO – notes. Enough is enough when:

• Long term potential no longer exists and short term purpose is exhausted.
• The relationship is irrecoverably unhealthy.
• You have given the relationship undue priority in your life.
• You are not married and yet you are committed out of obligation.
• You’re not ready to count sacrifice as an investment because you are not certain of your desires for the future.
• Your partner is not supportive and understanding of your dreams and the pursuit there of.

Maybe I can reply to my friend now

His grandfather wouldn’t have had him kicked out of the youth choir for rocking in the wrong direction The bird can sing too

On Saturdays I will be blogging on thefreshfaith.com Check it out and subscribe! It’s run by a from the DMV that loves God, fashion, technology, music, etc.. I’ll be blogging about technology/theology stuff – so look out for my posts and be sure to start budgeting because the products that they feature are toooooooo HAWT. Too many must haves, not enough money!

PixelPew Logo?

God is funny. God is real and I know Him through Jesus (my tangential personal statement of faith). God is funny. Ha!

So… life took a MAJOR curve last week (more details about that to come but I haven’t shared anything with the family yet and mom is getting good with Google) and NOW i HAVE to prioritize and reconfigure my short term plans. I am not worried. Just shaken from my comfort zone.

One of the pieces in this puzzle that has emerged with a vengeance is erecting the infrastructure for my freelance initiatives (www.PixelPew.com). From May 12-17, I will be attending a conference to which I am amenable and at which I have promised pastors to be in position to sign up their churches for the new millennium! At this point they would only be about 9 years late and gosh, that’s great for a 213 year old denomination standing on the vestiges of a 2000+ year old institution.

Admittedly, my gifts set me up BIG TIME. My God given ability to powerfully articulate Kingdom purposed agendas had them HOOKED on the POWER of web technologies and social networking in extending their evangelistic reach, bridging generations and building community. However, my design set up, is not — set up! I had a great portfolio site live but the portfolio pieces no longer reflect my current design aesthetic or development growth. Argh!

Never mind the site, I need a new price list, invoice format, information architecture layout, project management approach/template…! I need to figure out these 1099 forms and whether that’s the route to take. I need to start keeping and organizing receipts for tax purposes! I need to have information readily available about the overall process and the functionality available. I need to walk newbies through the basics of what any church site should include! And I need all of this in 1.5 weeks. Not to mention that I am working on abijillion projects big and SMALL as we speak!

May 12, 2009 Goals

• Launch www.pixelpew.com (design, develop) with at least 3 new websites in the portfolio & new client sign up forms.
• Price List
• Design/print brochure (overview, price ranges) w/ oversized postcard (sign up form) insert (for those old heads who will need to start the process via snail mail!).

May 20, 2009 Goals

• Accounting
• Project Management

Whew! Cue Water Boy Character –> YOU CAN DO IT!

Over the past year it has become clear that it ALL fits. The degree, the passions, the skill sets… they were purposed for relevant ministry. Sometimes it slaps me in the face.

I will definitely be getting into video sermons next year… I’ve known they were a great asset to communicating the Gospel but I figured I would be positioned to bring together production crews, utilize my basic cinematography/editing skills and to facilitate the marketing of the final product… because of course this would be something Pastors should do to leverage the outreach of the Word God gives them.

Hot dawg… I’m not called to preach for naught.
Crazy stuff. hawt

This sums up my weekend, if not my life.

By ASBO Jesus

A short follow up to my previous post, “All buses from DC to NY are NOT created Equal.” Having experienced both the worst and the best this past weekend. If you’re looking to make the quick trip between NY and DC, stick with:

• Vamoose
• Megabus
• Bolt Bus

The Megabus was a clean, new, double-decker with facing seats and tables in some areas. No overhead racks, so I had both of my small bags at my feet. Even with the delay, the bus driver swap at a NJ Turnpike exit and the challenges of being detoured through DC with a double-decker, the experience was NORMAL and comfortable.

Even if they advertise air conditioning, toilets on board and wireless Internet; You might very well board with your non refundable $18.25 ticket on a bus without any of the above that has a 20 minute rest stop — from which they will leave you.

A demonstration will occur where the information man opens and closes the emergency exit to suggest varying levels of available ventilation. As we proceed it becomes increasingly clear that this bus is a carpeted hoopty outfitted with throwback Greyhound seats. Sigh.

Sneeze. Wet and nasty, snorts the wonderfully loud Asian man to my left. Both of his phones ring constantly, he answers every call.

At least I got the window seat! I would lean to my right if I didn’t think the pane would trick open to become another emergency exit. The overhead luggage rack couldn’t fit the play pan from an Easy Bake oven. Bags at my feet, fearing some child spills their Hi C.

I am 5′ tall, yet my foot rest is stuck upright and sits my knees at a 90 degree angle.

Exhale… Inhaling would overwhelm me with cheap fragrance. Something is making me itch. Gross. Way to pick the crappy bus with the accommodating schedule.

It is experiences like these that lead me to take the train or fly the distance of a 4.5 hour drive. I am striving not to be frivolous. It is a test of stewardship.

Bourgeoisie Card… I hate to pull it. I fear I must.

twitter.com/vajaah

Throughout my life, I have too often allowed my relationship with God to be confounded by the institution of church. It is never a good look. The church (the people. the work. the structure.) was my first love. I knew its love before I understood the impact of Jesus’ story and when it broke my heart… I distanced myself from God. <– Bad Business. {{ Cue my latestest tweet. }}

Perry Noble, “When you fall in love with Jesus, you can overlook the flaws in the program and the process.” http://www.newspring.cc/ about 18 hours ago from Spaz

(Site no longer active.)

Now, I didn’t watch the entire service. Nor could I agree with all of its tenants (I suppose I’m not as hardcore as the NewSpring crew), but the single aforementioned statement is an amazing philosophy. It empowers all of those persons that think that Church sucks and that Christians are _________ (fill in the blank — negative connotations only, please), to look past all of those shortcomings and peer into truth, into Jesus. Obviously, this philosophy is not something that I have always known but I am grateful that it is one I have learned and will always teach. Having been raised with more denominational loyalty than religion, its an imperative point that cannot be emphasized enough, especially to our youth. And though I wish I could, I couldn’t have said it as succinct as Perry Noble.