My Blog Has Moved

I have moved my blog, forever. I will no longer be updating my blog here. Please join me at my new blog address: www.stevenmorris.me

Eventually I will have a website up and running to. The address for the website will be: www.stevenmorris.ws

Out Breed Them!

Happy 27th Annie!

Annie - Trick Candles (tall), originally uploaded by Aftershock76.

While shopping for Annie's birthday present I came across some trick candles. Mrs. Reay was more than happy to add them to her other regular candles...


As you can see by Annie's reaction, she really got a kick out of the trick candles.

Adult Daughters...

... this has been a hot topic for me lately. I've been really challenged in trying to determine what I think on this topic, how I will want to raise my family, how this applies to me, and where in scripture I can find guidance on this topic.

I am still searching, researching, and questing after information with regards to the topic of Adult Daughters. I do believe that this is just part of a larger topic of Male & Female biblical roles, and that gaining a better biblical understanding of these roles will help me to raise up my future children with a biblical worldview.

In my research I came across this article: Protecting Our Daughters.

While there isn't a whole lot of scriptural references there, I really liked their attitude and what they had to say. I think they do a better job of explaining their position than I have been able to so far. This quote was especially important to me:

For the record, how we raise our daughters is a personal choice. Yes, we believe keeping daughters home and protected until marriage is a “better” choice, but we realize not everyone will agree. And even those who do, may not agree with what that looks like exactly. At the same time, we do NOT believe that families who choose to send their daughters to college are in sin. They very well may be – just as some who keep their daughters home may be in sin. Only God knows our motives.

But according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” (1 John 3:4)

There is no law that says “Thou shalt not send your daughter to college.” I'm sure I would have remembered that! LOL For us, it’s kind of like homeschooling. We do not believe that it’s inherently sinful to send your child to public school. However, since we are given the responsibility to train up our children in the ways of God night and day (Deut. 6:7-9), we feel like the best (if not the only) way to ensure that this is done (especially these days) is to teach them at home.

We are certainly willing to defend our case for why we believe what we believe, but that does not mean we are condemning anyone who believes differently on areas that are not sin.

What are you thoughts on this subject? Do you have any good references? What have you found in scripture that supports your position? I am eager to hear all sides of this discussion. If you've spoken with me on this subject lately, it may seem that my mind is made up. However, that is not the case; I am open to any position that can be supported from scripture, and I really want to hear it.

My Favorite Appetizer

Ramaki is an all time favorite Morris appetizer. We always make it with Bacon wrapped around Chicken liver & Water Chestnuts with Soy sauce sprinkled over it. Hold it all together with a toothpick and the stick it in the broiler, flipping it once to make sure the bacon gets crispy on both sides.

Leaving out the liver would change the flavor drastically. I did see other recipes online that use various other ingredients (Chicken Breast, Pineapple, Steak, etc)... but I honestly think the Liver adds a certain texture and taste that I like. I don't normally eat liver... but prepared this way it is delish! Besides, Liver is a great source of Vitamin A.

As an added bonus, this appetizer is a great low-carb appetizer! Some recipes I have seen include other ingredients such as Brown Sugar. While Brown Sugar may add a favorable flavor, unfortunately adding sugar would also make this great low carb snack have excessively high carbs, thereby defeating the purpose of it in the first place!

Also - The dip is necessary - Chinese Hot Mustard & Ketchup.

Voddie Baucham on Home Education & In-Laws

Voddie wrote a thought provoking post yesterday and I thought I'd share it.

New Star Trek

If you didn't know... I'm a geek. Generally speaking, it's a requirement of all geeks to like Star Trek. The newest Star Trek looks really good!

Friday Night Bible Study

With Will's upcoming Ordination exam he has decided to take a break from teaching the Friday Night "College & Career" Bible study. Matthew, from Hillcrest, is doing a series over the next few weeks. I enjoyed what he had to say this last week and I am really looking forward to the next few weeks.

I also thought I'd share with you the song we sang at Bible study this last week.




I hope you enjoy it!

Kitchen Remodel: Drywall begins going up...

Last Saturday Annie, Daniel, Dad & I worked on the Kitchen Remodel all day and made some good progress. The previous week Melinda, Dad & I put up 4 sheets of drywall. This last week the four of us (Annie, Dan, Dad & I) put up the remaining 6 sheets of drywall dad had bought. Time to go get more... hopefully the weather cooperates this week and it stops raining long enough to get to the store and back with the drywall.

Here are some before & after pictures:

BEFORE



AFTER




You can see the new drywall on all sides. There was even some ceiling patching as you can see. There was additional drywall put up on the other side of the beam and ceiling, which you cannot see.


The new drywall that went up this week from this view is everything to the left, and the other side of the wall that the telephone is sitting on, in addition to the corner next to the phone. However, the far back wall behind the fan (dark) and the section with the phone was put up the previous week by Melinda, Dad & I.

Oregon requires Spanish for jobs...

Check out The Denver Channel for the full story, or watch the video below.

Hillcrest Chapel Website - Events Calendar is up!

I have been working away on the Hillcrest Chapel website and have made some good progress today. I've got the blog module working for Pastor Gary's monthly newsletter, the events calendar has been placed and events have been added, forums have been added, and the home page has been spruced up a little bit (more work to do on the home page still).

Check out the site at: http://hillcrestchapel.org/site

To view the forums you must create an account and login. To log in your account must be activated... and since it is nearly 5AM.. I won't be awake to activate any accounts until 11AM at the earliest... ;)

Hillcrest Chapel Website

The website is back up and running.

http://www.hillcrestchapel.org

Sorry for the down time folks. The new site is a work in progress still (www.hillcrestchapel.org/site). You can watch it get developed or even register an account if you'd like. If you have suggestions, pictures, content, etc then go ahead and email the webmaster at webmaster@hillcrestchapel.org.

I'm the webmaster ;)


Update:

Please register at the new hillcrest site... especially if you're wanting to be a contributor (i.e. Will, you're wanting to be able to edit the calendar right? It's been added... so you can start using it now.)

Again, the new site is located at: www.hillcrestchapel.org/site

Valentine 2009 - A day at the beach

Dan (my brother) and I decided to take our girls to the coast for Valentine's Day. We started the day with a necessary stop at a local caffeine outlet (Dutch Bros & Starbucks). Once everyone was caffeinated...

... we headed towards the coast. Our first stop was for breakfast at Spirit Mountain Casino. The breakfast buffet there is fabulous and I highly recommend it if you find yourself hungry on your way to the coast.
Dan was a bit tired after having gotten off work at 2:30 in the morning... but he pulled through. He's a trooper!

Annie & I enjoyed our drive out to the coast in the Mustang. We enjoyed our conversation and time together. As we got close to Lincoln City the weather got pretty bad. In fact, the clouds were super dark, it was incredibly cold outside, and it was pouring down rain & slush! My windshield was covered in slush. However, as we passed the golf course outside Lincoln City, we got a laugh out of all the golfers who were seeking cover in the golf carts. There must have been 5-7 golf carts spread over the course with people huddling in them seeking cover from the nasty downpour. Fortunately for us, the nasty weather wasn't over Lincoln City itself. There was blue sky above the city.. and clouds on every horizon.

Once we got to the coast itself the weather was perfect for kite flying... which is what Dan and I had hoped to do. So, we headed over to the kite shop across the street, bought Annie & I a cheap stunt kite. Dan grabbed his out of the car, and we all headed to the beach to do some flying.
























And what fun that was! We ended up staying at the coast until around 3PM flying kites. Dan had a malfunction once when our kites crossed paths and he had to head over to the store to get some more string. But he was soon back up and running. Both our kites performed quite well.

Unfortunately the girls hands' kept getting cold. I'm thinking that next time gloves, hats, scarf, and a windbreaker would be a good idea so that they could enjoy the kite flying without being chilled by the wind. And... for Dan, some stronger string. We ended up having some "accidental" kite wars at the end and my kite ended up slicing thru both his kite strings. Oops! ;)


Next up - lunch. We left the lunch location decision up to the ladies, and Cassie suggested Pier 101. The food was good, if a bit expensive ($14 for fish & chips).

Dan and Cassie decided to blow some cash on the one poker machine they had stashed away in a dark closet... they won $3 (which was then promptly lost again).




Next up.. we gave our women some cash and then headed to the Lincoln City Outlet malls. Needless to say, they were happy! Unfortunately Dan & Cassie had to leave soon after getting there... it was getting close to 5:30, and they had to be back home by 6:30 to pick up the kids from Grandma's house.

Annie and I decided to stay and cruised the rest of the outlets there. We saw some pretty cool stores, got some neat books, and she got a sweater. We did however skip the Coach store.. I am told that they charge you for the air you breathe in there.

We ended the night by heading over to Dan & Cassie's to have Mac & Cheese and watch a movie. Overall, it was a great day spent with my best friend, brother and his wife. I hope your Valentines day was just as good, if not better! By all means, leave a comment and let us know!

P.S. Thanks for the comment mom! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your evening with Dad. And.. for what it's worth... we managed to avoid getting sand in the camera. ;)

Happy Valentines Day!

What are you doing? I am going to take my girl out with my bro and his wife for a day at the....

It's a surprise! More details later!

Please, leave a comment and tell me what YOU did today!

Portland Auto Show 2009

Annie & I went to the Portland Auto Show last weekend. We had a good time and saw a lot of really cool cars. My fav was prob the Green Lamborghini. :)

Annie Stylin' in a Vette

Wishing these were in my garage

Hillcrest Chapel Website (Update)

I've been working on the Hillcrest Chapel Web Site this week. I am hoping to have something up and running by Friday. So keep a look out here for potential changes: http://www.hillcrestchapel.org


Also - If you have any pictures, information, ideas, suggestions, questions, comments, help, graphics, or anything else you would like to contribute to the website, then please email me!

Update
It appears that it could take up to 7 days to get the transfer completed. So... I'll make a post here when it's changed over so every knows when the new website is up and running.

Another Dead Hard Drive...

.... this time one of my two 10,000 RPM 74gb Western Digital Raptors died... I've lost some recent emails, cover letters, web development stuff, and other misc files...

... and my Office Install... and OS install...

the disk was one of 2 disks in a Raid Level 0 for my primary boot disk.


Who knows when I'll be back online - for now... i'll be reinstalling my OS just as soon as I find the time to replace the HD.

Do you know a computer guy/gal?

If you do... then I want to meet him/her. As you know, I'm looking for work. If you know someone in the computer industry, then I'd like to speak/email with them. Send them my email address, or send me theirs... or a phone number... or lets all get together for lunch/dinner sometime.

 

I've also done some research into local software/web development  companies in the Portland area. Perhaps you know someone at one of these companies? Know someone from one of these business? Or perhaps you have a friend/colleague/acquaintance who knows someone who works there? If you know someone at one of these companies then let's get together! If not one of these, then perhaps a similar business.

 

 

OakTree Digital 

Website: http://www.oaktree.com/OakTree-Digital.aspx

John Schmitt, President
John founded OakTree in 1992 as a digital publishing company morphing into an internet development agency in 1995. Our service-first orientation starts with John.  He's looking forward to getting back on the tennis court after a flair up of "tennis elbow". 

Jeremy Davey, Director of Engineering
Jeremy joined OakTree in 2005 and rapidly became the point man for our engineering team due to his expertise and excellent communication skills. When he’s not geeking out, Jeremy can be found running, hiking, glass blowing, and enjoying contemporary art.

Dan Eckis, Sr. Project Manager
Dan is one of OakTree’s multi-subject matter experts. Some days he’s busy creating project schedules, while others find him deep in implementation work on .net projects. In his spare time, he plays drums (and sometimes bass) and co-writes songs for the local band Time Farmer.

 

WebTrends

Website: http://www.webtrends.com/

Management Team: http://www.webtrends.com/AboutWebTrends/ManagementTeam.aspx

Alex Yoder Chief Executive Officer
	As chief executive officer, Alex Yoder is responsible for worldwide operations and the overall strategic vision of WebTrends.  Prior to his appointment as CEO, Yoder spent the past seven years serving in key management positions at WebTrends, with his last role being vice president of sales, North America. During his tenure at WebTrends, he has successfully worked to expand the brand and deliver business value to global enterprises.  His time at WebTrends tops off more than 20 years of global business experience spanning leadership roles across sales, marketing and operations. Yoder has also served as vice president of sales for Touch Clarity, a behavioral targeting company.  Yoder holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Whitman College.
Paul Wilde Chief Financial Officer
	Chief Financial Officer Paul Wilde is responsible for finance and accounting, human resources and IT operations at WebTrends Inc. Wilde has more than 30 years of experience as a financial and operational executive in software and technology companies. In addition, he has held line responsibilities, including customer support, hosted software services, international sales and support, implementation services, product management and software product development.  Prior to WebTrends, Wilde served as CFO of Corillian Corp., a public company offering online banking software and services. He also was COO and later CEO of Spear Technologies, CFO and VP of Asia Pacific/Latin America at Synon Corp., CFO for Viasoft Inc., and CFO and VP of international operations at Candle Corp. In addition, he was CFO for Informatics General Corp., a $225M public software company. Wilde began his career at Price Waterhouse & Co. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Brigham Young University and earned his CPA credential in California.

 

 

iSightDesign

Website: http://www.isitedesign.com/

Team: http://www.isitedesign.com/team

ISITE Design and Revels at the MITX Awards

 

Getting kicked out of bars...

JoAnna had a friend from out of town visiting and so we all thought it'd be fun to head up to Portland City Grill to check out the incredible view of downtown Portland at night.

The vew was amazing... pictures really don't do it justice (that, and we had a hard time seeing because of the glare from the lights inside.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay long... seeing as we were going for the happy hour prices in the bar... apparently we all needed to be over the age of 21. So... we decided to go find something else to eat... after all, we'd already had a chance to check out the view, which is why we went in the first place.

So... of in search of another place nearby we went...

... and ended up at a nearby Thai restaurant. Where the food was great... if a bit hot for some. 

Happy New Year

Here's to a goofy, great and fun 2009!