the wandering lumberjack

How I'm organizing my life this spring

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:05:57 -0600

This summer I began using Action Method paper products from Behance to organize my life. I have used the Action Cahiers and Action Pads with great success. Writing things down really helps me to stay on top of various tasks and the clean design of Action Method paper products helps un-clutter my life. For those wanting more a digital feel, they also offer a great App for Web/iOS/Android that allows you to collaborate with multiple people and sync across all devices.

While my Action Cahier rides in my back pocket - there is a sharpie pen riding in my breast pocket. These pens don’t bleed through and I find them very easy to write with - a great companion to the Cahier.

Helping to organize all the many cords and electronics that exist in my life is the Cocoon Grid-it. This great device allows you weave everything into its rubber webbing and organize your pack or briefcase.

If you haven’t done so recently, organize your life by going through your e-mail and unsubscribing from superfluous e-mail subscriptions. Fifteen minutes spent getting rid of excess subscriptions will keep you from looking at your phone every time another e-mail comes in and will help you unclutter your inbox.

To further increase your e-mail productivity use Tout App. Tout App allow you to create basic e-mail templates that you find yourself sending over and over. For example: I created a template for sending out my resume because I found myself doing that a number of times while trying to find internships. As a cool add-on Tout has created a program to give you a full review of all the e-mail you’ve processed in the past year. It spits out a clean report with slick infographics which allow you see how you e-mail. Check it out here.

If you’re looking for a great piece of gear that also supports a great cause buy a flashlight...

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:05:05 -0600

If you’re looking for a great piece of gear that also supports a great cause buy a flashlight from http://www.bogolight.com/

Erin and I decided to take a little hike up behind the Refuge...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:37:56 -0600

Erin and I decided to take a little hike up behind the Refuge houses to get some photo and video for our various productions. The weather was perfect and I think the pictures/video turned out pretty great.

Trying to remember how to format HDD using a DOS Promt.

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:50:55 -0600

Trying to remember how to format HDD using a DOS Promt.

Breakfast burrito - $4

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:57:49 -0600

Breakfast burrito - $4

Up to catch a bus to Copa for some R&R. Gonna be a long day.

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:44:40 -0600

Up to catch a bus to Copa for some R&R. Gonna be a long day.

A day at the school in San Marcos. We finished our...

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:55:00 -0600

A day at the school in San Marcos. We finished our organizational work and decided to play with some kids for awhile. :)

No power in San Marcos. Headed to Choluteca.

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:38:08 -0600

No power in San Marcos. Headed to Choluteca.

Best photo from today.

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:04:38 -0600

Best photo from today.

Mobile video production studio

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:08:30 -0600

Mobile video production studio

First Colony mixing concrete.

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:35:04 -0600

First Colony mixing concrete.

Book List to Date

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:10:40 -0600

Read & Reccomend-

Today We Are Rich - Tim Sanders (www.twar.com)

The Servant - James C. Hunter

The Wal-Mart Way - Don Soderquist

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

Good to Great - Jim Collins

Point Man - Steven Farrar

The Big Short - Michael Lewis

The Principle of the Path - Andy Stanley

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

Read and Don’t Recommend-

Discovering the Soul of Service - Leonard L. Barry (Needs to be updated as many of the “great service companies” he highlights have since gone under for poor service. Plus I feel like Good to Great is a more scientific and better written book)

Currently Reading-

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There - Marshall Goldsmith

Radical - David Platt

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

On my Short list-

Crush it! - Gary Vaynerchuk

Common Sense - Thomas Paine

Radical Together - David Platt

Seth buying some baleadas for us in Choluteca.

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:38:33 -0600

Seth buying some baleadas for us in Choluteca.

Dear American christians

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:07:54 -0600

As is well known, my Spanish is basic at best. Because of this, I tend to read my bible during lessons at church because I find that a more constructive use of my brain than merely allowing it to wander hither and thither.

This morning I opened my bible and began reading from the book of Haggai. I was struck by how similar I feel like our mindset is with that of the Israelite people at the time of Haggai’s writing. We live in our “paneled houses” while the state of God’s house (i.e. his Kingdom) is in disarray. We build bigger barns that - I think we can honestly say - we don’t really need. The church of Christ, per person gives less than %2 of their income on any given Sunday (Yeakley). There are billions who are not Christians. Our churches are continually being split by “quarreling about words” and at times it feels like we focus more on padded pews more than spreading the Gospel (2nd Timothy 2).

Am I guilty of this? Yes. I am one of the guiltiest of giving the best of lip service but the worst of heart service. I am great at giving money but also excellent at lacking love and therefore true meaning in my giving. I’m great at showing up for church on Sunday but terrible at showing up, at any time, for prayer with my Savior.

It is very easy to see these problems and the differences between what the bible says and what our culture says when I am several hundred miles away from my home country. It is much more difficult to be aware of it when one is surrounded by everyone charging headlong off the same cliff.

What is the correct response or course of action? Besides seeking to follow Christ whole-heartedly - I’m not sure yet. But rest assured, there is a course, and with God’s grace we can find it and change our churches and our world.

All the girls are getting sick and dropping like flies.

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 08:51:04 -0600

All the girls are getting sick and dropping like flies.

It has been a little hectic here at the Posada with two groups...

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 10:47:00 -0600

It has been a little hectic here at the Posada with two groups currently on location. With the two different groups going two different towns each day plus 11 interns either working here at the posada, going out with a group or out with a medical team needless to say-it gets a little hectic. I had the opportunity to go with First Colony church of Christ to Cedeño this morning and help them dig a trench and mix/pour cement for a wall foundation. It was HOT! Swinging a pick axe in 80+ degree weather with 127% humidity tends to make you sweat just a bit. At noon time I played Sacajawea for six of the group members who needed to return to ML for an event later this evening and since that time I have been in the office attempting to help Seth and Erin organize photos for the website. Essentially, that has meant that I have gone to get them water and a California fruit drink but not work on any photos but my own up to this point. Oh well. It has provided me with a nice opportunity to sort through some of my photos and write up this blog post.

Recently, we received a new shipment of merchandise for the Mission Lazarus Tienda. Last weekend Seth and Cameron went to Nicaragua in search of some quality merchandise to sell in the ML Tienda to visiting groups. (For those of you who don’t know the merchandise sold in the Tienda helps support other ML works such as the refuge or nutrition.) A couple days after Seth and Cameron returned a man named Bronco crossed the border and came to ML with a truck full of furniture, pottery and a wide assortment carved wooden items. The pottery was purchased from a Nicaraguan preacher and his wife. The preacher’s wife makes pieces of pottery and sells them so that her husband can preach full time. The pottery is absolutely gorgeous and it sold very well last night when we opened the Tienda up to the two groups that were here. I think this preacher and his wife are to be greatly admired for the work they are doing. They are not depending on American sponsorship but rather working to support themselves and spread the love of Christ to their fellow countrymen.

US man charged in Haiti sex case

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 01:16:58 -0600

US man charged in Haiti sex case:

A US man who ran a centre for impoverished youth in Haiti is charged over claims he forced them to perform sex acts for shelter, prosecutors say.

First Colony works on the wall foundation. From the field.

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:28:08 -0600

First Colony works on the wall foundation. From the field.

Off to Cedeño in the morning with Miguelito, Courtney and all of the first-colony group.

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:43:10 -0600

Off to Cedeño in the morning with Miguelito, Courtney and all of the first-colony group.

Eight shot dead in Rio drug raid

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 20:48:08 -0600

Eight shot dead in Rio drug raid:

Eight suspected drug traffickers are killed during a raid by Brazilian police on a slum area in Rio de Janeiro.