being beck

For those of you new to floobydust, see this post for an explanation.

Now that the last of the pie is gone, and we’re all regretting our over-stuffedness (is that a word?).  We pause a few minutes and are thankful for everyone in our lives and the fact that we all haven’t killed each other after 4 days in the house together …

For as Britney as I thought it would be, I must say that I’m a bit of a Facebook nut.  I think what I really enjoy is staying connected to people in just the right amount.  Not so much that you have to go to dinner with folks every week, but more than one or two emails a year.  I love seeing people doing life instead of just seeing a snapshot every now and then.  It tells me more and more that for all of our desires, the desire to connect may indeed be the strongest among them.

I’m also twittering a bit.  Professionally, it has been an godsend of a resource, because IT people that work at a church is a pretty weird niche, with its own set of unique challenges.  My “community” that I’ve found on Twitter has really grown on me. Tim O’Reilly, the ubiquitous technical media giant, probably explains it best in this post.  You can follow me at http://twitter.com/jarrodbeckman

Really enjoying hanging with this guy of late.  We’ve really connected in cool way, and he’s helped me tap into my curious, creative side that really hasn’t has much exposure since I stopped leading worship years ago.

Found my new “Storms in Africa”.   I’ve played this piece over and over and over this weekend.

We’re trying to decorate a tree this year.  This will be the first time in over ten years that I’ve even attempted Christmas decorating. I’m not sure why. I loved it as a child. The Christmas music, all the boxes of stuff, decorating the tree, etc. I think 3 years working retail at Best Buy when I was in college probably scarred me for life.

Are any of you old school typists having trouble dropping the extra space between sentences?  I sure am.

Gaby Kate drank from a normal cup this morning.  YESSS!

I got a ton of requests for this one.  Here is the recipe for Sweet and Spicy nuts:

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1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp of chili powder
Half tsp cinnamon
Pinch of Cayenne (to taste, more for more spicy, but be careful)
1 egg white
2 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Spray Pam on a 13x9x2 pan.

Mix the sugar and spices together in a medium bowl.

In a larger bowl place the egg white and pecans and stir until coated.  Slowly add the sugar/spice mixture and stir until well coated.

Individually take each piece of pecan and place it on the coated pan.  You will be tempted to just dump it in, but resist.  We’re not making peanut brittle.  Discard any of the eggwhite spice mixture that is left.

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Take out and cool for 5 minutes or until you can touch them.  Pick them off of the pan and put them in a separate pan to cool.

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I recently became a Seth Godin fan.  Check out his blog.

For those of you who have asked, we’ve decided to hold off on moving for the time being.  The economy is not doing well, and we’d likely not get a very good price if we sold.  With our second child now delayed, we’ll re-assess next year.  I already miss my radio room though .

As much as I hate it sometimes, I’m beginning to embrace the ENFP that is me.  If you’re not familiar with Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the typological theories of Carl Jung from which they are derived, you can read more about it (and take the test) here.

I’m struggling with whether or not to fully deploy Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server or go with a more open-source solution like Alfresco.  More to come…

Good article on Larry Osborne’s latest book called Sticky Church.

We will have pictures, etc, from the Christmas decorating later this evening.  I’m trying to talk myself into actually getting in there and getting the tree put together even as I type

I’ll leave you with this stirring commercial for the Marine Corps.  Besides the wonderful message and stunning visuals, the music is amazing.

7 weeks down, 31+ weeks go to.  Kristi is tired, but good, and we heard a strong 150+ heartbeat at the last sonogram, so we’re off to a great start.

• Elbows are forming
• Fingers are starting to develop
• Feet are starting to appear with tiny notches for the toes
• Ears eyes and nose are starting to appear
• Intestines are starting to form in the umbilical cord
• Teeth are beginning to develop under the gums

We’re now struggling with whether or not to move or to remodel the existing house.  We love the house we have, but we only have 3 bedrooms.  Since v2.0 will take up the tech/office space if we stay, we’ll have to either relocate all of that to the garage or the back porch….or move.   The thought of us moving makes me want to set the entire house on fire.  So…we’ve got more thinking to do.   If any of you have any thoughts to share on that, we’d certainly appreciate it

If you haven’t already, check out Stuff Christians Like.  An excellent blog, particularly if you grew up in a Southern Baptist Church.

My honey and I finally broke down and created Facebook accounts this last week.  Much of it is silliness that I’ll probably never use. (Who needs to know what I’m doing every single second of the day?)  It has been interesting, though, reconnecting with people I haven’t seen in a long time.  It is also great for keeping up with The Cato now that she is in college.

Need a multiprotocol IM client?  Check out Digsby.

Here is a classic from the Seasame Street of the 70s.  I distinctly remember this bit as a child, and love the music by Philip Glass.  You can also see the distinctive “starburst” technique, used in many of the character/graphic generators of that era.

No post would be complete, of course, without some pics of the GK.  Here are some great ones from a few days ago when she went to Gran and Papa’s house.

Ok, first of all, we totally suck as bloggers, we know.   As with many things in the Beckman household, we start with great intention and great progress, and then it sort of peters out. Here is a non-exhaustive list of projects that end up this way:

• Cleaning the Garage
• Juicing (with Jack Lalanne’s Power Juicer, $120)
• Eating Right
• Exercising
• Planting flowers
• Eating Right
• Putting cable ladder in my radio room
• Cleaning the Garage
• Organizing my wife’s ever growing inventory of Gymboree Clothes for Ebay

Yes, I know I listed some things twice.  Those are probably the most egregious of the bunch.  Anyway, all we can hope for is to strive to get better.  I predict that will last about 2.45 weeks.

Today’s blog title is a nod to my close friend, mentor, and all around partner in tomfoolery, Donny Ray Jones.  Most of you won’t know him, but much of my technical knowledge, particularly when I was a teenager and in my 20s, came from this man.   He introduced me to my first computer, my first ham radio, and my first flashy light console. In a word, Donny Ray Rox.

Floobydust simply means “a mixed bag of things”.  No central theme here, just some random thoughts, particularly since we haven’t posted in awhile….  Yes, because we suck as bloggers.

If you haven’t tried wasabi peanuts,  you simply must put everything down right now and order some.  Of course, the Beckmans don’t do anything halfway (except all that stuff above), so instead of buying a couple of pounds, we bought fifteen.

What in the heck is up with men wearing women’s jeans?  I quietly held my tongue with the bed head hair, the really wide white belts, and the “fitted shirts”, but this has just got to stop.  I know I dress like I work at six flags, but like NASCAR and the career of Alanis Morissette…. I just don’t get it.

It used to be that soccer was the most boring sport at the Olympics (it is a known fact, look it up), but after a few minutes of watching the “Eventing Dressage” of the Equestrian event this morning, I think we have a new contender.  I honestly am completely lost at what these people are doing besides wearing a foppish outfit and riding a horse.  I thought at some point they’d put some barrels out, or maybe some clowns or monkeys would show up, but no, the qualifications to compete here appear to be “Can I sit on this horse while it trots around this fence”.  I fell asleep watching it.

Those opening ceremonies were something else, weren’t they?  Say what you will about those pinko communists, they really put on a show.  If you missed it, you can catch it a good review here.

Poo Poo has over $900 in sales so far in August!  Go Poo Poo!

If you’re looking for some great, free, high resolution wallpapers without sign ups, etc, check Interfacelift.com.

Faberacoustical has come out with a real-time spectrum analyzer for the iPhone.  I wouldn’t EQ a room with it, but its pretty darn impressive for quick checks. http://www.faberacoustical.com/products/iphone/

Even better than that, though, is WinAdmin, which allows you to RDP from your iPhone.  http://www.iphonewinadmin.com/

For those of you needing a good GK fix (and who doesn’t), here’s a recent pic of her.  More to come…