Another Heart Attack at the Heart Attack Grill

Literally a heart attack on a bun

I've been listening to a book on tape by Jon Acuff called Quitter. The book came highly recommended by Dave Ramsey, and I like Jon (Plus I got the audio book free from audible.com). Quitter is all about going after your dreams, and chasing that thing you are most passionate about. I highly recommend it.

At one point in the book Jon Acuff talks about, "morning" and, "nighttime Jon." He said that his morning self hated his nighttime self. Mainly because his nighttime self was a jerk. It stayed up late reading about sports and watching movies. Morning Jon would always wake-up dragging and angry at nighttime Jon.

I can relate to that problem amazingly well, except I stay up watching Dr. Who reruns, surfing Stumble Upon, and playing Draw Something. Regret begins when I set my alarm and realize I only have 5 hours to sleep. OUCH!

Make-It-up Monday: 8 Instagram Tips

So this may be a tall order, but I'm going to try expanding my blog. There are some things I love doing that don't always involve church. I know that may be hard to believe seeing as that seems like all I post about. I really love design. The design of buildings, comics, websites, photos, cars... It all interests me. I love shapes and I love how shapes fit together to make the world more beautiful. We all love beauty, but many times we don't know what makes something attractive. I want to write about the things that make the world beautiful.

I'm not claiming to be the best. I just want to share. Many times I'm not going to talk about things I've created but about what others have created. I hope you enjoy.

Instagram

Instagram is an app on iOS and Android. It is a photo enhancing app and social network. In its simplest form it takes regular pictures and makes them look better. It does this by adding filters, boarders and some simple effects like tilt shift.

The results make the picture look like something taken 40 years ago. But it also makes the picture warmer.

Tip 1: Don't Use It To Take Your Normal Photo

Instagram is not a service you want to use to take your typical family photos. I think it is being used best when it's used to capture abstract scenes. Some of the best pictures I've seen on Instagram aren't of whole houses, entire bikes, or complete guitars. The best pictures are of the parts of those things that create shapes that make the eye smile.

Cool Story Bro: The Insane Car Alternator Part 2

The car

Catch the foxes for us- the little foxes that ruin the vineyards- for our vineyards are in bloom. Song of Solomon 2:15

Previously on "Cool Story Bro" click here

It was a tiny plastic piece that connected my alternator to the rest of the Toyota's electrical system. Was it really one little piece causing all this trouble? At first I shrugged off Mr. Alberti's highly experienced opinion. But the more I thought about it the more I trusted his evaluation of the problem.

So, I borrowed Mr. Alberti's truck and me and the fam headed out to LKQ self service junk yard. I combed the imports section by looking inside every Toyota Corolla regardless of year. After much prayer and a lot of searching through hundreds of cars I came across the tiny piece that I needed. Strangely it was in a model several years newer than mine.

By this time my entire day off was used up. I had wasted it in the parking lot of an Advanced Auto. I was not happy about that, but what was I supposed to do? I didn't have a working vehicle.

Cool Story Bro: The Insane Car Alternator

Pop the Clutch!!!

Catch the foxes for us- the little foxes that ruin the vineyards- for our vineyards are in bloom. Song of Solomon 2:15

In the middle of last week my car's battery warning light started sporadically blinking. Concern set in because we sold our other much newer car a week earlier. A quick look into my '94 Toyota Corolla owners manual told me the alternator was going bad. This wasn't a terrible repair. It was something I could do myself, and it wouldn't drain our emergency fund too much.

Everything seemed to be running fine for a couple of days. But being the responsible man I thought I'd pick up a replacement alternator from Advanced Auto before I actually needed it. I'd change it when I got the time. The time came sooner than I had imagined. When I tried to leave Advanced Auto my car wouldn't crank. The battery was dead and the alternator was finished.

The Fray, the National Anthem, and a Poorly Chosen Chord

The Fray

Last night my Facebook and Twitter feeds were blowing up about The Fray butchering our national anthem at the NCAA championship game. I like The Fray and they're a Christian band, so, I decided to see how they desecrated on the national anthem.

When I watched the video I thought I was going to be bombarded with complete disrespect and awfulness. I was greeted with an unconventional version of the Star Spangled Banner, but it didn't appear to be disrespectful. A drum similar to one that might have been played by a drummer boy during the revolution was beating, two acoustic guitars were harmonizing, and the singer was pretty straight forward in his interpretation of the melody.