Radiate: Tristan’s blog

My shameless plug: Firefox 1.5 was officially released today. If you’re still using Internet Explorer, my humble opinion is that you should chuck it and check out Firefox.

The official logo:

The unofficial but funnier logo:

Now, as for answering Brock’s comment on the football post: You can go to dictionary.com and look up words whenever you want. But who has time for that? So if you’re being lazy, a better option is to use a spell-check plugin. If you are using Firefox as your browser, you can download a plugin called Spellbound that will spell-check all the words in a text box (such as a blog comment posting text box). That way you can appear to spell intelligently not only when you comment on my blog, but also anywhere else you feel like being lazy. Here is how you can install Spellbound:

1. Make sure you are using Firefox 1.5 (see above).
2. Click here. It will open a new window to the Spellbound install site.
3. Choose the radio button that says “Install Spellbound for Firefox 1.0+ (e.g. trunk etc.)
4. Follow steps 1-4 in the “Firefox Trunk After The Deer Park Alpha 2 Release” box. Make sure you follow all four steps. Don’t get excited and try to use it before you have done all four steps. It won’t work. Don’t ask me how I know that.
5. Congratulate yourself on entering blessed spell-checking utopia.

There you go, B. Don’t say I never did anything for ya. :)

Earlier today the wind here was gusting to 39 MPH. We’re not in Pennsylvania anymore, Toto.

Our friends threw a fabulous fondue feast this past Saturday. Imagine what Queen Elizabeth’s table would have looked like at Thanksgiving dinner (okay, so the Brits don’t observe Thanksgiving, but you get my point). Now transform all the food in your mental image into a vast array of cubed meats and vegetables, sauces and skewers. Now you’re starting to get the idea. We had an appetizer fondue composed of fruits and bread to be dipped in a hot melted cheese sauce, a main course of various meats and vegetables to be skewered, cooked and dipped in your choice of a plethora of sauces from around the world, and a dessert fondue with fruit to be dipped in a steaming chocolate glace. It was amazing.

But that, my friends, is not the point of this post. The point is the explosion. We were just beginning Course Two, talking and laughing, our stomachs rumbling in entree anticipation, when the pot on our end of the table began heating up. Oh, it looked innocent enough, but brewing beneath its pristine surface of cool cooking oil was the birth of a wild, volcanic eruption. Because the oil was cool, and thus somewhat thick—we hypothesize—a bubble of air and hot oil formed near the heat source, unbeknownst to us. All was quiet… and then, without warning, bloofsh! the bubble rocketed to the surface, sending a geyser of liquid a good eighteen inches out of the pot and spewing it over anything unlucky enough to be within range of its freakish fury. How cool is that? Thankfully, no one was hurt. It certainly didn’t stop us from having a second go at things once we surmised the problem. I imagine that with a little TLC, even the tablecloth will survive.

Have any of you had this sort of experience while fonduing? Or are the fondue gods just out to get me?

I have never been one for watching sports regularly. I get into it sometimes when I’m watching with friends, but that’s mostly because I enjoy the fellowship of screaming about something with a whole bunch of other people. Participating in a riot would also generate this feeling, but watching sports tends to be less destructive.

Now playing sports is much better. We had our own Turkey Bowl at church on Thanksgiving morning. It was 15 degrees outside with roughly 20MPH winds. The wind chill was ugly, but the football must go on. About 40 of us showed up on the tundra to play, so we had two games going on simultaneously. I mysteriously transformed into the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man by means of long johns, insulated pants and multiple sweatshirts. This not only kept me warm, but also helped me appear even larger and more intimidating than I already am (and at a whopping 145 pounds, I am already very scary). Our teams tied, but we thought one touchdown the other team made was questionable (of course). Currently I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, and I have a big charley horse on my leg where I got pounded while leaping through the air. But it was so worth it.

The Justin McRoberts concert was a quality time full of great music, stories that had people rolling with laughter, and serious reminders about what is essential to real life and godliness, all straight from his heart, sans pretense. If you haven’t heard him before, definitely pull up a chair and have a little listen on his website, http://www.justinmcroberts.com. There you can hear his music, see photos and learn more about him.

Here are a few pics I took at the concert (it was dark and I was far away; please excuse the motion blur & graininess). Click on any image to see a larger version.

So: I really enjoyed the concert, and I really enjoyed talking with Justin and his wife, Amy. Quality people for sure – too bad they live in California instead of Chicago. Oh, and by the way, he did let me try his guitar – a Taylor 810 with a LR Baggs dual-source pickup system (the M1 + an internal microphone) and the Para-Acoustic DI. Of course, it would have been better for my guitar contentedness if I had left well enough alone. ;)

...is coming to our church tomorrow. I saw him in concert four or five years ago, and I seem to recall enjoying the experience, but I’ve only heard a few songs by him since. His lyrics are quite good. We’re trying to get a more intimate atmosphere in our auditorium – rugs, candles and such. Hopefully it’ll be a fun time for all concerned. I’m helping with sound and setup. Hmm… maybe he’ll let me try his guitar.