Pixelated Pad and Pen

Saturday, January 27, 2007

New Sidebar Items

Blogger has recently upgraded their service and as a result I can add and modify my blog more easily and with greater variety.

The first new item to note in the sidebar are a list of labels. Each new post that I put up will have labels associated with it and then you (and I) can search for posts on my blog with certain labels. For instance, if you wanted to see all the blog posts associated with "bible" then you could click on the bible label on the sidebar and they would all be shown. I hope to go back and label all the past posts for easy searching.

Also, I've put up a feed from Biblegateway.com's verse of the day.

There is other fun stuff on the way as well. Look for it soon.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

100 Floors and Climbing...

Here's a fascinating GulfNews graphic on the progress of the Burj Dubai under construction in Dubai now. It is slated to be the tallest building in the world when finished. I can see the construction from the rooftop of my villa even now. The whole article is here. And here's the summary:

Dubai: World’s tallest tower Burj Dubai reached 100 floors on Tuesday, becoming the sixth to reach the milestone scaling 347.3 metres and utilising 242,000 tonnes of reinforced concrete and 46,000 steel rebars to date.

Sears Tower in Chicago (110 floors), Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea (105), Empire State Building, New York (102), Taipei 101 (101) and John Hancock Centre, Chicago (100) are the only other structures in the world that are currently at 100 storeys or more.

At 347.3 metres, Burj Dubai is one of only 38 structures in the world that are 300 metres or more high.

It is now higher than three other super-tall structures in the region — the Burj Al Arab (321 metres), Emirates Towers Hotel (309 metres) and Kingdom Centre, Saudi Arabia (302 metres).

Superbowl Contender - Sports Figures with Character

As much as I love football (soccer) played the world around I still love American Football too. There are only 4 teams left in the championship, named the Superbowl, that will take place in the U.S. in two weeks.

I am a fan of the Indianapolis Colts as their quarterback and star player went to the same University I did. But it's their owner, Jim Irsay (pictured left), whose comments I noticed this week. Read what he said about winning and losing:

"To me, there's a lesson there. It's who can lose and share in grace? Who can lose and congratulate the other owner and feel joy for him? I mean, that's harder than winning. And it's not about nice guys finishing last or that kind of thing. It's about what do you tell your children when you don't win? How do you conduct yourself? How do you treat people? How do you congratulate other people and the other man?

"That's where life is for me. I want to win the Super Bowl as much as anyone, but I'm always prepared if things don't go well. Because anyone can demonstrate what they're about when things go well. It's when they don't go well that you have a chance to show what sort of individual you are."

(And later...)
I just have the belief that if you do the right things, prepare and work hard, good things will happen. To me, it's not something you stress about. Yes, people have their legacies defined at a higher level when they win championships, but I've never seen a hearse hauling a U-Haul, you know what I mean? You ain't taking the trophy with you wherever you're going.

I don't know much about his spiritual beliefs but this sounds like a man who is thinking about eternity. He's 'never seen a hearse hauling a U-Haul". Let me explain for those not familiar with the idiomatic phrase. A hearse is the large car that typically takes a persons dead body to the cemetery for burial. And a U-Haul is a type of trailer you can rent to pull things in behind a car. In other words, when you die, it will not matter what you have accumulated on earth. Character will matter. I believe that. Do you? (Go Colts :)

UPDATE: The Colts won! Greatest 'comeback' in division championship history!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Dubai Sunsets: Back to Blogging!

Well, It's time to get back to blogging. I had a busy Christmas season with parents visiting but we're back to "normal life" now here in the Parks' household. I'm brimming with blog ideas and excited about the new Blogger features that will allow for tagging.

But let's start with some 'easy to digest' Dubai eyecandy first... spectacular sunset pictures on the beach. These were taken the first week of January with a Canon 5 megapixel camera.

The striking silhouette of the Burj Al Arab stand out on the horizon. The crescent above it is a kitesurfer's kite. The structures to the right of the Burj are apartment buildings being constructed on the Palm Island.