Christmas

Construction is starting at the Creation Museum for our Christmas program.




~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Demolition Derby

Tonight I went to the Brown County Ohio fair. This is actually the third year that I've been there and thankfully we got to see the demolition derby. Last year the tractor pull was over early and we missed it--but the year before it was the first tractor pull that I'd ever seen.

This was an exciting mention when one of the cars was driven into and over the concrete barrier at the edge of the competition area!




All in all it was a fun evening. I ate a ribeye and a steak sandwich as well as fried Oreos. And even though it was late we also saw some displays and exhibits. Even though when I was growing up we only ever visited the massive LA County Fair I now enjoy visiting as many small fairs as I can each summer.

~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Home away

Well it is wedding season around the Creation Museum. Yesterday Tish was married. I'm currently housesitting for her and watching her cat. I miss my books, but I have Internet access and TV... I just need to make sure that I don't veg out too much in front of the TV.

Today I had to do a bit of shopping and get a haircut as another friend (Edana) is getting married next Saturday. All of my dress clothes are a bit old as I hate shopping for clothes and clothes you don't wear often don't wear out that quickly.

This will be an interesting week. I'm going to be off Friday and Saturday and I won't be working at all on Saturday. Additionally we switch uniforms on Thursday. Our summer and formerly only shirt color is goldenrod. For October and November we will be wearing black shirts. I as usual ordered five shirts so I would have to do as little laundry as possible.


~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Fail

I had to go get some things at Khol's today and spotted this sign near the register.



I'm not sure what the sign means, but I wouldn't assume it was meant for customers...

~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Zebras?

Not completely...

Cletus the Zonkey (Zebra/Donkey mix)







Zoey the Zorse (Zebra/Horse mix)







Both of these animals illustrate the biblical concept of kinds. For example Noah only had two of the horse kind on the Ark and all of today's horse kind (Zebras, donkeys, horses, etc...) are descended from these two.

~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Thirsty?

This friendly Dino can be found in Noah's Cafe. He has been dressed up with a name badge, uniform shirt, and other accessories...



~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Is there any news?

Yes, I know that I've been mainly photoblogging this week. This week was due to a trip through the Creation Museum Botanical gardens earlier this week. One day during lunch I strolled through the gardens and snapped a few pictures, which I immediately blogged from my iPhone. They weren't long on text, but it was an easy way to share several days worth of pictures without having to find a new one each morning. I don't expect to keep doing this, as I'd like to have a nice mix of pictures up here instead of just a batch of similar ones each week.

Today I'm sitting at home (though I've had a few calls and e-mails about work already, ;-)), and relaxing. It is a slightly rainy day, but with no blowing wind...so I'm in my living room with open windows enjoying the weather. I can hear cars driving by on the wet road and occasionally the sound of rain falling. I just wish that I had bigger windows and perhaps a fireplace (though for the second option cooler weather would be required).

I just started a new book last night that is turning out to be rather interesting. I found it at the library on the shelf that is part of their permanent book sale (they have several book sales a year, and then two shelves that always have cheap books on them). It is called Pirates of Pensacola and appears to be a humorous tale of modern-day pirates (not like the real pirates off Somalia or Indonesia--but a la the Pirates of the Caribbean romanticized version).

~Matt

Reflection

No explanation is really needed.




~Matt


-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Thinking Outside the Box

This is a cool box that my dad just made. We needed a box to hold signs at work, so I called my dad and described what we needed. Within a couple days he had made and sent this.




~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Gomer

This is Gomer, one of the friendly inhabitants of the Creation Museum's Petting Zoo.





~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Work in Progress

This is the new Koi Pond being constructed in the Creation Museum Botanical Gardens. Visit http://www.facebook.com/CreationMuseum to see more pictures.

~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Where did the rain go?

This was taken on my way to church this morning ( I slept in and went to third service).



Now I am at the library and only see a couple drops now and then... :-(




I am hoping for more rain before I go home...

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Time Out

Tonight I got to watch little kids. I do enjoy little kids, which I suppose is a good thing with the number of nieces and nephews (or nerfs) that I have. Tonight my friend Tish and I babysat children of people from AiG as we do once a month. Two of the kids are toddlers and really starting to talk...but there were also two younger ones. I got to hold one most of the night as he was slightly fussy. At one point he fell asleep while I was holding him, and that is always cool.

I'm tired now and heading off to bed, but it was well worth it. It is just too bad that all of Laurie's (my half-way-to-ninety-years-old sister who lives across the street) rugrats are older now. The youngest must be in fourth grade. They're still fun to be with, but in a different way than babies and toddlers. I have fond memories of babysitting my young nephews and niece while I was in college. I even got to see my niece McKenna a couple hours after she was born.

~Matt

Fun with Shapes

I was going through some old pictures and found this classic shot. For some reason I'm not allowed to cut pizza anymore, just because of this one creative pizza...

~Matt

No camera for you

Well, as I've said I am loving my iPhone, but there are a couple of issues. Yesterday when I started plugging it into my computer it caused a blue screen of death! After consulting with Dr. Google (thanks to Howard Taylor for that appellation) I realized that the pictures I had taken with the camera were causing the problem. When I plug my iPhone into the computer, Windows registers it as a camera, starts to load drivers, and then crashes. I think there must be something more to it as I remember when I first had the phone Windows read it as a camera with no problems... But I don't have time to experiment any more, so I have removed the pictures and will henceforth just be taking pictures to blog them. Once they go up on this blog I'll delete the originals. 'Tis sad, but that is why I have an actual camera and am not relying on my iPhone to meet my photographic addiction.

~Matt

Wolves in the Living Room

Now I know that you couldn't guess from the name of this blog, but I love wolves. This is a chair in my living room, decorated with one of my wolf blankets.





~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

The daily pic

I'm away from my computer at present, so I had to utilize a new method of blogging. I don't know how often I will utilize this, but I can now blog from my iPhone. It is working out fairly well, but I am experiencing some syncing difficulties...

This picture was taken on my iPhone. I am at my friend Amanda's apartment. This is her desk. I miss not being able to edit this pic, but the composition is still fun.



I hope y'all enjoy this still. I promise that all of my posts won't be this abbreviated.

~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2009 iWolff Ltd.

Paid to play

I was paid to take pictures today, going to the Children's Museum in
Indianapolis. Oh, and I'm typing this on my new iPhone!

~Matt

Hidden in the Mist

There have been several very misty days within the past month. I've taken at least three opportunities to walk the grounds and snap pictures.

The first album that I posted on the Creation Museum's Facebook page was very popular, with several dozen comments--and one of my pictures was even posted on Ken Ham's blog. (the link appears to be down at the time I post this, but I assume that it will be live again later)

I may post more of these pictures here later as there are several fun ones... Or head over to the Creation Museum's Facebook page and check out the two albums of foggy pictures.

~Matt

Unusual Day

Wednesday will be an unusual day. First of all I get paid for part of the day, but won't be at work. I'm going to be on a photography mission to another museum. :-) It should be a very interesting time.

I'll also be getting my new phone when my brother-in-law goes to the AT&T store. Unfortunately because of the first item above I may be in another state when he goes to the store. They'll have to deactivate my current phone to activate the new one. But at least when my phone dies I know that I'll have a nice shiny new one waiting for me when I get home. :-)

~Matt

Colours

Last Saturday we had a large event at the Creation Museum with a local group of cub scouts. I was coordinating the day's activities, but also the only one roaming around with a camera. I took plenty of pictures of the activities, but I couldn't resist some flower shots.

Oh, and it wasn't my camera, but a much nicer DSLR that I was borrowing... It was quite nice to use.

~Matt

Experimental

This was dinner tonight and turned out to be a delicious experiment. My nephews complained yesterday that my sister had made dirty rice, and it got me thinking. I googled some recipes for dirty rice, but noticed that they all included vegetables--so I decided to make up something on my own.

I started out by cooking rice last night. This evening I fried a pound of ground beef--adding some season salt, lemon pepper, and onion powder (I really need to get more seasonings). Then I added a packet of taco seasoning and mixed it all up (no I didn't drain the grease off, I'm too lazy and I think it tastes good). I pulled 1/2 to 2/3 of the meat out of the skillet to save for later. Then I put in a couple cups of the cooked white rice and some pieces of polish sausage and bratwurst that I'd cut up. Finally I heated up a small packet of black beans I'd bought at Kroger tonight and tossed them in.

I put this mixture into a flour tortilla and topped it with a bit of grated mozzarella cheese (the only cheese I had already grated) and ate it with a glass of milk. It was delicious! I have some leftovers and will definitely be trying it again.

~Matt

Yeah for Blogging

Okay, does it count as a blog post to blog about blogging? ;-)

I just realized that I've kept a post a day for one week now (actually today is the eighth day). I've done that in the past, but it has been a long time. I'm really hoping that I'll remember to continue.

My blog stats are somewhat dismal over the past few years. I only posted nine times in all of 2008, and those were all between June and August. I'm sure a few people thought my blog was dead then, and it very nearly was.

I don't know what was great about 2006 (my best year so far with 270 posts), but it may have been because I was closer to the start--but I would hate to think that a plunge into obscurity is inevitable.

I do enjoy the fact that my blog posts port to Facebook now because people will comment in both places--some people see my Facebook posts that never see my blog. There are other people that will comment on some posts via Facebook, and some on Blogger. I never know where the next comment will come from.

I enjoy reading old blog posts and seeing the old pictures, but comments are one of the main reasons to blog. I enjoy interacting with the readers in the comments, or at least seeing what they think about what I've written. So to the few people out there reading, thanks for what you do, and please keep it up. Also try to keep me honest as I say that I'm hoping to keep posting every day.

~Matt

PS I did use quite a few "I"s in that post didn't I? But I guess that is allowed in something as self-reflective as this is, ;-), eh?

Camping

This weekend the Creation Museum hosted a Cub Scout campout (called a Cuboree). I helped manage the event from the Museum's end, so I spent plenty of time walking around snapping pictures.

I did edit this picture before I posted it as I wanted it to just be silhouettes. The figures and tents had more light than I wanted in the actual picture, so I dis some basic editing in Picasa and increased the shadows to heighten the contrast. The tower in the background is the cell tower which towers over the Museum property.

~Matt

Convenience

I love the convenience of having my camera readily accessible. Several months ago I needed a patriotic picture of the Museum for a Museum blog post. So I grabbed my camera, walked out to the front of the building and snapped this shot and a couple of others.

Sometimes I will sort through others pictures or hunt on the server; but oftentimes I will just go take the shot that I know I'll need.

~Matt

Book Sale

Now if I'd read a blog title like this one I'd be drooling already. And it almost happened that way anyway... I was off on Thursday and actually stayed home (that is I didn't go to the Creation Museum at all). In the afternoon I saw that a friend updated their status to say they were going to a booksale. Immediately my interest was piqued. I looked up the location of the library, realized it wasn't that far (far is relative anyway when you're talking about cheap books!). I quickly went over to my sister's place, recruited a couple of nerfs for slave labor...I mean so they could browse books for themselves and their siblings, and took off.

I ended up spending $17. I procured somewhere between two and three dozen books, including at least a dozen for the nerfs. You can see a 2008 Hammond Atlas here--I have many Hammond Atlases from different time periods in the twentieth century, this is now my newest. I found an 1800s edition of Ben Hur that matches my edition of another of his books. I did mistakenly buy two history books I already had--but they were just fifty cents, and one was nicer than the edition I had already...

I love library sales!!!

Puzzle Apple

Yesterday I had an apple with my lunch and I decided to cut it as a "puzzle apple." This is something that my granddad used to do. Ask anyone in my family and they'll be sure to remember granddad cutting an apple for them in this way.

Obviously you start out with an apple. I've already made the four necessary cuts, as you'll see in a minute. I did go ahead and core it first as I didn't want to mess with that after the puzzle cuts.

Here you can see the apple start to separate. Only four cuts were used to cut the apple.

And now you have two halves of the apple! Personally I think this is the best way of cutting apples in half--not nearly so boring as using one simple cut! :-)

~Matt

Smile

This is one of the Utahraptors you'll find in the Creation Museum. This particular one is in the Starting Points Room. He has become somewhat of the icon of the Museum, with his eye being featured on many designs along with his general figure.

I like taking interesting shots from close up and from different angles. I think it is cool that you can take something familiar, look at a different way, and get something that seems new and different.

~Matt

A Day Off?

Well technically tomorrow (Thursday) I'm off...but I can't take the day completely off, ;-). I have some paperwork to get caught up with at home. A big event is coming up on Friday and Satuday and I need to make sure that things are ready for it... But I won't have to be in uniform or go into the Museum (yeah, I love being there even when I'm not working, but every so often I don't go in, ;-))...and I might even get caught up on my laundry!

~Matt

Spiders in the Mist

For the second day in a row it was quite foggy when I got into work. I couldn't resist a walk outside to grab some shots. This spider web wasn't as dewey as the ones I photographed a couple weeks ago, but I think it still makes for an interesting shot.

~Matt

Hebrews

Bible Study was good tonight. Our group has shrunk from what it once was...but thankfully most nights we can get at least five of us, and sometimes it is more. We're still in the middle of Hebrews--just going through Chapter Eight tonight. Even with Flynn not around to keep taking us back we still don't progress that far.

I'm not complaining mind you, it is nice that we're not speeding through, but taking deliberate time. We're just coming to the end of the section talking about the priesthood of Melkizedek. It has been fascinating as we've dived into several different passages in the Old Testament each week, investigating different matters. I like footnotes (especially in my MacArthur study bible), but oftentimes you need to go beyond that. Don't just rely on one person, but search the scriptures on your own (or with others) instead of just accepting somebody (no matter how thoughtful and usually accurate they are) else's interpretation.

~Matt

Y'all Come Back!

This water tower is a classic sight in Northern Kentucky. One story I've heard is that at one point it advertised "Florence Mall" but when it was discovered that such advertising wasn't allowed the mayor changed it to y'all.

Y'all is such a good Southern word. It is so much more convenient than you all or other longer collective terms.

Once my dad was ordering a typing book from a distant store (this is while I was growing up in California) and somehow realized that the store was in Florence. He mentioned this water tower (My sister has lived in Cincinnati for over 15 years...) and the clerk was surprised that he knew of it.

~Matt

Carniverous Bog Garden

Okay, I'm going to try something new with my blog. Knowing my track record I doubt that it will work, but I'd rather try and fail than never try. I'm going to try to post a picture each day. Some days there may be no text, other days there may be a great deal (like today). And if I can I'll try to have a text-heavy post in addition to each day's picture--but if that isn't possible I'll strive for the picture being the acceptable minimum for each day.

As time goes on I hope most of the pictures will be from the day they are posted, or perhaps the day before--but for now I make no such promises. This picture is from a few weeks ago and was taken in the Creation Museum's carniverous bog garden. I love this area best after a rain when you can see standing water and it really looks like a classical "bog."

~Matt

Slavery

I just read a transcript of a good sermon by John MacArthur. I don't remember exactly how the subject came up...but I was up talking late to a co-worker while at the Creation Museum for an overnight program and we ended up talking theology for a while. I mentioned remembering listening to a message by MacArthur where he mentioned that only one modern mainstream translation properly translated a particular word (it was the Holman Christian Standard Bible--and I keep meaning to get one because of that and other good things I've heard about it). The word in question is slave.

Here is what MacArthur says:

But what exactly is our relationship to God? What is our relationship to Christ? How are we best to understand it?

Well if you read the New Testament in its original text, you would come away stunned really by how different the original text is from any English version that you’ve ever read...whether King James, New King James, New American Standard, ESV, NIV and you can name all the rest. All of them virtually have found a way to mask something that is an absolutely critical element of truth. In fact, the word “slave” appears in the New Testament 130 times in the original text. You will find it once in the King James, once the Greek word “slave” is translated slave. You will find it translated “slave” a few other times in other texts, like the New King James text and even the New American Standard text, and it will be translated “slave” when, one, it refers to actual slavery, or two, it refers to some kind of bondage to an inanimate reality. But whenever it is personalized, the translators seem unwilling to translate it “slave.”

I suppose the matter is quite interesting to me because of all of the books and other text that I read. I love precision in words and written text (and I personally despise "versions" of the Bible like the "Message" even if the people who use it admit it isn't a translation, but a paraphrase, they still treat it as a translation...*shudder*) and find it profitable to read modern, precise versions of the Scriptures that contain both understandable language and precise language that isn't watered down (don't get me started on the rabbit trails of improper spelling and horrible grammar). In short, all those translations of "servant" and "bondservant" that you find in nearly every translation (King James included) are simply incorrect.

There are six words, at least, for servant, doulos is not one of them. There is diakonos from which we get deacon, oiketes related to oikos, house, a house servant,heis, having to do with one who serves by instructing the young. Huperetes, a low-level, third level, under servant, literally an under-rower, the third level on a galley slave, someone who pulled an oar down at the bottom of a great ship; leitourgos, another kind of service, usually associated with religion; paidiske and maybemisthios that can be translated minister. There are plenty of words for servant, there’s only one word for slave, doulos and sundoulos. Yet in the history of the evangelical translation of the Greek into the English, all the translators consistently have avoided the use of the word.

But don't take my word for it, or just read what I've quoted here. You should really go read the whole article entitled Slaves for Christ. The point is strikingly well made that we trade a life of slavery to sin (and that is what it is, we don't just toy with sin or let it influence us--we are utterlay enslaved to it) for a life of slavery to Christ. It doesn't seem so appetizing at first glance to Americans, raised on a diet of "give me liberty or give me death," "God bless America," and "unalienable rights." But it is truly a wonderful thing:

Being a slave to Jesus Christ is beyond any kind of slavery that anybody ever knew because this master, listen to this one, makes us sons and gives us all the rights of His own sons. He adopts us into His family, calls us joint-heirs with Christ, takes us to heaven where we rule and reign from His own throne and pours out all the lavish riches in His possession forever and ever and ever for our own unmitigated joy and His own glory.

I heard this mesage preached while I was in Tennessee at my brother's church for a conference (I wasn't actually there for the conference, but I attended a couple sessions because I was already in Nashville and I wanted to hear MacArthur again).

~Matt

Lazy Labor Day (weekend)

Even the dogs helped out! It was a big family get-to-gether at my sister's place this weekend. I cooked potato salad and brownies for dinner. It was a great meal. And at the end of it the dogs were more than happy to help with the clean-up! :-)

~Matt