This last weekend was mainly spent painting! As part of her birthday present, Erin was redecorating her bedroom and the great paint-job happened this past weekend. Janet did the lion's share, painstakingly stencilling multiple, brightly coloured polka dots on the upper parts of the walls. This area and the ceiling were painted white, above the pink picture rail which acted as a border for the BRIGHT green walls! Erin is very happy with her new paint scheme, and just rolled her eyes when I asked if she would provide a rack of dark glasses for people entering the room!
Due to the painting activity we went to church on Saturday evening, which was good — relatively uncrowded and a very relaxed atmosphere.
I also enjoyed relaxing in the pool — just the way to relax after a tough day's painting!
The weekend was a long-weekend, as Monday was Memorial Day, in memory of those lost in defense of their country. I came back by train on Monday afternoon, to be here for my small group meeting on Monday night. When I got home, the nearby cemetery was completely decked out with American flags (large ones along all the roadways, and smaller ones on some of the graves — I presume those of ex-servicemen and women). Unfortunately, the flags had all been a removed a couple of hours later when I went to get a few photos!
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
My last weekend in Davis...
No, I'm not leaving yet, but I spend very few weekends here and this was probably my last!
I stayed to attend a concert (Baroque classical recital) on Friday night. That was put on by the University's Music Department and was very good.
I had been thinking about going to the new Star Trek movie on Saturday and it turned out Shane and Anni (my housemates) had the same thought so we ended up going together on Saturday evening. That was a very good "prequel" movie.
On Sunday I went to church followed by my usual brunch at the little Austrian restaurant.
It felt a little odd/sad doing all these things for the last time! The time for my departure seems to be rushing close very rapidly now.
I stayed to attend a concert (Baroque classical recital) on Friday night. That was put on by the University's Music Department and was very good.
I had been thinking about going to the new Star Trek movie on Saturday and it turned out Shane and Anni (my housemates) had the same thought so we ended up going together on Saturday evening. That was a very good "prequel" movie.
On Sunday I went to church followed by my usual brunch at the little Austrian restaurant.
It felt a little odd/sad doing all these things for the last time! The time for my departure seems to be rushing close very rapidly now.
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Oklahoma!
On Friday night I went to see the UC Davis production of Oklahoma!, the well-known, much-loved Rogers and Hammmerstein musical. That was excellent. The story is a little corny, but the music is superb and the production was top-notch. They had brought in a few professional performers for some of the lead roles, but the majority of the cast were students (and a few community people). The orchestra was made up completely of students and staff.
While the music and the acting/singing were good, the highlight was the staging. As people were coming into the theatre, there was a picture of a farm scene (farmhouse, fence, windmill, etc.) projected onto the stage curtain/screen. As the play started, the lights on stage brightened and the screen raised slowly revealing that it was actually a gauze screen and that the scene that had been projected was actually the same as the stage setting, giving this amazing effect of "fading" from two-dimensions into three. They used the same trick in a few other places — very impressive and very effective (I guess they did spend $185,000 on the production — i.e. somewhere around R1.5million!).
While the music and the acting/singing were good, the highlight was the staging. As people were coming into the theatre, there was a picture of a farm scene (farmhouse, fence, windmill, etc.) projected onto the stage curtain/screen. As the play started, the lights on stage brightened and the screen raised slowly revealing that it was actually a gauze screen and that the scene that had been projected was actually the same as the stage setting, giving this amazing effect of "fading" from two-dimensions into three. They used the same trick in a few other places — very impressive and very effective (I guess they did spend $185,000 on the production — i.e. somewhere around R1.5million!).
Friday, 8 May 2009
Jim Larus
The Computer Science Department here at UC Davis hosted Jim Larus from Microsoft Research yesterday for a "distinguished lecture". He spoke on "Spending Moore's Dividend", which was based largely on his recent article in Comm ACM (see p. 62). The talk was a fascinating look back at how computer processors have developed over the last 40 years or so and how software has developed to take advantage of the huge increases in processing power and then a look forward to the very different future that we face as increases in processor speed have stopped in favour of increasing numbers of processors (cores) per chip. That trend is going to require some very different approaches to how we do things in future, and it was fascinating to hear some thoughts about what form that might take. The article is well-worth a look if you have access to the Comm ACM.
Thrive
I'm a little behind with the blogging (again!). Last weekend was the Thrive conference at Bayside, Colin and Janet's (and my!) church. The conference is a little like the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, but with a wider focus (not just on leadership). The conference was really excellent, and I enjoyed and learned a lot at the sessions that I attended.
They had a combination of "general" sessions, with major speakers like Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son), Francis Chan (a well-known pastor, speaker and author) and Nick Vujicic (an amazing Australian man who has no arms or legs!). The general sessions also included worship, led by several different groups (including the Katinas).
In addition to the general sessions, there were smaller, parallel "break-out" sessions focused on specific topics. I went to talks on "God-Size your church", "10 systems of a healthy church" (both concerned with how to build and run healthy churches), church finances and church leadership.
There was also a fair amount of "entertainment" with two Christian comedians, and the pre-screening of a new movie called To Save a Life, which is due to be released later this year (it deals mainly with issues that teenagers face).
On Sunday, they had one of the conference speakers, Chris Brown, stay on as a guest preacher, and he gave one of the most entertaining, "seeker-friendly" messages I think I have ever heard, while at the same time being one of the most challenging messages for believers that I have ever heard. Colin and Janet had heard him and his senior pastor talk about this approach in one of the break-out sessions at the conference, so it was interesting to see it in action.
They had a combination of "general" sessions, with major speakers like Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son), Francis Chan (a well-known pastor, speaker and author) and Nick Vujicic (an amazing Australian man who has no arms or legs!). The general sessions also included worship, led by several different groups (including the Katinas).
In addition to the general sessions, there were smaller, parallel "break-out" sessions focused on specific topics. I went to talks on "God-Size your church", "10 systems of a healthy church" (both concerned with how to build and run healthy churches), church finances and church leadership.
There was also a fair amount of "entertainment" with two Christian comedians, and the pre-screening of a new movie called To Save a Life, which is due to be released later this year (it deals mainly with issues that teenagers face).
On Sunday, they had one of the conference speakers, Chris Brown, stay on as a guest preacher, and he gave one of the most entertaining, "seeker-friendly" messages I think I have ever heard, while at the same time being one of the most challenging messages for believers that I have ever heard. Colin and Janet had heard him and his senior pastor talk about this approach in one of the break-out sessions at the conference, so it was interesting to see it in action.
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