✓ The Bible Miniseries Review — Yep, This Guy Gets It→

I love when someone swings their bat and misses the ball by two feet.

Of course The Bible miniseries doesn’t follow Scripture to the word. It can’t. There would be far too many contradictions if Hollywood created this TV series to follow The Bible word for word. The point of this TV miniseries was to bring a visual image to many of the younger generation who have fallen away from the stories depicted in The Bible. It was meant to inspire, to encourage and to captivate young audiences who have meager attention spans. It was created to help restore curiosity in fundamental Christian teachings and stories.

If you want to stand on the top of a hill and decry the falsities of The Bible miniseries, all the power to you. You have every right to tell everyone on the Internet how much you know about The Bible and how poor Hollywood has done in their efforts to bring The Bible to a visual life.

Or, if you view your glass as “half-full”, you can proclaim that this miniseries is a very fascinating 10 hours of television entertainment. It is not meant to evangelize. It is not meant to perfectly depict the words of Scripture.

It was meant as a positive outreach to those who need a positive outreach.

Thanks for your opinion though.

✓ Wedding Update #3

It's been a little while since I wrote about the back-breaking wedding planning going on in our newly created camp. Not only are the major things being checked off of our to-do list, but new things are added each and every day. Which makes this whole planning process a whole lot more than I feel I was bargaining for. Why isn't there a little warning label on the inside of an engagement ring case?

In chronological order, my (bridal?) groomsmen party headed into the city within the last six weeks and ordered/tried on/got sized up for our tuxedos. We are going to look good. That part is needless to say.

What is needed to be said is the fact that I almost convinced Jaclyn to change our entire colour scheme just to fit in Moores' incredibly sharp grey Vera Wang tuxedos. Absolutely stunning. I bet people would have been looking at me instead of the bride… erm — maybe I shouldn't go that far. I'll probably get in trouble for saying that. But they were really nice.

Jaclyn's bridal party, that same day, finished up their dress shopping. Thank goodness for that. Why don't bridal stores have some sort of method that is relative to the way mens suit shops are able to pump through customers. Our tuxedo shopping just seemed soooo much easier.

Another big decision over the last month has been the inclusion of wine for our reception. Of course, there are a thousand different types of wine out there and there are also a thousand different ways (and amounts) to pay for wine. We are going to bottle and cork our own wine, and we've even hired Collectif to design our wine labels. I can't wait to show off what they have created. They have real talent brewing there.

The last big push recently has been towards the social event which my sister is throwing for Jaclyn and I. The Morden Legion is going to be full of prizes on June 1 and we are super excited to see many of our friends and family that evening. But more so, we are incredibly grateful for all of the help our friends and family have given over the last few months. The support has been tremendous and I know we will forever be in debt to those people in our lives who have reached out there hands to help us through.

From here on in, the many little details will be taken care of (I hope) and the large portions of our wedding day will fall into place. My cousin's wedding two weeks ago really opened our eyes to the amount of work it will take over the next two months to have our day run smoothly. Their wedding was a fantastic experience for everyone in the building and I can only hope that ours will be the same.

The morsel of hope I hold onto through all of the little details over the next two months will be the fact that, realistically, if our wedding pleases the two of us, we win. Who cares what everyone else thinks? I bet the need to impress all of your wedding guests is the reason for the exorbitant amount of money being spent, on average, on weddings throughout North America.

In the end, its our day. Not their's.

Am I allowed to be selfish like that?

The Square Stand: The Future of Digital Payments→

Jack Dorsey is smart. He was one of the founders of Twitter. He created one of the simplest methods of accepting payments for small businesses. And now he — or, rather, his company — has pushed that digital payment system further.

But I feel his genius may have missed one thing: chip cards.

Chip credit cards are nearly universal throughout the world. The most major non-player in the “enhanced credit card” arena: the United States.

Fraudulent payment practice is only growing. Magnetic stripes on the back of your credit or debit cards are increasingly easy to compromise and easy to take advantage of. The use of security chips on credit cards is, especially in Canada and Europe, not only a fad, but a widely held belief.

This belief will only spread into the United States. It is only a matter of time before American credit card companies and financial institutions begin to adopt chip cards to fight the growing world of money fraudulence.

When that happens, Square will not be able to take advantage of such security features.

Frankly, I’m surprised they missed that.

Maybe — just maybe — the lag time between the introduction of chip cards in the US and the acceptance of such payment practice will provide the necessary time for Square to innovate on their payment systems.

At this point, however, I think they made a slight oversight.

Space Station Music Video the Most Expensive Ever Made?→

At least Chris Hadfield didn't step out of his tin can. That would have made the video a lot more expensive.

This Year's Top Baby Names→

No changes from last year, of course.

But I've never heard of King or Major as a first name before.

"*William. Good strong name." — Jack Sparrow

Yep, even Johnny Depp must give in to popular baby names from time to time.

✓ Happy Mother's Day, Mom

We celebrate, but once a year, one day for the role of our mothers. We make breakfast for them, sweep the floor, and take out the trash, all the while hoping to show our mother our gratefulness for her countless efforts in our lives. We say thank you, perhaps with a hug, or with a glass of wine, before heading to bed for the night. Finally, we repeat this circle of events precisely 365 days in the future.

I'm sorry, Mom.

It only occurs to me now, as I write this, how taken for granted your innumerable efforts have been since, seemingly, day one. No bracelet, no sweater, no flowers could ever surmount the mountain of gifts you have created in your family's life. We, as children, are forever subject to your grace and care.

All I can do is say "Thank You." It's a measly attempt to make up for the 364 days I haven't said "Thank You" this past year. And hopefully it will help cover the million other "Thank You's" owed to you over the next year.

I can only pray to be, and to marry, a role model like you.

Thank you, Mom. And Happy Mother's Day.

The Atlantic Reviews The Great Gatsby→

The problem is that when the movie is entertaining it's not Gatsby, and when it's Gatsby it's not entertaining.

Apparently they ruined my favourite book.

MG on Hating Email→

I don’t blame MG for having these problems whatsoever.

Email sucks. And I don’t deal with the volume that other, more important individuals may face in a single day. I hate it so much that I usually end up deleting everything and hoping that that person ends up calling or texting me instead.

Die email. Die.