Game of the week: TypeRacer

A flashy flash typing game that lets you compete with other online players.

http://play.typeracer.com/

Thanks DownloadSquad.com for the pointer.

Idiom: on (one's) toes

Meaning:

• be alert, energetic or ready; stay alert and watchful [see American-Slangs.com]
• ready to act; alert [see The Free Dictionary]

Sample usage from an article from DownloadSquad.com:

Todd said...
Missing from the list... are the Android Developers Challenge winners announced Monday... I would like to take this moment to re-state my tinfoil hat conspiracy theory that DLS has a "news black-out" on all things Android.

Christina Warren said...
Direct your conspiracy theories to Romeo -- he should have covered that in Tuesday's Googleholic ;-) I'm innocent I tells ya! No, good call. And I wouldn't call us Android averse, just Android ambivalent. But thanks for keeping us on our toes!

不求自己的益處

做得好就是好，做得不好就是不好。
怎麼一廂情願然後監人乃後？
單單，你真不像樣！
懂收放，才對人有益！

不求自己的益處，知道嘛！

Higher ground

Isn't it fair to give up what I don't deserve?
Isn't it just to condemn myself with guilt?
Isn't it noble to back off from achievements that bring on self-importance?
Isn't it shameful to give thanks for Your grace from a mouth with little faith?

Yet they aren't. Not because they are wrong, but because Your way is higher than mine. There is a higher ground that I don't deserve to go to but has to do so. There is a force that turns even what is meant to be evil into goodness. There is love that overcomes the fear of self-importance. And there is grace that reaches even the least faithful. Your grace are the most loving. Yet it is more judging than any law we've known, for it brightens up the darkness in my heart. Isn't it true that I may live above laws? Yet Your loving whip humbles me down on my knees. Worship that glorifies Your name is the only thing I am called for with my life.

Dual

Was looking for a new phone yesterday. Specifically I was interested in HTC's Touch Dual. I walked into the stores of a handful of carriers and asked them about the phone. I thought it had to be so long since I left North America that I couldn't pronounce the name of the phone right, because all the salespersons called it like Touch Deal, until online dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and The Free Dictionary helped me regain confidence once again.

又一個九形性格測驗

綠色為我認同的地方
紅色為我不認同的地方

自我型（與別不同，自成一格）

您樂於活在邊緣，而且在人生的所有層面追求不尋常、藝術性且富含意義的事物。
您具有美感的洞察力，以穿著和環境來表達自我的獨特性。
您把焦點放在關係和感覺，所以儘管對工作抱持理想，找到理想伴侶卻是第一優先。當一份新的關係出現，或是既有的關係出問題時，工作很快的就會被暫放在一旁。

優點：
您對別人的受苦具有深層且天賦的同理心，會立刻拋開自己的麻煩，去支持並幫助在痛苦中的人。

缺點：
您會主動追求「負面」情緒。當生命過得越來越平淡時，您會產生出一個情緒危機，如果任何人試圖跟您講道理，都只會令您變得更憤怒不悅。

愛情：
您傾向以「若即若離」的方式面對愛情。距離越遠，對方看起來就越完美。
您情緒變化範圍太廣，太強烈，再加上若即若離的習性，對於伴侶而言很難確切知道如何和您建立關係。

您只要在交往過程中碰到一丁點難題，或是預見自己會被拒絕，您便會推開自己的伴侶。
「我寧可當那個先離開的人，也不要當被遺棄的人。如果我失去了掌控權，那是相當可怕的事。」

安定方位：改革型
在安定的狀態下您會開始有完美主義傾向，去批判自己和別人。

壓力方位：付出型
當面對感情的壓力或情緒對抗時，您會變得痴纏，失落，抑鬱和行為反復無常。很需要吸引別人，以獲得讚許。

建意：
每天找些正向的事情，並加以慶賀
享受世俗面，去看看平凡中的不平凡
覺得自己特殊而正確時，在行動前先花時間考慮清楚

最渴望：能更深入的了解自己，看透人生
最恐懼：自我身份的模糊，感情世界的缺陷
最難達到的美德：平衡 (Equanimity)
最難克服的執念：憂鬱 (Melancholy)

你自己也做做看！

感恩

才在禱告中祈求一個機會聽聽做得不好的地方。祢立刻成就了。
才在禱告中祈求一個改進自己的實際目標，祢立刻成全了。

既知錯盼能改。
多謝祢

In a pool of mud

When it comes to dealing with struggles, it is imperative to tell the difference between faith and greed. A person with faith is optimistic in the presence of struggles because he believes in a greater power of goodness that will ultimately triumph. A greedy person however puts himself in a bubble in the name of faith to hide away from consequences he has created for himself.

Where's the watershed in between the two? It is true that obstacles bring us to our knees, praying for help, and make us realize how powerless we intrinsically are. I admit to be one of those who struggle over obstacles. The realization of our powerlessness is crucial in the search of our spirituality. It highlights our need for external help. It also highlights our desire to mitigate sufferings, may they be self-inflicted or imposed, legitimate or baseless, avoidable or destined. Sin entered the world, and matters since then have become so complicated so quickly that rationalizing sufferings becomes a nearly impossible task. So many things have gone wrong that we find no escape from hurts and sufferings. The opposite to taking the collective blame is denying it to the fullest extent. Today's culture makes us efficent engines of self-liberation, from blames and even our own responsibilities and guilts. The thoughts of the whole generation have become marginalized to accept that personal happiness equals goodness and have been happily doing so. Haven't we been happy doing so when we look away from all problems and please ourselves with goodies? We try very hard to be happy and marginally feel so but knowing full well deep inside ourselves that sufferings didn't go away. Guilts didn't go away no matter how deep we emerge ourselves in the pool of pleasures. The promise of salvation is absolutely appealing to ears of those who run away from their sufferings, with guilts or not. If one's sole intent is to look away from his transgressions, let him bait himself with the sight of an easy exit which he will one day find to be a curse. The powerful Gospel of Salvation seems easy only to those who want nothing but to take advantage of it.

Neither lose heart nor be confused, however. The Gospel is indeed the way to true freedom from sin and its suffocating guilts. It is the only way to true life we have been given. When we take that step to wear like a believer, walk like a believer, act like a believer, are we putting our trust in truth or simply reaping from the great promise? We are already told that in the midst of needy, vulnerable sheep hide wolves that intend nothing but to kill and feed themselves. But the day will come that they will be judged by a powerful fist. Isn't fear an interesting character in this scene? When the sherperd calls his sheep, good sheep answer to his voice out of love and strayed sheep answer to it out of fear. I don't think wolves have no fear. But they fear their sufferings more than the price they will have to pay. They hear not the sherperd's calls of both judgement and love.

Even in fear, some strayed sheep wonder around on their own. That's why there are fences to warn them of the chance of losing themselves in guilts on the outside. The self-righteous thoughts in one's mind blind himself of the warning signs and shut his ears off the sherperd's calls. The fences mean nothing to him. He is too "smart" for them. I have been a strayed sheep for a long while and I feel I am still one today. But there is hope, as a part of me wants to do right and I still faintly hear the shepherd's call. Help me come forth to you, dear Jesus.