On the eve of Christmas Eve, a nefarious trend has caught my attention. A number of my friends and family have recently fallen prey to twitter hacks. Now, before you fall into the mass hysteria that is the word “hack”, let me put your mind at ease. Twitter is a very secure method of anonymous (if you want) communication on the internet; however, like any system, it has exploits and hacks that can be used to penetrate user accounts. These hacks almost always involve interaction from the user. Unless you’ve set your password to “password” (you haven’t right?) then your twitter is pretty safe. The weak link in Twitter security is the direct message. You know the one. Suddenly you receive a DM from a lifelong friend telling you some compromising photo of you has appeared on the internet, helpfully including a link to the offending post. Because you’d hate to have your boss see a photo of you in that Santa costume from last year’s Christmas party (the one where you had WAY too much sugar and caffeine), you rapidly click the link and are presented with a frustrating page. Apparently there was an error, and you need to log into Twitter again to follow the link.

STOP!

This is the most common method for obtaining access to your personal accounts. It has a number of names. Spoofing is one of them. You are presented with a totally legit link, to a totally legit site, with a totally legit LOOKING login prompt. Yeah, it’s totally not. It works like this. When you get that DM from your bestest friend in the whole wide world, you see a link like this: “http://www.facebook.com/heythispictureisbad” or “http://bit.ly/omgBadPIC1″. Those are both samples. Please don’t click them as they go nowhere. Through the wonders of basic coding, the link you’re seeing is not actually the link you’re getting. When you see “http://www.facebook.com/heythispictureisbad” is really “http://istealyourpassword.com/sneakypage/notreallytwitter.html”. When you enter your username and password for what you think is twitter, and press that helpful login button, you’re really sending them a copy of your unencrypted login information. It’s a lot like writing your bank account and social security information on a slip of paper, then handing it to a random person on the street. Not really a good idea.

“So how do we combat this reprehensible behavior?” you ask. Well, I’m so glad you did! The solution is simple. Never open a link you get in a direct message from ANYONE. Not your mom, not your Pastor, not your mother’s brother’s father’s sister’s second cousin’s former roommate. This is a great practice for email as well. If you have any reason to suspect that you’re receiving a legit message, give the sending party a call and ask them about it. 99.99999999% chance they had no idea it went to you, and they’ll be grateful you let them know. Might even reward you with cupcakes (not likely). Yes sir/madam, it’s that simple.

To recap:
1. “OMG look at this totally scandalous photo of you! http://bit.ly/imFaKE1111″
2. STOP! Don’t click that link!
3. But I think this might be legit…
4. Call the sender. They probably didn’t send it. If it’s really a picture of puppies, they’ll give you the all clear.
5. Enjoy a hack free Twitter account. Unless your password is “password”.

<;/PSA>;

Like many of the things I blog about, this is nothing new. For years many Christians and non-Christians alike, have huddled together in corners to secretly gripe about the rampant political correctness that has so devastated this once joyous holiday. As the (modified for language) graphic from above (source: Imgur) illustrates so well, it would seem our mysterious self hatred as a society has persisted in diluting “the most wonderful time of the year”. While this may be a question you’ve never pondered, it’s one that’s bothered me for some time. After all, the politicizing of Christmas has stolen quite a bit of joy out of it for me. The rampant commercialization of an otherwise magical time of year plays a part in this as well, but I’ll get to that a little later. The first question we face is this: where does this war on “Merry Christmas” come from?

A quick Google search will reveal some interesting articles from often militant secularists. They think separation of church and state should mandate Christmas not be a federally recognized holiday, because you know, that’s prejudice. The constitution is against that right? Not really. We have no law, constitutional or otherwise, that backs this great Christmas neutering. It’s simply societal preference, or at least the preference of a very loud minority. So why do we do it? Well, there’s a tremendous amount of controversy over it. As a society we have become so scared of offending people, that we’d rather generalize everything. For some reason we as a people have become terrified of controversy. The Wikipedia article “Christmas Controversy” does a fairly good job of illustrating the history involved in X-ing and Holiday-ing the season. Here’s an excerpt I found interesting:

Supporters of using terms^[who?] such as “holidays” in place of “Christmas” argue that many of the symbols and behaviors that western societies have come to associate with Christmas were originally syncretized from pre-Christian pagan traditions and festivals that predate Jesus, and thus need not be directly associated with Christmas. Specifically, symbols and behaviors such as caroling, Christmas trees, mistletoe, holly wreaths and yule logs, have pre-Christian origins.

Yes, all of that is true. Some of the Christmas traditions we have practiced throughout the centuries are of pagan origin. We can thank the ancient Catholic church for that one. I do not, however, in any way believe the origin of those traditions should dilute the meaning we have given them in our modern day. Besides, using the origin of tradition as reason why it should be secularized makes no sense. Because the pagans had Saturnalia first, we shouldn’t be able to use “Christ” in the description of the now distinctly Christian holiday? To maintain that argument, the other side would have to argue for saying “Merry Saturnalia” instead of “Merry Christmas, not “Happy Holidays”.

In my opinion, the secular war on the term has more to do with the commercialized aspect of Christmas than the actual origins of the holiday. Sure, there are plenty of advocates against Christmas as a whole, but they’re small in number. From where I’m sitting, the generalization of the holiday has more of a benefit for retailers than it does individuals. Simply stated, the more people want to buy your stuff the better. This means not offending anyone. I found this commentary on it particularly fascinating.

More than just a mixture of diverse traditions, Christmas is now big business. While the Christian calendar calls for a solemn four- or five-week preparation to celebrate the birth of Christ, the “Christmas economy” overshadows even Halloween, with Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. serving as little more than a prelude to the greatest shopping weekend of the year. In 1939, President Roosevelt moved the date of Thanksgiving back to the third Thursday of November to expand the Christmas shopping season. With the survival of many businesses dependent on Christmas profits and half of the annual advertising dollar spent on Christmas-related advertising, it is not surprising that for some shoppers Christmas spending is regarded as a patriotic duty.

The commercialization of Christmas did not occur in a social vacuum. It is part of our society in which consumption for its own sake – regardless of need – is legitimated and encouraged. Without reluctance, consumerism exploits religious beliefs and deep emotions to persuade people to buy. Advertising’s behavior modification specialists demonstrate that the strains of “Joy to the World” trumpeting throughout the shopping malls in December produce greater profits, and that “Silent Night, Holy Night” is even better. Using Christmas as a religion-sanctioned occasion for extravagant spending, businesses hope that the practice of spending billions of dollars on Christmas gifts in North America is simply practice for greater spending throughout the rest of the year.

There’s a lot more meat in the article than that excerpt that you can feel free to read when you have the time. Bottom line for me is that it’s good business to turn Merry Christmas into Happy Holidays. It has nothing to do with Atheism, Secularism, or even the pagan origins of some Christmas traditions. It’s all about national retail sales. This invasion of a commercialized holiday has taken much of the magic out of it for me and countless others. Christmas isn’t so special when it runs nearly three months long, and is rammed down your throat as early as mid October. The spirit of giving becomes diluted when expectations of more and more extravagant gifts are heaped upon you, and you end the year losing sleep over how to pay those credit card bills.

With all of this in mind I am determined to enjoy Christmas with those I love. You’ll only ever hear me say Merry Christmas, or nothing at all if I think you’re easily offended. I will give gifts that will not break me, and will revel in every moment I spend with family and friends. The greatest victory we can have against a Happy Holiday is to go ahead and have a Merry Christmas anyway. Oh, and eat until we’re sick. Bring me some bacon!

I’m one of a million bloggers tonight talking about the horrific events in Connecticut today. Some maniac decided to take the lives of innocent children, followed by his own. While many of us have spoken out on social media today, expressing our condolences, and prayers for those involved, (and in some cases unbridled anger) I want to talk about something this tragedy revealed for me today.

Just about any of you reading this blog know me, and my conservative values. I make no bones about it, and was even a bit of an activist in my high school years. I have not exactly been thrilled about the policies and far left activism of our current president. I have found it hard to do as the Bible instructs and pray for my leader, because of how greatly I dislike his politics. It was from this bent that, when sent a YouTube link to his speech today, I simply ignored it. It was a comment from my wife this evening that made me dig it out of my instant message log and actually sit down and watch it. I knew then why she said she was proud of our president.

In watching that video I didn’t see the facade. All political airs were gone. What I saw standing behind that podium was a man like me. Tired, weary, and crushed by the weight of the most stressful job on the planet. Behind the stark veneer of his party and ideology was a father, husband, and citizen. He was touched by today’s events like the rest of us, and didn’t come to the podium as a politician, but as a human being to offer his condolences on behalf of a nation. I was impressed, and touched, as this part of his humanity bled through. Don’t get me wrong. I do not, will not, and can never agree with the direction he is leading our nation in; however, I cannot deny so raw an expression of human empathy as what I saw tonight. If ever there was a moment when the public stage was used to break through the fog of partisanship and ideology, tonight was it.

Mr. President, I salute you. I don’t envy the burden you bare, and while I may not agree with you, I think if I were to meet you removed from the elemental force of idealism you must maintain, I would gladly buy you a hamburger and talk about the universe. Thank you for being both a leader and a man today.

May God be with the families of those who have suffered so great a loss.

So far I am exceedingly pleased. 15″ of screen on a laptop is monstrous, but it’s also so so pretty. I went ahead and added a fancy orange cover as well, which adds a level of non-stock coolness to the whole ensemble. Did I mention that I’m exceedingly pleased? I’ve been itching to get my hands on the extra features of Mountain Lion, though the rumored battery issues have me a little bit nervous. Of course I didn’t use it long enough on Lion to compare it to Mountain Lion. If I find I don’t like it, then I’ll TimeMachine my way backward with no hesitation.

Working from home tomorrow while the plumber does his worst on the walls in the spare room. Apparently his last visit didn’t yield the results we were all hoping for. I woke to quite a puddle this morning. With all this extra screen real estate, I’m actually a little excited to get some work done tomorrow. Anyway, I’m going to go take care of my pregnant wife some more. She’s so high maintenance. Gosh! *jokes and sarcasm there folks*

The other night Nell’s hands shot in the air and she suddenly screamed, “Oh! That’s weird!! So gross!” When asked, she said Isaac was doing something new and kind of freaky. I watched and saw him moving and bumping in there, but it wasn’t until tonight that I finally laid across the couch and settled in to catch him roaming about. I’m pretty sure I’ve felt knees and elbows. He’s gotten so big, I can feel where he is in her belly at any time just by poking around a little bit. It’s the coolest thing ever!

He’s been rolling about, kicking, twitching, and pushing his mother’s tummy out with every backstroke he takes. It’s hard to believe that there are only nine weeks left in the pregnancy. We’re so very excited to meet him, just as long as he comes on time! I find it hard to believe that I’m able to love something so much sight unseen. While I haven’t been able to hold him yet, I can find him and cradle him in her tummy. It’s the greatest feeling ever. I’ve been told that it’s a lot like one of the Alien movies when the baby gets to a certain size, and after having experienced it for myself, I completely agree. This post isn’t long, but I love this little guy, and I sure hope that I’m the kind of dad he needs.

Peace, love, and chicken grease.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight. AweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEeeeEEEeeeEEEeee…

Well, if for some odd reason you missed the general announcements on Facebook and other social media, my boy’s name is Isaac. As of this moment I have trademarked and copyrighted his first and middle name combination. If you so much as utter it in reference to another soon to be born child, his mother will descend upon you with the unrivaled fury of woman. No seriously, you’ll bleed or something. I’m excited to welcome my little man into this world in about 12 weeks and four days. We’re going to have so much fun together, and we will conspire to make his mother watch all six (9 by the time he’s older, thanks Disney) Star Wars movies. It will be glorious. If not, I’ll replace him with a daughter and try again.

The election is over. The president was re-elected. I care exactly 0 bytes worth. I’ll say this. He may or may not lead us into ruin, but he isn’t the first to try, and sure won’t be the last. If Texas secedes (not likely, seriously) I’ll pack up my U-Haul and move to the lone star nation. Until then, it is what it is. Don’t tear your family and friends up over it, yeah?

I have privatized my tweets. I’ve gone the last year or so with an open Twitter account against my better judgement, and I can no longer see the benefit of being followed by every Tom, Dick, and H@rry_TwitrB0t12743 on the internet. Also, I like to be able to be a little snarky when I want to. Not hateful mind you, just snarky. There’s plenty of hatefulness out there, but a dire lack of quality snark. I am the man for the job. Well, that about sums it up. Think I’ll go back to being productive now. Maybe.

It’s 3:30 in the morning, and I’m awake with a raging migraine, so here’s my post mortem.

Well it’s finally over. After two years of nonstop campaigning the votes were tallied, and the President was granted another four years. Two sentiments come to mind for me. First, Lord help us all. If four years of skyrocketing debt and economic pain are any indication, I shudder to think what the next four will look like. Second, at least we have term limits. The President has the next four years to prove pundits and conservatives wrong, but I’m not inclined to believe he will.

I have always had a strong faith in the political process, ever since my dad got me into politics years ago. No matter the outcome of an election, I have always known that the will of the American people was done. I’ll be honest, my faith in the process is a little shaken right now. Honestly, Romney ran a terrible campaign for nearly two years, with only a couple of good months toward the end. He tried to play the game with the mainstream media and lost big. He let go two MAJOR political issues that would have undoubtedly strengthened his campaign: Libya, and Sandy. Even still, it should have been a much more difficult win for the incumbent. Let me back up.

It’s no great secret that the press leans hard left, but we have never as a nation seen so blatant and willing a coverup as these two national stories. Information continues to come out about the events in Benghazi, and it all points to an administration (note, I’m not accusing the President directly) that willfully ignored the pleas for help of the consulate. It cost American lives, and was immediately the object of spin. Blame was cast on a video, a video that the state department, the CIA, and the administration knew had nothing to do with it. Only after a few rare acts of journalistic objectivity pulled out the truth did the administration back down from their cover story. No apologies, no retractions, just a sweep under the rug and a nod from the press. It’s despicable in my mind. There is no way a Republican administration would have ever gotten away with it. Every news outlet would have hammered on the story until it begged for mercy, and then pushed on a little more. See eight years of the Bush administration operating under the glaring spotlight of media scrutiny. This is the world we live in today.

I’ve heard the pundits call Sandy “Obama’s Katrina”, but I have to disagree. The difference? Press coverage. During Katrina there were two drum beats pounded throughout the coverage of the disaster: the death toll, and the slow and lackluster response of the Bush led government. While the media has been giddy to talk about the damage caused by Sandy (frequently caught over exaggerated by fact checkers), and label it the greatest disaster we’ve ever seen (a blip on the radar compared to the carnage of Katrina), they have shied completely away from the slow and pitiful Obama administration led response. Staten Island with no power, no fuel, no food, and government mismanagement the size of Texas. Aid volunteers turned away, donations of food and clothing rejected, with donors told to give money instead. Money to do what exactly? Buy non-existent food? Unavailable fuel? Power out for weeks with no end in sight, and one of the most technologically advanced areas of the most powerful nation in the world reduced to a third world village. Not a bit of scrutiny to be found outside the land of talking heads.

I’ll confess, I was shocked when Danelle texted me on my way home from praise practice that the race was called for the President. Just an hour before only a fraction of the vote had been tallied, but in spite of that, and against all projections, the President landed a solid win. We have become a nation led by news outlets. The will of the people lies solidly in the hand of the media machine. After four years of evidence to the contrary, the nation chose the same old hope and change because (in my opinion) it was convinced by cable news that four more years of it would make a difference. Never has it been more evident that the greatest failure of democracy is when the people realize they can vote themselves a raise. We will see a mind boggling expansion of social spending in the next four years, you can go right ahead and take that to the bank. Spending which will never be reversed by the way, as is the policy of government under any party leadership. We will never recover from the debt we will incur.

This leads me to address one final thing. My hope is in the Lord. No matter what happens next, at the end of the day I will lean on Him and no one else for the future. Tomorrow I go right back to doing the work of the Kingdom I was doing today. That being said, my trust in Him is not exclusive from my passion and involvement regarding the future of the nation. There are two things you can count on from social media at any given time: vitriolic hate, and vitriolic hate disguised as righteousness. A lot of people have said a lot of stupid things throughout the course of this election, but even more frustrating than that for me have been the equally stupid responses from people challenging the faith or Christianity of those original posters because they had a passionate (though sometimes poorly or unwisely expressed) opinion about the goings on of the last few months.

Yes, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, but could you please point me in the direction of the scripture that says “be ye ignorant” or “being informed and involved is as the sin of witchcraft”? You would sure think it existed. We have to be careful no to ruin our witness with declarative statements to be sure, but we can do just as much damage railing on each other for making declarative statements. Get it together people. Hammering on the brethren for being invested in the political process accomplishes nothing more than the statements you’re so quick to crucify. The only way we will ever sway the opinion of man is through rational conversation and debate, not the initiation of a global flame war. I’ve been guilty of some excessive political fervor in the past few days, but thankfully I had the good sense to make it right and move on without making a fool of myself by viciously going on the attack to defend my thoughts. Let’s all do the same, yeah? There is an art to disagreeing agreeably, inside the church and out.

There is something about social media that has removed civility from our discourse. I have no doubt that in generations to come, millions will be spent to study the negative effects an always connected lifestyle has on our society. Tweet and Facebook responsibly. Once something is on the internet, it’s there forever, and you’re not as anonymous as you think. Look at it this way: if you wouldn’t stand in the middle of a crowded street and scream it at the top of your lungs, you probably shouldn’t post it. That’s my two cents on the matter. It’s now 4:30, and as much as I love you all I need to try and sleep, headache or not.

SOMEBODY SHOUT!!!

It’s not a small secret that it was my desire for our first born to be a boy. We’ve chosen the names of both of our desired children based on special meaning. The boy’s name was chosen based on the hope that he would be our first born. Make no mistake, I would have been jumping up and down like a middle school cheer leader if our baby had been a girl, but we got a little boy.

Today we saw his smiling little face in all it’s 3D glory. Truth is, our little boy is quite a ham. There hasn’t been a single ultrasound where he didn’t suddenly start moving, and showing off. The first time he was swimming around like a dolphin. The second time he rolled over, looked right at the ultrasound wand, then scratched his head. Today, he looked up at the ultrasound tech, then cocked his head to the side and lifted his chin almost as if he was saying, “oh hey, get my good side”. Not only was it hilarious, but tears resounded.

Yes there are pictures, no we won’t post them. Yes, we’ve picked names, no we won’t tell them. Don’t worry, you’ll know soon enough .

I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of wonder I have today. God has been working miracle after miracle in our lives. One thing right after the other in mind blowing back to back fashion. From the conception of this child, to the miracles happening in church, to the answered prayer above and beyond what we asked for in a car. It may seem cheesy to you, but then you may or may not have experienced what I have.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the future. I’ve prayed and cried over this child since it was conceived, and now that I know I’m having a son, I’ve started praying for a calling on his life, a tender heart toward God, and so much more. Danelle went in for one of her many pregnancy potty breaks, and all I could do was sit there in tears and pray for our son. I don’t imagine that will be changing any time soon. Needless to say, I’m grateful, I’m blessed, and I can barely contain myself.

Well, my space bar on my tablet keyboard keeps sticking, so I’m going to go ahead and sign off now. Danelle, my son, and I will see you at church tomorrow.

Peace.

For me, the change from a single man to a married man was pretty easy to adjust to. Sure, my level of responsibility increased dramatically, but it wasn’t hard to handle. I love and support my wife in every conceivable way, but should my time on this earth suddenly end, I know she would be able to carry on without me. There was compromise, the establishing of a career, a tremendous growth in ministry, and many more things that came along with my union to my beautiful bride, but nothing like what is coming now. As adults we’ve compromised, worked together, and learned to combine our lives as one in a way that I knew was possible, but still sometimes awes me to observe.

The baby is a much more significant task. Let me be perfectly clear at the outset of this next section of blog: I am happy, thrilled, elated, overjoyed, and generally giddy over becoming a dad. Make no mistake. I am not complaining, lamenting, or expressing chagrin in any way. I’m simply beginning to experience a different set of thoughts and emotions, a set I have not previously had to deal with. This new part of life will require more of me than anything ever has. This little life that is coming into this world needs me completely. It needs me attention, my love, my strength, my protection, my conviction, and so much more. If I was to suddenly leave this earth now, his or her life would forever be altered. In spite of my optimism in life, there is nothing in the world that could possibly prepare me for this.

I didn’t know it was possible to love something I’ve never actually met this much. All I’ve seen of this baby are grainy ultrasound images. I don’t know what it looks like, what sex it is, or even what color its eyes are, yet I have such tremendous love for it. I feel protective of my wife and her baby bump like you wouldn’t believe. If you want to get yourself severely harmed, mess with either of them. I’ll go to prison with a smile on my face.

At the exact same time I am completely flooded with terror. I look around my office, smile at the vision of a nursery, then my face falls at the thought of the loss of my last bastion of personal space. What am I going to do about my work? I can’t afford a house yet, what about the child growing? Panic sets in, and I sit there staring at the walls like they’re closing in on me. I know they’re not. My mind and heart tell me this is the greatest journey I’ll ever take, but it doesn’t seem to calm the hurricane of emotional upheaval in me. I know as things continue to progress I’ll understand them better. I know that after I see our baby for the first time, all of this will fade away. Until then, I’ll cope as best as I can, and continue to love and support my family in every way I can think of.

Every book I’ve ever read, every article I’ve consumed, tells me that my duty now is to support my wife as our child grows inside her. Support her emotionally, physically, and on whatever other way she might need. With pleasure and joy I will do so. You know what they have yet to tell me? Who’s supporting dad. Looks like something I’ll just have to find out.

I love you Nell. I can’t wait to meet our little one.

As you may or may not have known, my trusty iPad 2 was involved in a roadway mishap, never to be seen again. As you can imagine, I’m not typing this post on it, as, well, it was never to be seen again. Instead, I managed to find a quite excellent deal on its older cousin, the iPad 1, which I am now using as my trusty Apple sidekick. In the sad moments between Apple tablets, my company provided me with the latest and greatest in 7″ tabletry: the Nexus 7.

After spending a bit of time with the Nexus, I’m very happy to say that it is an EXCELLENT device. Android Jelly Bean has finally, in my opinion, provided users with a fully matured Android experience. Unfortunately, I found the app ecosphere to be nearly as lacking as it was when I left Android a year ago. I naturally rooted the device immediately, and have gone ahead installing some cool custom apps you generally don’t find on any sort of Droid. I’m keeping it around because of its sheer portable awesomeness, as I’m afraid the 7″ form factor isn’t exactly chord chart friendly for those of us of the musical persuasion.

It’s not really much in the way of a review, I know, but this isn’t a tech blog entry as much as a cacophony of randomness.

My wife is packed and ready to go for SIS Retreat tomorrow, and as such, this means a couple of days getting reacquainted with my bachelor side. Translation? Me, sitting around, working late, playing video games, and another two days of our very exciting feature: Bachelor Recipes By Matt! What is the reason for this wonderful revisiting of our beloved past? Well, I’m rather broke, which makes for EXCELLENT bachelor recipes. It also lets me use EXCELLENT in caps over and over again. Booyah.

My good friends, please stay tuned for all the excitement that is to come. Please enjoy, and bye bye now.