Pat Hawks

Geekist Thing I've Done All Day

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:55:49 PDT

Here we have the album cover for Unconditional Acceleration by Nullsleep (whom I was obsessing over a few months ago).

But if we download this image, change the extension from .jpg to .mp3, then open the file, strange things start to happen....

Mountains Look Cool, I'm Told

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:35:52 PDT

The first time I saw the Rocky Mountains (ask me sometime about driving the RV through a snow storm at 2am) I was quite disappointed with how small they looked.

I guess I was expecting everything to be totally flat, with one gigantic peak touching the sky.

Obviously, that's not how the Rocky Mountains really are. Of course when you're 9000 feet above sea level, a 12000 feet peak doesn't look as high as it actually is.

But a couple weeks ago in Colorado I noticed something especially peculiar.

I was looking at a line of mountains in the distance; they all appeared to be the same height.
Well, except that some peaks were totally covered in snow while others were covered with trees.

Now, using what I know about nature and science, I deduced that there was no conceivable way that these peaks were all the same height.

Why did they look like they were the same height to me?
I have no depth perception.

Because my eyes don't point in just the right direction at the same time, the way I see the world with both eyes open looks no different than the way I see the world with only one eye open.

It's very difficult for me to judge distance, which makes it fun for my friends (Kevin) to throw things at me, because it's so hard for me to catch anything.

Anyway, back to the mountains.

While all mountains on the horizon appear to be equidistant from me, of course they are not.

Brent tells me that I'm really missing out. He says that the way some mountains appear close while others appear very far away makes them look even more majestic.

I wouldn't know.
But I wouldn't know that I didn't know if it hadn't been for noticing the snow capped peaks (this was my first time in the Rockies not during winter).

Colorado: Wrap up

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:56:11 PDT

View Slideshow

What an amazing trip.

I've been home for a couple days now and I'm still decompressing.
Actually, I've been sleeping pretty much the whole time. Staying up late and waking up early is not as easy for me as it used to be.

I met lots of amazing people, all of whom I want to stay in touch with.

It was really good to remember what it's like to do youth ministry.
I really do believe that this is what I am built for.

I got to tell some of my favorite stories, like why I left the news business, how I burnt down much of Riverside, the notorious Madrid Freakout, and many other good ones.

It was also good to talk to Brent about what it means to "do ministry."
He reminded me, once again, that I don't need to have a title and pull a paycheck to work for the Lord.

I defiantly feel like I got more out of this trip than I contributed, but I suppose that's what happens when the Holy Spirit gets involved.

I'll have a couple more stories later, like how my lack of depth perception really skews my view of the mountains, but right now I think I'll just keep listening to country music and praying.

View Colorado Youth Trip 2009 in a larger map

Colorado: Day 2-4

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:07:41 PDT

I really meant to post everyday.
I really did.

Fortunately there have been plenty of other things to keep me busy.
We've stained bridges, benches, chairs and decks.
We've picked up rocks and branches, and shoveled dirt onto horse trails.
We've consumed lots of coffee and meat, and gone on plenty of hikes in the mountains.
Everywhere we go, people tell us what a blessing we are.

This week has been absolutely amazing in all respects.

It's amazing to see highschoolers who are so mature.
And maturing.
And strong.

This feels so much more like the ministry of Christ than just studying apologetics or giving a sermon, yet tonight I am more restless than I've been in quite a while.

After all the things I've seen and experienced, it is very easy for me to find faith.
Faith in a creator.
Faith in a savior.
Faith in hope.
Yet, what comes so easy for me is such a struggle for others.
Perhaps even more troubling is that there are other people in the world that have opposing convictions just as strong as mine.

Why can't I shake the feeling that there's something I should be doing about all this?

This week I have felt totally at home.
I know I need to be doing more of these sorts of things.

Colorado: Day 1

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:07:48 PDT

Things I learned today...

Elk. They are everywhere.
Brent loves fishing.
The word pwn is always funny when said aloud.
High Schoolers are much more mature than they let on.

Colorado: Day 0

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:07:56 PDT

Spending the week in Colorado with some youth from Zion.

We're going to be doing some service work, and plenty of hiking in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

We're at about 7800 feet.
Everything is really pretty, and the air is very thin.

Going to be an awesome week.
Stay tuned for updates.

And check my Flickr account for new photos posted daily.

National Cancer Survivors Day

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:14:48 PDT

Yesterday I filled in for Dr. Warner on his radio show, House Calls.

My guest was Dr. John Okerbloom from Heartland Oncology & Hematology.
Dr. Okerbloom himself is a cancer survivor, and talked about his experiences battling prostate cancer.

Biking

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:25:11 PDT

I've been biking quite a bit recently.

I really enjoy going out on the trails.
Sometimes I go by my self and enjoy my quite time, but more often I go with Christine or Kevin.

While I biked quite a bit when I was younger, since I started driving I hadn't spent much time on a bike at all until about a month ago.
Xtreme Wheels, a local bike store in Council Bluffs, set me up with a nice Gary Fisher G2 Advance.
Zach has really helped me get acquainted with my bike and how to keep it in good shape. I seem to be in the shop about every week with a new question or buying a new toy to bolt onto my bike.
I would highly recommend Xtreme Wheels to anybody in the Omaha area. These guys know what's up.

Since getting my bike a little more than a month ago, I've put just over 200 miles on it.
I'm still getting comfortable riding, so I haven't done much challenging stuff yet (though one afternoon, my buddy Derek schooled me in true mountain biking).

It's a lot of fun to spend the evening zipping around the Omaha trails on a bike, and it's a great workout.

Great Wraps

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:46:38 PDT

Great Wraps in Washington D.C.'s Union Station.
I had a delicious spicy chicken pita, proving to my future-nurse girlfriend that it is possible to eat tasty, healthy food in a food court.

After we ate, we saw some other things...

Big Things

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:54:54 PDT

A lot has been happening lately.
More than I could begin to describe in one blog post.

Suffice it to say I have learned there are some things in life that I am just built for, and no matter how hard I try I cannot escape that.

That said, I plan on coming out of retirement.

More details to come.

XHTML Nutrition Markup

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:27:40 PST

I am working on getting a blog setup for Dirty Suds Design and, once that happens, I'll be posting a lot of technical stuff over there.
But it's not ready yet and I need some input today, so I'm posting here.
I'm working on marking up a Nutrition Facts table in XHTML and I want it to be as semantic as possible. I found a few nice looking examples with CSS, but none of them were very microformat friendly.
At Dirty Suds, we design with Web 3.0 in mind, so I want to make sure I'm doing this in the smartest way possible.
I'm not sure about the use of <hr />
I like to separate content from presentation, but I also like flexibility.
I'm still working on the CSS, but if you'd like what I've got, I can post that too.
So here's my code. Any input would be much appreciated.

<div class="nutrition">

<h3>Nutrition Facts</h3>

<dl>

<dt class="servingsize type">Serving Size</dt>

<dd class="servingsize thickline value">1 Meal</dd>

</dl>

<hr class="thick" />

<h4 class="amountperserving">Amount Per Serving</h4>

<dl>

<dt class="calories type">Calories</dt>

<dd class="calories value">200</dd>

<dt class="caloriesfromfat type">Calories from Fat</dt>

<dd class="caloriesfromfat value">70</dd>

</dl>

<hr />

<h4 class="dailyvalue">% Daily Value*</h4>

<dl>

<dt class="fat type">Total Fat</dt>

<dd class="fat value">8g <span class="percent">12%</span></dd>

<dt class="saturatedfat type">Saturated Fat</dt>

<dd class="saturatedfat value">1g <span class="percent">5%</span></dd>

<dt class="transfat type"><span>Trans</span> Fat</dt>

<dd class="transfat value">0g</dd>

<dt class="polyfat type">Polyunsaturated Fat</dt>

<dd class="polyfat value">5g</dd>

<dt class="monofat type">Monounsaturated Fat</dt>

<dd class="monofat value">1.5g</dd>

<dt class="cholesterol type">Cholesterol</dt>

<dd class="cholesterol value">0mg <span class="percent">0%</span></dd>

<dt class="sodium type">Sodium</dt>

<dd class="sodium value">640mg <span class="percent">27%</span></dd>

<dt class="potassium type">Potassium</dt>

<dd class="potassium value">410g <span class="percent">12%</span></dd>

<dt class="carbs type">Total Carbohydrate</dt>

<dd class="carbs value">20g <span class="percent">7%</span></dd>

<dt class="fiber type">Dietary Fiber</dt>

<dd class="fiber value">3g <span class="percent">12%</span></dd>

<dt class="sugars type">Sugars</dt>

<dd class="sugars value">2g</dd>

<dt class="protein type">Protein</dt>

<dd class="protein value">12g</dd>

</dl>

<hr class="thick" />

<p>* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily calues may be

higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.</p>

</div>

Cover It.

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:18:29 PST

Create your band's first CD cover.
1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop (or similar) to put it all together.

5 - Post it and tag the friends you want to join in.

(I stole the photo from Pedro Moura Pinheiro on Flickr. Thanks for doing the Creative Commons thing ;)

High 5

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:55:09 PDT

Friendship means more than giving the occasional pat on the back, which is unfortunate because they're easy to give.

Hot Sauce

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:20:10 PST

Christine got me a Make your own Hot Sauce kit for my birthday.
In April.
10 months ago.

Yesterday, I decided to make my own hot sauce.
Sometimes I get a little distracted.

I found a great recipe online for Liquid Fire. I didn't have a can of peaches, so I added pineapple juice and I added a few jalapeños, just because I love jalapeños. Other than that, I followed the recipe as well as I ever follow instructions

The sauce turned out just fine.
I had some on my eggs, and put some on a sausage.
Really tastey stuff.
Not terribly spicy either, since I used those jalapeños instead of a couple habaneros.

Only problem was, when I was slicing and seeding the peppers, I wasn't wearing any gloves. I did it all with my bear hands.
When I was finished, my cuticles were burning like crazy!

I washed my hands furiously with soap and water, but the burning wouldn't go away.

Later in the evening, I realized my face and eyes felt funny. Instinctively, I rubbed my noes and eyes, and they started burning.
The more I rubbed, the more they burned!

I realized I must still have had some capsaicin on my fingers.

On the way to the bathroom to wash my face, my eyes were watering up so bad I couldn't see.

Still today, my fingers burn.
I have to force myself to refrain from touching my face.

This is how I want to live my life, to have a profound impact on those around me that cannot be washed off with soap.

Know what you don't know

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:57:55 PST

Christine, Dr. Warner, my buddy Kevin and I are spending the week in beautiful Colorado at Vista Verde Ranch.

We have been doing a lot of cross country skiing and taking in the scenery. We even went dog sledding Tuesday afternoon.

Of course, since we're staying at a ranch, we went horseback riding a few times too.

Yesterday, Christine and I were learning how to trot on a horse. To tell the horse to go faster, you click your teeth and squeeze with your legs.

While we were on the trail, my horse got a little confused and took the wrong path when we came to a fork in the road. Fortunately, I had already learned to correct a horse when he does something wrong, so I got him turned around and back on the right track, but not before the others in my group were quite a ways ahead of me on the trail.

I decided to practice my trot, so I clicked my teeth, squeezed with my legs, and even threw in a small kick with my heels.

My horse thought I meant for him to take off like lightning, and just like that we blasted off down the trail toward the others.

The problem was that I had not learned how to stay on a horse that's running sprints, so I'm gripping the saddle for dear life and screaming "WOAH! WOAH!"

Finally, we met up with the others and my horse slowed down. The instructor told me that when I want my horse to stop, I need to not only give a verbal command but also pull back on the reigns.
I explained that it was not "woah" as in stop. It was "woah" as in "I hope I don't die!"

This was a good reminder to me that, many times in life, it is important to know what we don't know.
Don't pretend like you're an expert horse rider when it's only your second time on a horse (in the past 6 years).

Headed to Colorado

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:55:23 PDT

Gone to Colorado.
Be back soon.

Grinch Cat

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 04:36:00 PST

moar funny pictures

WicketPixie in Blogger?

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:10:12 PST

So a lot of people tonight are noticing that I am using Chris Pirillo's WicketPixie theme on my Blogger blog.
That's right. WicketPixie isn't just for WordPress anymore!

Some things you should notice...

My latest "tweet" is in my status box in the top right corner of the page.
If you click on the "Social Me" tab, you can see my latest FriendFeed entries
Comment count bubble at the top of posts on archive pages (that took some hacking)
All of this was done without modifying any widget templates, so if you click the "Reset widget templates to default" link in the layout editor, the theme won't break! This took lots of care and a little CSS tooling, but I think is important (because I've had several themes break on me, and there's nothing worse!)
The tabs at the top are coded with rel="me" links (for all the XFN junkies)

Also notice the integration with Disqus, Outbrain, Feedburner, and of course my Flickr and YouTube accounts.

So how did I do this and, more importantly, how can you use this template on your blog?
Find out in January.

Update: I forgot how busy I am all the time.
Instructions are coming, but it may be a few weeks.

Comments are back

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:55:57 PDT

Comments were disabled for about a week.

They're back now.

I just made a stnank while I was updating my template.

It's Blogger. These things happen.

pHat riNO

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:56:10 PDT

Was going through a box of old CDs in my parents basement and stumbled upon some songs I haven't heard in a long time.

When I was in high school, I wrote and recorded several songs.
I sang and played guitar.

I didn't really have a band, but I didn't want to be known just as Pat Hawks (my, how things have changed), so I developed a persona known as pHat riNO (Notice capitalization. If you look at only the lowercase letters and add "ck" to the end, you've got patrick, my first name. Really wanted an anagram, but Praktis Chawk was the closest I could get.).

Most of what was recorded is bad.
No, it's beyond bad.

But the experience of writing songs and other people listening to them was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about who I am and how I relate to people.

I'll never forget one night at my friend Kerry's house, while we were all upstairs and I was playing some of my songs, everybody else started singing along.
This had a profound impact on me, one that I'll never be able to put into words.

Sometime during my junior year of high school, the whole pHat riNO thing kind of went away.
There were several reasons for this, which I won't get into right now.

Listening to these recordings, I remember how much I love music, regardless of my talent (or lack thereof).
My buddy Kevin wants to go into the studio in February and record some songs, with me on guitar. I think that's a good idea.

Many times, I've thought about putting some of my old recordings online. I don't know if that's a good idea, or if this is even the place for that.
All of my recordings were online at one time, but I deleted my Geocities page a long time ago.

Meh.

George W. Cam

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:56:24 PDT

To make a short story long as I usually do...
Dr. Warner's dad has (had) a cat named Spike.
A few months ago, Dr. Warner, his brother and their dad went on vacation to New Brunswick.
They took Spike along for the ride.
Spike ran away at the camp ground.
He didn't get lost, he ran away.
A couple weeks after they got back from vacation, Dr. Warner got a call from the folks who ran the campground.
They found Spike.
Dr. Warner took a few days off work to go pick up his father's cat.
You can listen to Dr. Warner tell his side of the story at his radio show's website.
So Dr. Warner get's back with "Spike" (that's another story I don't think I'm allowed to post online), and the cat freaks out and hides in the basement.
The cat is still hiding in Dr. Warner's basement.
So Dr. Warner and I set up a hidden camera that takes pictures of Spike when he gets near his food dish.
The camera will automatic upload the pictures it takes to the internet, so you too can spy on Spike!
Of course, Christine thinks I'm nuts.

In closing, I leave you with a photo of Spike before the vacation to Canada, and a picture of Spike when he came home. Interesting, huh?

Happy Caturday.

Recieving Graciously

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:56:38 PDT

Was browsing some old home videos and stumbled upon this gem from Christmas 1993.

What really struck me was the difference between my brother's and my reaction to our presents.

I could find something grumpy to say about everything I opened, where for my brother, everything he opened was "just what he always wanted."

Which are you?

Thom's head is on fire

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:56:52 PDT

This was my first taste of video editing, from April 2003.

So stupid.

Litter Rap

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:57:07 PDT

I have always had two passions.
Protecting the environment, and making percussive noises with my mouth.

When I was 5, I decided I could use my amazing beat boxing talent and my mad rap skills to warn people about the dangers of littering, and how it can lead to spontaneous generation in this music video.

My brother tried to take the spotlight from me, but I can shout louder than he can, so it all worked out, I guess.

Nullsleep

pat@pathawks.com (Pat Hawks) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:47:37 PST

So I don't usually use my blog to make music recomendations or anything like that (that's what my last.fm profile is for).
But today I can't resist.

Drop whatever you're doing right now.
It's not as important as this.

Check out the band Nullsleep.
They use instruments like the Game Boy or even more old school Nintendo Entertaimnent System to make their music.
And it really rocks!

If you're not sure where to start, check out the song Supernova Kiss.

This stuff is incredible.
Not only did I grow up listening to soundtracks like this in all my favorite games, but my dad used to synthisize music on his Atari ST, so I've always had an appreciation for interesting music.

How's that for a non-pointy blog, Dan? Or do you even still read my blog?
Cute little kid video tomorrow. I promise.
My blog is turning into a big circus. Not sure how I feel about that.