Frazier Blog

Day 0 travel day

Thank you dad for getting me to the airport ontime for my 6am flight. It was quite a bumpy ride out of pdx but I enjoy the 2-1 deal of a roller coaster and flight. Found out Greg Moore was on the flight and had a good time chatting with him.

Jfk was jfk. At this point I was just excited to get going. I enterted at the exact wrong end up the terminal and my gate was the furthest away. After a long walk it was time to board.

I badly needed sleep by now and quickly feel asleep after we took off as the sun was setting. I woke up hours later to the sun rising.

As I write this we are 45 minutes away and I know I’m going to Europe but since I have never been I don’t think I realize how amazing this is going to be.

Ready for culture shock,
Paul

For the next three weeks Frazier blog will attempt to capture my experience as I make my way through Europe. For those of you who don’t know I start working in the real world July 12tb and once I found this out I got an itch to go travel.

My intenirary is a bold one. I plan on visting in 7-8 countires during my trip. I want to see as many place as possible so I know where I want to come back to. If you have been to Europe before please tell me your favorite thing to do at these places. My route is. London-Paris-interlaken-cinque terre-Florence-Rome-Venice-Salzburg-Rhine area-Amsterdam(tbd)-Brussels.

For the last 16 years I have always been trying to do my best. Get the higest score and the best grade possible. For the next three weeks my goal is simple, see one sight, any sight, and meet one person. Once that has happened my goal for the trip has been met. A very low pressure trip.

I am excited and nervous to see what this trip brings. I can’t wait to experience new cultures, meet new people, see amazing scenery and art and for gelato. I am traveling by myself for the most part. By sheer luck two of my friends are flying into London the same day and we picked the same hostel without talking. While I certainly have no problem meeting people I still think this trip will push me out my comfort zone.

I thought about listing what I am most excited for, however I am truly excited for the whole trip. I will try and blog and post photos as much as possible.

Ready to explore,

Paul Frazier

On Friday night I went to downtown Portland to help serve with Nightstrike, a event hosted by Bridgetown Ministries. Nightstrike is a ministry that seeks to love on the homeless in the Portland area and show them the amazing love that Christ pours into us and out through us. I had an amazing experience serving God and loving on the people of Portland.

I arrived downtown at Liberation Street Church to attend the orientation and then go serve under the Burnside bridge. The orientation started with some worship to prepare our hearts to serve. Then came the meat of the orientation. Finally an orientation that was short and to the point; well done Bridgetown.

God certainly does have a sense of humor. At Nightstrike they have many ways to serve.  People can serve by washing feet, cutting hair, washing hair, distributing clothes, serving food, having great dialogue and many other awesome opportunities. I thought that all of those sounded great, but I had personally decided that I would not wash feet. I told Allie this as I drove downtown and she said “well maybe you should do it then.” But I assured her that I was already getting out of my comfort zone enough by hanging out with people under the Burnside bridge on a Friday night. As the orientation proceeded I felt God telling me, that I would be washing feet. And by the time the staff person took the mic to assign jobs I knew I would be washing feet. Then just to confirm it, the staff member said “Whatever you want to do, don’t do it, do the activity you don’t want to do.” Well that settled it, my role would be washing feet.

As I walked from the Church to the bridge I was with two girls. One of whom had done feet washing before. She assured me that it was not bad, and was a great experience. I said a quick prayer and then we were under the bridge. I made my way over to the foot washing area and listened for instructions. We were shown how to fill the tubs for washing, the flow of the process and what to expect. Now it was time to wash feet.

I put on gloves and walked up to someone waiting by the side and asked if they were waiting to have their feet washed. He said “yes.”  I told him to sit down in the chair. I introduced myself to him and he told me his name was “Mike.” His tub of water arrived and I knelt down to wash his feet.

What an experience. Instantly all my fears, and worries about being disgusted or embarrassed by washing strangers feet washed away. Mike and I had a normal conversation and I learned about his life and his travels around the country and his experience in hurricane Katrina. I finished washing his feet and started to dry them off. He told me about his plans to get a job, now that he had gotten his ID back after his wallet had been stolen. I gave him his new socks and he thanked me and went on his way. Then it was my turn to fill and empty used tubs. And repeat.

Throughout the night, I washed many feet and carried on normal conversations with each person. Many told me of their plans to get back on their feet. One man told me of his plan to get his GED, while another was struggling just to move around with his visibly swollen ankles. I felt that the act of washing their feet showed that I truly cared about them and created a great way to get to know them. You could tell that each person genuinely appreciated the act of service we were providing. Many, if not all remarked how nice it felt to have their feet washed. I was thinking, how weird it would be to not to have access to a shower on a daily basis.

The location of Nightstrike creates an almost surreal environment. It occurs in the same location of Saturday market, right in front of a MAX stop. The stop acts as window between two linked, yet different worlds. I felt transported into Batman begins, in the scene where the Wayne family is riding the Monorail through the city and Bruce’s father is talking about the plight of some in the city. I could see people staring out of the MAX onto the seemingly bizarre scene of people washing the feet of the homeless. For many the scene appears as one from an world seprated from their own, one they see but may never intract with. I could picture myself in the MAX and the countless times I have looked out onto the homeless while I have gone through the city. Myself being in that separate world. In this world there is so much that separates us, but yet we are all created by God and that should matter so much more then what our social class is.  For those brief moments on Friday night, I felt as if I was just having coffee with a friend, or meeting a new person and getting to know them and what is going on in their life. The acts of serivce that were being provided under that bridge cut down the differneces and linked the two worlds and connected the lives of Gods people. I love connecting with new people.

While washing feet I felt the joy of God through serving and loving on this group people. Serving always fills by heart and mind with such happiness. It never fails to amaze me how much serving for the right reasons energizes my life. While I know God is with me always,  in these moments I feel directly connected to God. I felt that being a part of this event truly had shown God’s love to more people in the city of Portland. This is very important to me as I feel that Christians, including my self, need to do way less talking and way more action. This year I have a desire to serve myself less and serve others more. I plan on doing this event again and hope that some of you will join me next time. As I head back to Eugene I hope I will be able to find other ways to serve and most importantly, take the time to do so.

As i have been reading the book of Acts I see the early church preaching , but they were also out in the community serving others. As Marshal the founder of Bridgetown said before we went out into the city “tonight instead of just going to church, we are being the Church.” I think most churches and myself included need to focus less on going to church and work harder on being the church.

Honored to be used by God,

Paul

I was reading an article on WashingtonPost.com and liked this comment.

Dear concerned citizens of America and mass media of the U.S.A.

As a concerned disabled American Veteran and American citizen, I consider it my duty and responsibility to address the following critical issues facing the voters of our Greatgrand nation, the United States of America [USA].

The citizens of the United States of America [USA] have the ultimate power and responsibility to elect the Right Ticket with the right joint “temperament, judgment, and statesmanship” to lead our nation as well as change our nation’s present and future moral, political, economic, educational, health care, energy, military, and foundational soul.
In my firm professional, personal, and political opinion, the media should help the common voter to explore and discuss the following attributes of the present Republican and Democratic presidential slates:
1. Does the joint ticket have a calm, cool, and collected ” temper and impulse” [Presidential Temperament]?
2. Does each ticket have sound and sustained “Judgment and Caliber”?
3. Does each ticket have a “presidential depth and degree” in regard to their purpose, policies, and positions?
4. Does each ticket have adequate, “understanding and knowledge” of workings around Washington”?
5. Does each ticket have enough “vigor, wisdom and Vision” for the future of our beloved Great-grand Nation?
6. Does each ticket possess enough joint foreign policy experience and ex-poser based on “American Values, Virtues, Vastness, and strong soul”?
7. Are their campaign talk, slogans, ads, plans, and programs based on facts and are they free of fear, fiction, frivolous labels, unfair attacks, negativity, and impulsivity?

If your answer to a majority of the above questions is yes, I suggest you vote for that ticket. As a Independent registered voter I have decided to vote for Obama-Biden ticket. I am sure they will protect our national security, Strong’s, stamina and strong soul. Rebuild our nation from bottom up in all areas of need, OBAMA-BIDEN ticket will once again restore and rebuild our global standing with the use of maximum international humane diplomacy and minimal force if and when indicated.
Yours sincerely,

COL. A.M. Khajawall [Ret] MD., Forensic psychiatrist, Colonel, US-AR / MC Combat Stress Control[Ret], Disabled American Veteran and Iraq Freedom team.
PS: This nation will not buy into kitchen sink approah. We are getting deeper into internal and external holes thru these attack and world is laughing on us and enjoying our kitchen sink gimmics. I am sure GOP.RNC, FOX, RUSH, And McCains his surrogates will fail to dupe, decieve, and deprive USA its deserved leadership.

Here is a video of what the GOP really thinks about Palin. This was recoreded when they thought the mics were off.

GOP thoughts on Palin

I thought Sarah Palin delivered a great speech last night. However, I did not like the tone and approach she took. While the first half, of the speech where she described herself, was funny and delivered well. The second half became a negative monster, full of attack lines and little substance.

While I myself have said the experience card is dumb, I have to wonder, do I really want “just your average hockey mom” being one 72 year old man, away from picking up the phone at 3am?

Here is an interesting article that breaks down claims by Sarah Palin last night. It looks at what was true and false.

I did not like how she claimed “But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate.”

Yet the facts say “but he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.”

I am excited to watch the debates,

Paul

After CNNBRK sent out the following twitter update (tweet) “Jamaica’s Usain Bolt wins the men’s 100 meters gold medal in a world record time at the Beijing Olympics.” I was frustrated as I wanted to try and watch it, without knowing who won. Then came the tweet that helped to give me 15 seconds of fame in the geek world. “U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps wins a record eighth Olympic gold medal with his victory in the 4×100 medley relay.”

I sent a frustrated tweet at CNNBRK saying “idiots! I am removing you for the rest of the games. Do you like being jerks!?!?!?”

Apparently I either did it fast or well because techcrunch.com chose to use my tweet in a story about people being frustrated with CNNBRK spoiling Olympic results. The headline read “CNN Doesn’t Include Spoiler Alert In Tweets, Twitter Users Say It Ruined Olympics” They used my tweet and another users to show some peoples frustrations with the results being spoiled.

Almost all of the 84 comments thought we had it coming. Since we were “subscribed to a breaking news service.” On one level I agree with them. However, yesterday was the first time that CNN had posted breaking news results during the Olympic games. Many medals had already been won and other world records smashed but yesterday was the first day that any Olympic news had been sent out. Slow news day? So I was a little bit surprised that two announcements came out on the same day. Many comments took aim at NBC for not showing the Olympics live, I too wish that NBC would show more (or anything for the west coast) live, but the fact is they are not.

I think my rage at CNNBRK was compounded by many other spoiled results. I have stumbled upon results before I watch them when looking for other world news throughout the week. I seem to recall that four years ago many websites offered spoiler results before they proclaimed the results to world. Can we PLEASE bring these back? I hate going to CNN or NYTimes and seeing the event i was excited to watch spoiled.

I did sent a note to the NYTimes asking them to add a spoiler alert and have removed CNN from my twitter account.

My friend Matt has started a petition asking NBC to show the events live next time. Go sign it.

Now about events being live. I can understand why NBC is doing it the way they are. People are watching and advertisers are buying more ad time. I could be wrong but I don’t think as may people would watch finals if they were showed at 6am or other off peak hours. Although Matt does make a great point that they could then rebroadcast it in prime time.

While, it was fun seeing my name get on techcruch.com, if it ever happens again I hope it will be for something more impressive.

Enjoying the Olympics (spoiled or not),

Paul

I really like that CNN has started to put op-ed articles on its front page.  And allows a very diverse group of people to write pieces.

This one caught my attention and I think it has a great message. It is about the experience of adopting and urging Christians to help more with the problem of orphan children. Click here to read

I really found this article to be moving.  I think if more Christians did actions like this instead of just talking the world would have a much better picture of Jesus.

This article makes me ask myself, how am I loving the ones who need love the most?

Made glorious by Him,

Paul

After a week of iPhone use here is my first review. After this short summary an in-depth review will follow. Overall I really like the iPhone. The UI is quick, easy and fun to use.  The screen is gorgeous and responds to touch very well. Connecting to wireless networks and exchange is easy. 90% of the phone has  been thought out incredibly well, but there is about 10% of stuff that needs to be smoothed out. The 2.1 software has already entered beta so the phone is only going to get better. Overall, if you are waiting to get this phone, go get it.  Unless, you have no way to charge your phone during the day.

Currently five things need to be fixed for me to fully embrace the phone. Four are software issues and one is hardware.

1. Turn by turn navigation, the iphone has a plefera of apps that tell me  where cool stuff is but not how I get there.
2. Skype on the phone, why Skype or someone else has not made a native app yet confuses me. Truphone already is available for download showing that Apple will keep their word an allow voip over WiFi. Truphone costs ~6cents a minute while Skype costs 3 bucks a month for unlimited calling in the US.  From a cost stand point of calling within the US Skype dominates.
3. The ability to type in landscape mode for email, texts and anything else I want. This really is a simple software change. The feature exists already in safari, now it just needs to be porter over to the rest of the phone. It would make typing much better!!!
4. Copy and paste. Enough said.
5. Better battery life. So far in my tests battery is pretty weak, even with lite use I can’t make it all day( 8am to 10pm) without a charge in the middle. Maybe a software upgrade will help with this. I have push enabled, which drains life, and 3g disabled, so that saves me some.

I hope 2,1 comes soon and has fixes for the first four, well besides Skype they just need to publish that!!

I wrote 90% of this on my iPhone. The typing takes alittle while to get used to. I found that the key is taking a leap of faith. Once you trust that it will autocorrect, you can use two thumbs and go to town. Once more apps enable rotating to landscape for a bigger keyboard, typing will be even easier.

Until next time,
Paul

Just read this over at slashdot.org. Very interesting. I know I have heard about this before, but this article explains and exposes the lies of power and signal meters we use everyday.

Check it out.

Surprised by the radically different Wordpress after an upgrade,

Paul

Day one of my iPhone has been marred by ATT messing up. They someone managed to not only remove the text messaging plan from my phone, but all four of our lines. I realized this after I was not getting any texts and a text to GOOGLE never came back.

I have already made one phone and the issue is resolved from the technical side, but now i have 1-2 months of billing headache. Because I am going to be charged two pro rated amounts, so i get to call in after 30 days. Yay. And they also removed the discount I was getting on the plan, so now I have to go back to the store.

As a shareholder in both T and APPL I am disapointed in how this launch has been handled.

However, the phone is amazing! It is so easy to use and fun at the same time.

Hope to talk to you soon,

Paul