http://virb.com/isralduke Virb 2.0 (@isralduke) en http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/343422 live in the knowledge of God’s provision for my needs (Genesis 22:14).i know from Jesus’ own lessons that God will care for me and see to it that my basic needs, and sometimes even my wants (within civilized parameters) (Psalm 37:4), aren’t unmet.

i have a lot of reasons to be anxious sometimes: [[ Will i impress the client? Will my boss buy me Adobe CS3 for use? Are my parents going to work this out? Will she like me? ]] These are not bad things for my attention, true, because then i can take them to God in prayer (1 Peter 5:7). Yet, insisting on dwelling upon them to the point of worry is like yanking them from God’s hands and pulling them to myself, when i can’t even change me own hair color (without salon help) (Matthew 5:36). The advertising world leaves all kinds of other reasons at the doors of my heart to be anxious: [[ Ooh, look at that car! Hm, all these new shareware apps. Man, i want a new intel Mac! ]]

When i am not content with God’s provision for the basics (1 Timothy 6:8), i actually open the doors for envy and materialism, a forever spiral into incessant, unending cravings for things that do not fill me. In his book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis, through the mouth of Screwtape, explained addiction: an addiction is anything for which there is an increasing need and a diminishing pleasure return — bankrupt joy. Not being content, then, is a spiritual equivalent of chemical dependency. Thus, it is important for me to be content.

How then, should i now live in contentment? This is something i ask of myself right now. Honestly, contentment is something i am working on! It was my prayer request for last week.

Here is where i have begun my thoughts: maybe i can’t be content until i’m thankful. What reasons have i to be thankful? Thankfulness establishes in my own mind the things which God has already done in my life. Knowing the things which God has already done in my life establishes a basis for knowledge that He will continue to provide. This is the first reason to thank God.]]> Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:27:46 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/343422 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341436

]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:38 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341436 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341435


]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:38 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341435 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341434 Legos become even cooler. So now you can integrate USB 2 and Bluetooth into your Lego creations. Wow, I guess they'll go even further than I did with my simple anime-wannabe robot ten years ago.]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:37 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341434 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341433 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:37 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341433 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341432


]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:37 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341432 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341431
i remember standing in the gradfather's workroom / study. i saw all of the grandfather's tools, books, model planes, drafting tools, notepads, cassette tapes of songs from the 1940's, and art objects from Asia. This grandfather is loved by his grandson, the firend i helped move.

As my friend gathered some of his grandfather's prized possessions, the drafting tools and such, it occurred to me that the grandfather has memories attached to these objects. Photos of his late wife, his ship-in-a-bottle accomplishments, the memories of the 1940's, maybe when he danced with the girl who became his wife.

i watched my friend gather his grandfather's things. i knew then the grandfather would live on in his grandson. These items would hold memories for my friend of his grandfather. These items now carry new memories. My friend will also pass on in memories for his descendants with these items as well.

i couldn't help but think that it is right for my friend to have his grandfather's possessions. You know, it would be poetic for my friend, himself now an inventor, to use some of these things to make something new, as did his grandfather. Yet, my friend, can improve in areas where his grandfather did not invent, but rather, where his grandfather only followed.

My friend can set guides for his own offspring to honor him, so that none of his own children ever think that things, rather than right ideas bring happiness, so that not even one of them ever follows only his own want for the golden egg.]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:36 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341431 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341430

Envisioning Information, Yale University Press]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:36 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341430 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341429
i am not materialistic, but unfortunately the lack of money causes a lot of hardship and a lot of strife between family members: wishes unfulfilled, opportunities lost.

Yet, even if there’s a lot of money, a gargantuan pile of it, if you’re alone, then all you can have are new toys, followed by more new toys, followed by a ceaseless cascade of things which beep and/or catch the gleams of the eyes, yet offer no respite for an empty Heart.

(tangent)

(In my view, Mind is like Man and Heart is like Woman.) So what’s the danger of empty Heart? The danger is that Mind will be more weary for Heart, who empty, she cannot offer him any love, and he can offer her no communique.

Heart is Mind’s desire, Mind desires Heart, pursues her, offers her love notes, poetic rendezvouses of symbol and meaning for requittal. Heart frolics in Mind’s lavish attention. Mind, almost like a breathless chest, goes thoughtless when she smiles his way, attaching to his idea with her hearty passion. She longs to be protected by him, surrounded by him, by an encircling grid of stable constants. Heart feels important when Mind latches supportively into her aims and hopes with the decisiveness of vision to grasp the moon for her.

“Can we dream of the moon?,” she petitions.

“i’ll build a capsule for us to go there together, he breathes back.”]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:35 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341429 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341428 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:35 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341428 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341427
Politics are dirty.

Link.]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:35 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341427 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341426 ]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:34 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341426 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341425
When the paint dries you can still apply additional washes and glazes over it. Yet, each next layer of color is always influenced by the previous. The watercolor pigments are delicate, always allowing light to pass through them, always reflecting even in the past colors. The previous colors are the past of the painting.

The past always fogs over the mornings in the future of the painting, the new colors, and even in our lives. You can escape into the present or the future, but the events of the past may always color the light you reflect.

The hurts, the joys, the wishes and fears of the past remain on the malleable paper canvas of our minds, and our hearts. But i also learned that the colors can be removed.

You apply more water and a little scrubbing with the brush removes the paint. The paper may become a little more “landscaped,” textured. So, there’s always a chance for the future to be become a texture of renewed hopes and bright colors.

]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:34 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341425 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341424
i got to hang out with my Dallas family, they got to meet two of my friends, and i got a job offer at a kick ass interactive media company!

i am going to put together a presentation to show my them my own creative process: which, i think, is quite similar to theirs and would fit well with their workflow and i feel that i would click very nicely in their intraculture. It seems like this could be what i want, but i have to see first. Guys, i'll let ya'll know what i think after the ichat interview.

i also met this girl that seems like she could be really cool, but, we'll see. if she doesn't respond to my message, oh well.

Life feels like it is moving in fast-forward now, and i like it this way. Man, i cannot wait until graduation!]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:33 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341424 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341423 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:33 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341423 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341422
-isral]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:33 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341422 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341421 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:32 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341421 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341420 entry to an international poster design competition hosted by the DAAD, the group which handles American and Canadian exchanges to Germany. I received an email from them yesterday informing me thus:


“Dear Isral,

I am pleased to inform you that out of a highly robust number of design submissions, the poster committee has selected your design for Honorable Mention in the DAAD Poster Competition.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your distinction and to thank you for your fine work.”


Well, I won't be going to Germany (gosh golly darnit blast shucks), but at least it's valuable resum]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:32 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341420 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341419 Honorable Mention in an international poster design competition. The contest, sponsored by DAAD, the group who handles the university exchanges between the United States, Germany, and Canada, was open to university students. i received an informal email telling me that i had placed, but i have now received the official results. i am really excited to have placed in this competiton. it was a great experience working with a wonderful organization.]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:32 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341419 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341417 I am working as a designer for a software company. My tasks are really enjoyable and the time seems to pass quickly. I will be doing print design soon as well as a plethora of electronic design (user interface, icons, websites, &c.) already in progress.

My boss, a self-admitted nerd, (honoring me with the “nerd” label too) recently gave me a Motorola Q phone. Now, when your boss buys you a toy (even if it does pertain to actual work), surely, most technological obsessifetishists will reserve a special place in their heart’s core for the boss. Hey, he even bought me a MacPro to play with work with even though he’s an ardent Microsoft man!

We’ll be developing stuff using Silverlight technology soon. I have been learning to use Expression Blend too, which, right now, is essentially a Flash competitor. Soon, it will be a viable application development platform.

Silverlight, as a development platform, means that designers and programmers will have the access to use Windows app code as a plug-in in websites, drastically improving the kinds of work that websites can do. We can build applications and interfaces that reside immediately on the page itself, rather than waiting for server communiques with the client. (at least it‘s how i understand it so far.)

I spend the weekend in Dallas, TX, for my grandparents’ birthday. It$lsquo;s the first time that i have even visited them without them asking me how school is going. in fact, when i first walked into their house this time, i reflected that it was the single proudest moment at which i had ever entered their house, for now i finally entered as a graduate, but especially as an employed graduate. ]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:30:31 -0800 http://virb.com/isralduke/posts/text/341417